Christchurch....what's left

Today my adventure is to the capital of Canterbury, the once regal and historic city of Christchurch. For those who don't know, this once beautiful cathedral city has been devastated by earthquakes, not once, but twice in the last four years, so I am prepared for the worst. The weather forecast has also been not too promising but on the free bus ride into the city I am greeted with a few watery rays of a forgiving sun. 

Alighting at Transport Central, a few sheds having been put together for the time being, I ask where to go. There is really nothing here, except work sites and empty carparks. There is a palpable lack of energy in the air, but one of resignation, as if it is always like this in Christchurch. They have also been assailed by torrential rainstorms in the past few months. Feeling like a coffee and something to eat, Ballantynes looks inviting, it is a restored department store with gourmet foods on the shelves. So I enter the warm atmosphere (it is about eight degrees celsius outside) and order my normal flat white coffee, see a piece of pizza with chicken and cranberries which appears interesting and I order it. After all I left Wellington this morning at seven a.m. in heavy rain, where I got drenched after parking ten minutes away from the terminal, and am still drying out. But all is well and the hot excellent coffee satisfies my senses.The pizza is OK too, but not real pizza crust. We are in the provinces I must remember. 

Before I forget, my early departure, it was still dark, resulted in the surreal visioning of a group of about twenty young school kids riding their bicycles through the tunnel connecting the air port. Lights flashing, voices shrill with youthful excitement, they were accompanied by their teachers in an experience which for them was a natural part of their education - the skill of night bike riding. What would theybe doing for the rest of the day I wondered? It was a vision I won't easily forget.

After this necessary stop I have another priority on my list and that is to find an optometrist as I have now a pair of glasses with only one ear-rest, the other having broken off this morning with no warning. However I suspect it is because of a super tightening by the  Newtown optometrist yesterday, who may have not been so happy at not charging me for the service, which optometrists normally do. Oh well, it's something to experience in this foresaken city, to get a repair job, so I ask the waitress if she knows of an somewhere I might go. But she doesn't, except way out in the 'burbs. The infrastructure of the city is still practically non-existent, as the problems of rebuilding, repairing, getting insurance claims etc etc from very tight insurance companies are proving to be very, very difficult. However I'll just go walking to discover what I can.

Earlier on arriving from the airport where a local bus was right there waiting for me, I perceived not too desolate a city driving into the centre, but then on arrival it hits you. It is a bomb site. Where the beautiful cathedral once was, is now ruins, and they are still deciding what to do with it, rebuild, or demolish. Some enthusiastic commercial people have used containers to set up small business on the empty square and it is there that I will visit later as it looks like a creative success story.

But here in Ballantynes business is quietly humming with many sitting at the small tables for their morning coffees, mostly elderly, like me, as Christchuch has an aging population with the younger people deserting in droves. Except, of course, for the student population which is vibrant with the University of Canterbury being one of the best, if not the best, in the country. So as with much of NZ, they educate the young brilliantly and then immediately lose their talented graduates to other countries. A pool of intellectual resources this country certainly is, and Christchurch produces a goodly part of them I would surmise.

As you can see from the daily Press, they are constantly in a state of repair, or how to make the most of what little is left, using prefab homes as an interim measure, but for how long, one wonders?

Making the best of it...

My quickly eaten pizza with cranberries

After my brunch I wander out to survey the rather depressing scene. I happen near a bus stop and see a bus signed 'Lyttelton', and decide to take a ride to the ocean. It is indeed a pretty half-hour rodeand the shipping, or fishing, township has also been earthquake ravaged. I wander along the picturesque streets and soon grab a return bus as my spectacles are calling. Once back in CC I locate an optometrist who sends me quickly to their mechanic for the necessary repair job. 

I am mightily pleased and another bus ride to a nearby suburb finds this necessary tradie to do the job. I know it was my impatience which created this situation in the first place, so I happily fork out the thirty dollars.  I now decide should I catch the Chopin movie at Colombo Cinema or just bus it to my host's destination. Feeling a little fatigued I take the latter option and now am happily ensconced in the warm bed looking forward to an early night. More about my hosts later.