Posts by Emma Hart
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And just around the bend, something a little brighter.
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Up Front: One, Redux, in reply to tim oliver,
From my phone, down my street.
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Thank you, Morgan.
If the rebuild is DESIGNED, and I don't mean individual buildings, but the whole reconstruction of the inner city - designed by designers, by real urban planning experts (the best in the world of whom must be lined up to help Christchurch), and definitely not by politicians.
I have spoken to a couple of people lately who are perfectly happy with the idea of Chch turning into a doughnut city. Me, I want a place where I can go "dinner theatre bar bar taxi home".
But as things stand, design is not the issue. Insurance is. It would be a massive help to the rebuild if the government offered central city businesses temporary bridging insurance so they could secure loans to rebuild. If regulation had been put in place to stop commercial landlords rorting businesses on rents and long-term leases. And if government departments aren't prepared to commit to the central city, why should private businesses be?
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Up Front: One, Redux, in reply to Jolisa,
There are not enough cups of tea in the world today. I wish I could make one for you in person, Emma. Milk, sugar, dash of brandy?
I'm really not a big fan of tea. Brandy, on the other hand...
I did not expect today to be so difficult, personally. I went and sat in the doorway right where I sat last year and looked at all the gouges in the lino where things fell. I'd thought two minutes' silence would be too long. I didn't move for five. And I really felt how lucky I was that my family made it back to me that day. That I still have my families, of blood and of heart. And the people I love showed me how much they loved me. I'm going to go for a walk. Then later I'm going to make the smoked chicken and rosemary pie my partner loves so much, in my fully functional oven, because frankly commemoration does not extend to cooking frittata on the barbeque.
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Up Front: One, Redux, in reply to Sofie Bribiesca,
Because Emma, you like gardening , here is a flowers for you and I may do this all day for people here down Christchurch way. My way of saying I care quietly.:)
Aw, thank you Sofie. Now I'm crying.
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Up Front: One, Redux, in reply to Hebe,
The flowery road cones are awesome
The flowery road cones are amazing, and... is it just me, or is that the kind of response that was never going to come top-down? I can't imagine council coming up with that.
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How can you expect the recovery of a city when one of the conditions imposed by the insurance companies for rebuilding is that insurance will be cancelled -- thus instantly placing the owners of the homes or buildings in breach of their mortgage conditions?
This, this more than anything. Surely at this point we could all agree that there is no free-market solution to this problem.
I confess to having felt pretty devastated as we finally left the Avon River and our happy life there. This was goodbye forever. It hurt.
Leaving any home you've loved sucks. Leaving that place under these circumstances sucks enormous goat balls.
Still. From your photos I can 1/pretty much deduce which chalet is yours, and 2/ take comfort from the fact that Polly still has the most gorgeous eyes.
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Up Front: One, Redux, in reply to Bart Janssen,
I'm a nest builder. I don't like moving home. I don't like moving office. I don't like moving jobs. I know this about myself and accept it.
I'm very much the same, though lucky in a way that my form of nesting is to build gardens rather than structures. That in itself has been difficult - we've had severe water restrictions here since September, not because of water levels but because of the state of the pipes, and I've struggled to keep my patch alive - but at least I didn't have to watch it all fall to pieces.
Lets take 12 months and consider if they did (try and) fix the most damaged ones first. They would take the longest to do and more people would be hammering on the door to get their "least damaged" ones fixed.
We're talking "people living in unfit houses because they can't afford to live anywhere else" vs people whose paint needs touching up.
Also, I should say this, and stop worrying about how to get it exactly right. Last night, in preparation for writing this, I read the comment threads on the February earthquake columns from last year. You know what? You people are pretty fucking awesome. You found ways to engage and to help with something that didn't directly affect you. You gave us sympathy and strength and shelter. "Hey why don't we have a Public Address Great Sleepover" turned into flying me and my family to Wellington and giving us a night off. And giving me a sense that I could still be of some use, some relevant function.
I can only speak for myself, of course, but I love you guys.
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Do you understand the concept of spa pooling? I don't. You get in. You are instantly bored. There is nothing -- I repeat nothing -- to do.
Okay, I'm not a big fan of spa pools, but I'm pretty sure you're doing this wrong. There should be Other People, and Alcohol.
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Hard News: This Is Not A Complicated Issue, in reply to Chris Waugh,
not just in Parliament, but in courts and any and all other official places.
If Mathers were to appear in court, she would be entitled to a funded interpreter. Actually, I'm pretty sure that if she were on a jury, she'd also be entitled to a funded interpreter. So, y'know, she could carry out her civic duty...
