Mourning Christchurch

Today, I'm mourning Christchurch, NZ again. On Friday, deconstruction started in the CBD, also known as the "Red Zone" of Christchurch. I've recently discovered the work of Ross Becker, who has been commissioned by the National Library (of NZ) to record the devastation of Christchurch for their digital archives. And record it he has! His work is fabulous (other photos as well as those of the earthquakes' damage), and yesterday, he uploaded photos of the deconstruction to his website ( https://picasaweb.google.com/RossBeckerNZ ). I thought the images of how the earthquakes had destroyed the buildings in the Central City were bad enough, but the actual deconstruction . . . well, that just makes it worse.

I know it had to be done. There's no other option, really. The buildings were dangerous how they were, and despite their former beauty and the history they represented, they have to go. But now, alas, all I'm left with are memories (no photos, bugger it) of what was once there.

Cashel Mall, which to the untrained eye, looked somewhat intact, now resembles a wasteland or war-zone, with building after building falling to the buckets of the exacavators . . . including the Whitcoulls building, where I spent much of my hard-saved money as both a high school and university student. All I have to show for it, that I am positive came from that particular store, is a Stadlaeter eraser, which I bought there in 1987. Yes, it's weird that I have this "keepsake" of Whitcoulls, but I do.

In Cathedral Square, buildings are also being demolished, including the Regent Theatre on Worcester St. How many times did my friends and I go to the pictures there?? Countless. I remember several times in the 6th Form, we went and several of us shorter people (who were 16 or so at the time) lied and got in for the price of a 13-year old!! I think it was there, that one of the boys in the group (I'm thinking Daniel or Mike?) dropped their box of Snifters and they spilled all over the floor in a noisy cascade!

If I'd only known that one day the Regent Theatre would be destroyed by an earthquake, I would've taken some pictures of it. But who goes around taking photos of buildings in their hometown, just in case an earthquake hits? Not me. And now I wish I had.

So many places, so many things about the Garden City, I took for granted and assumed would always be there . . . even sitting along the Avon, feeding the ducks, will not be the same. The skyline has been markedly changed. The best place was on Oxford Terrace, near the Bridge of Remembrance. No doubt the ducks are still there, but with the Central City having been abandonned for months, they're having to rely on themselves for food. No breadcrumbs for the ducks in 2011. Nor the seagulls either, although I guarantee, when the CBD opens again to the public, and people return to feeding the ducks, those seagulls will be more aggressive than ever!!

But the building which makes me the most sad, is St. John's Latimer Square. They've already pulled down the church hall, and no doubt the church itself is next. I wish that were not the case - this building is not just a historic Christchurch building, but a significant one in my family also. It was at St. John's that my grand-parents, great-grandparents and great-great-grandfather (second marriage after his first wife, my great-great-grandmother, died) all got married.

I'm sure everyone in Christchurch is losing a piece of personal history, now that these buildings, by necessity, are being torn down. Theoretically, their passing will make room for more green space, more gardens, and the beauty of Christchurch will rise again from this devastation . . . but it will never be the same.

The city that was, the Garden City of four, twenty and thirty-plus years ago, will live on in my memory as the most beautiful city in New Zealand . . . may it rise again from the havoc wrought by Mother Nature to claim this position again. Regardless of how long it takes, it will always be my home.