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Christchurch, three months on The boys, Ange and I have just spent a long weekend in Christchurch with Nana. It's the first time we've been there since the earthquake three months ago. While we were there, there was a rather long aftershock, long enough for me to get out of the shower, put on a towel and clamber out to the lounge to check the boys (and Nana) weren't freaking.
The central city, aka The Red Zone, is still cordoned off and eerily quiet. If you didn't know there had been an earthquake, you'd think this was one run-down, sad city as you drive around it, with many brick buildings looking as if they have been peeled. Then there are the flapping tarps and struts holding up houses, the roads that have been torn up, and the sections where houses and buildings have been demolished; some complete with piles of rubble, others just devastatingly empty. Ange and I went to the western edge of the red zone, by the river, and joined a small band of quiet, almost reverent onlookers trying to get a glimpse of the city they've known. We met a woman in Sumner who said it's taken her three months to come and see some of the damage. It's all rather a lot to take in. Shipping containers to prevent rocks falling onto the road between Sumner and central Christchurch 
it still breaks my heart to see the photos.
 all1son said...

My heart aches with sympathy for all who live in Christchurch. What is going on with all this upheaval around the world - are we being stirred up or what !!
 
the top house in christchurch is urban legend. we lived accross the way from it in urban dream
