So, how is Christchurch?

Heaps of people keep asking us about the earthquake - and in particular how Christchurch is doing.

There are so many aspects of the city that are broken. It's really sad. All of the photos in this post have been taken in the past fortnight.

 

So many buildings still have the search and rescue spray-paint all over the windows.

 Footpaths are now snaking onto the roads (which are often now one-way), to avoid any dangers lurking overhead.

And containers prop up facades, which owners are hoping to retain, albeit with new buildings behind them.

The before-and-after photos have become ridiculous:

 (those ones are from this blog, which has a bunch of photos of the city).

And that's just the CBD. The suburbs are fucked.  Red cones, piles of dirt, and road closures. The following photos were all taken on different streets, within 500m of my house, on the same day:
 

Admittedly, this is a step forward, as these roads are being fixed, but getting from A to B changes every day. Seriously.  It is exhausting. I am exhausted. We are all exhausted.

And sad. The broken houses and empty sections are constantly there as we walk round the 'burbs. Our suburb wasn't particularly badly affected, but sights like these are common:

 Since reading this article in the paper last year,  I keep thinking about the plants...the poor plants!!

Everyone you talk to is affected in a different way.  Where I work, at least 2-3 clients tell me their 'earthquake story' each day. Unprompted. I am just there to look after their dog or cat, but it constantly comes up.  Two days ago a woman just started talking about The Day, how the first thing she did was take all the food from her pantry and fridge and laid it on a tarpaulin on the lawn, and rallied her neighbours, and made sure they had enough food and water for a week in case the pipes and roads weren't fixed by then....etc etc etc.

If we go to see an art exhibition at a small temporary gallery, we are reminded that the Christchurch Art Gallery is still closed (and won't be open until my son is at school!). If we go to a shit bar or cafe and get an overpriced shitty pizza we are reminded that the Bicycle Thief is gone (and it was SO good). 

It sucks, but it's not all bad. There are still some great things here. We still have Hagley Park, the Port Hills and C1. We still have our friends. The Art Gallery managed to put on this amazing exhibition (and now this and this). Things can only get better really.