By a happy coincidence Kate and I both have flights from Melbourne on the same day as each other and almost exactly at the same time. What is not so good is that they aren’t until midnight. Kate finishes work at 3.30pm and we have both rather run out of energy and enthusiasm for more sightseeing, so we have rather a lot of time to kill. We both agree that when it is time to leave, we just want to leave. Fortunately we are both quite patient waiters and we mix it up a bit by sitting in various different places. First we sit in a café; then on the free city circle tram; a park bench; and a bus to the airport. When we arrive at the airport we find out that Kate’s flight is delayed 2 hours, to 2am. That’s not the best way to start a 24 hour plus journey. Kate is given a meal voucher as compensation, so we then use an hour sitting in a restaurant; followed by various lounge locations in departures. We form a mutual appreciation society as I tell her that I have really enjoyed my time with her and Kate is kind enough to say that her time here was also enhanced by my company. Then finally it is time for me to board my flight. It feels a bit odd, but not exactly sad, that Kate is flying back home and I am returning to New Zealand; but I am glad that she will carry my love back home to our mutual friends.
It is very early morning and still dark when I arrive back in Christchurch, but it feels like the middle of the night to me, and as I haven’t slept, I snuggle into my sleeping bag in the back of Josephine. I am woken a few hours later by the heat of the sun on the van. It is a beautiful day and summer seems to have returned to New Zealand while I have been away.
I want to gather some information to help me plan my next few weeks and also make a dental appointment to repair a broken tooth, so I head first to the information centre. Since the earthquakes, many things in Christchurch are not in their original location, so the first challenge is to find out where they have moved to. The information centre is now in a portacabin by the main park. Just as I left for Melbourne I heard on the news that the decision had finally been taken to demolish the cathedral. While I am browsing in the information centre I hear that this weekend and next it is possible to view the damaged cathedral. A walkway has been constructed from the temporary portacabin shopping centre to the main city square, which is inside the square mile fenced off ‘red zone’.
A couple of security guards supervise the walkway entrance and there are two large notices attached to the fence advising people of the dangers of entering the ‘red zone’. The first two points on one of the notices state:
1 This space is still dangerous
2 If there is an earthquake or other event you may be seriously injured or may not survive
I join the people filing into the wire fenced walkway and walk the 400m or so to the main square, looking at the devastation all around. The streets are deserted and in the distance there are the sounds of demolition.
Walking into the ‘Red Zone’
'Red Zone' Street
The walkway ends in the main square opposite the cathedral. The front of the building looks as if it has been wrenched off and what remains is propped up with huge girders. The top of the main tower is missing. Hundreds of people are gathered here; some stand quietly and others chat, but the overall atmosphere is muted and quite subdued. I overhear people sharing memories of the city as it used to be. I talk to a woman of about my age and her mother and they point out to me which of the tall buildings will be demolished and which will remain. The daughter tells me she walked past the cathedral 10 minutes before the tower fell. The mother says that she can’t remember what buildings used to occupy the now empty spaces.
People in the Square
Christchurch Cathedral
Within the crowd a woman is collecting signatures for a petition asking for a reconsideration of the decision to demolish the cathedral. A lone woman holds up a sign which says:
Our cathedral, Our city, Our choice, Our democratic right to decide
A female security guard is talking quietly to her, telling her that she can’t demonstrate here. Another security guard stands behind her, looking perplexed. Then a male security guard comes and takes her sign off her and says, ‘Come with me’, but she bravely stands her ground and with her voice breaking with emotion, she shouts out her democratic right to demonstrate. People in the crowd watch, quite shocked at her treatment, but not there are only a few muttered commnets of support. One woman chips in that the demonstration is spoiling her right to observe the cathedral in peace.
Demonstrator
On the way out of the walkway I stop to read a hand-written sign attached to the wire fence.
Message on the Fence
I feel as if I have been present at an important moment in history.
1 comment:
what a diverse March you've had from the isolated Hump Ridge to busy Melbourne, hotels, holiday homes and back to the van .. and still 10 days of March left .. what will you do next?
Post a Comment