This is gonna be the thread where we talk about stuff

I'm writing this from the container mall that's been set up amongst the buildings on Cashel Mall which are still standing. (Only two of the remaining ones have people trading from them.) I just finished watching a local busker juggle a spanner, flaming torch, and knife atop a ten-foot unicycle, and a pack of Occupy: Christchurch hippie-types just marched past on a demonstration. Their aims seem disorganised at best considering our government's fuckery is quite a different breed from the bigwigs responsible for unrest in the States, but they're just down the precinct singing along with some busker on his guitar.

I look one way and can see the Bridge of Remembrance. A tinsel wreath decoration is strung in front of its arch, but that's only because of perspective. The Bridge itself is currently inaccessible, pending structural strengthening or demolition. I haven't heard which yet. In the other direction is a huge crane sitting in the middle of a fenced-off road, that's been hauling pieces off the Hotel Grand Chancellor. The Hotel's the next well-publicised demolition project for the city, and is a skeleton being dismantled from the top down. Looking toward where the Cathedral used to stand, I can see the BNZ building. It must be at least eight stories tall, yet I've never really noticed it until now. (If I had been sitting in this spot ten months prior, I probably wouldn't have. There would've been... shit, I don't remember. A three-storey building whose lower floor was a bookshop chain?) Its demolition has been delayed until at least next weekend, so the walkway into Cathedral Square will also be open until then.

The walkway starts at the end of this container mall, leading into the Square up Colombo Street. They've made it quite clear that anyone who walks it is entering a dangerous area and risks losing their life if another earthquake struck. They advise carrying ID on your person, rather than in a bag, and they clear the walkway each hour.

I guess the first thing I noticed is how much brighter Colombo Street is. It used to be flanked by several-storey buildings on both sides, and it had two-way traffic and was generally pretty grim, but a lot of those have come down. I spend a bit of time at each gap, trying to remember what franchise restaurant used to be in the building. Looking at the unfamiliar-enough-to-set-me-on-edge skyline, I just think really hard trying to figure which gaps were always there and which ones used to have something standing in them that I never thought about before now. The temporary fences had laminated notes on them, detailing which buildings were standing and which were facing demolition.

There weren't a lot set to remain, but the one notice that got to me worst was a photo of the pub I worked at last summer being demolished. It was a registered heritage building, tucked round the back of the cathedral. I used to polish the mirrors in the back room, where Captain Robert Falcon Scott had his final dinner before he set off for his ill-fated trip to Antarctica. That's gone, and through the gap I can see where the Press Building (my dad's old office, when he worked for the newspaper some years back) isn't. Through that gap I can get glimpses of where Gloucester Arcade is/was, which had a few Japanese/Korean restaurants, a bakery, and a second-hand clothing store I would always hit up. Mum keeps me posted on where in town our favourite eateries have relocated to, but a lot of businesses just won't come back.

The Christ Church Cathedral was obviously the centrepiece; you can probably find photos of it both before and after. The recent deconsecration of it was pretty well-publicised; since then the Anglican Church is arguing what to do with the site/how to continue in the city in general. Churches the city over got wrecked in February. The top of the steeple's been lowered and placed in the overgrown grass beside the Cathedral; unlike the rest of the building it was made of copper (replaced after the top fell off in another earthquake decades ago). That's a pretty common sight through the suburbs as well.

There was a dent in the stone tiles beside the plinth which used to have a statue of John Robert Godley on top of it. I have a vague recollection of seeing a photo of the fallen statue, with the head knocked off. They've removed the statue since, and there's kids climbing on the plinth.

I'm running out of battery, so I might toss down some more thoughts later.