Speaker: The secret Christchurch conversation ... about leaving
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Minnie Ball, in reply to
Very sweet of you...thanks will take a look Hebe
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Hebe, in reply to
Minnie, I don't want to be flippant or replay something you know but this man I found very helpful (I think the date shd be 2014 not last year):
I empathise completely about the counsellors. Though well-meaning it's hard to hear.
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I find this post so sad. Around nine months ago we departed Christchurch with our family (although my husband is still in Christchurch awaiting an employment opportunity here and commutes to us as he can). We had hit the wall as a family. I'd been made redundant, we had a death in our family, and I simply wasn't coping with life as it had become in Christchurch. We decided life was too short to wait a decade or so for things to bounce back. I remain on "happy pills" today in response to events post-2011, but we now have a new home in Dunedin and I can't believe how our lives have turned around. We have had several people in Christchurch telling us how they wish they had acted earlier but the longer they remain in Christchurch, the more stuck they feel. For those who are committed to Christchurch, I have huge respect for you. For those who seek out a life elsewhere, don't be afraid of making a change.
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Well written...and sad...but empathize...
Pretty sure the photo is near Ford Road...just near Opawa Primary School...not far from Hansens where we used to walk our dog after dropping our child at the school...we got on a plane and went north in Feb 2011...came back and packed up the mess in the swamp September 2011...never going back there...10,000 quakes by the time we left and that was too many. And of course all the pain and trouble...was always going to happen....when you think this is/was New Zealand's second largest city you realize how fragile the whole show is and you reflect back on it all..the sort of shoegaze response...yeah.... then there is the Alpine Fault...better be digging deep foundations Christchurch...and if you can't... just leave....and then there is sea level rise...you are in big trouble...
And as Kelvin Berryman said quake activity could go on for 20 or 30 years...I took that on board in my decision making....who knows what stress and strains are yet to play out in the sinking swamp...City Council is about golf, flower shows and expensive salaries...CERA is about expensive offices and catering...all messed up...I just hope Roger Sutton has shelved his ice skating rink idea for what is left of the square...if the quakes don't get ya...the bitter easterly will on Roger's Rink.
And we all have PTSD, our wee family and dog....we got no help from anyone...just left to fight on... in the Auckland housing crisis...I don't actually feel like a new zealander (no caps) anymore...and I feel I don't belong anyplace now....strange...at least the dog has a flood free park to walk and warmer beaches, my daughter is getting on with NCEA, tomorrow I will feel better, after dreaming of wilted silver ferns and a new eco city..... I'm sure.....................
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Hebe, in reply to
All strength to you. It’s hard to stay sometimes, hard to go away too. A shrink I know says that those who left suddenly are often having a harder time coming to terms with the whole thing than those who are stressed but stayed. There is no clean break whatever you do if you’ve lived on top of this.
Near 15,000 quakes later, we’re catching up on 18 months of lost sleep – almost every night broken sleep with the Port Hills fault 3km away. Then another year of a boy doing bloodcurdling screams in his sleep – he didn’t wake but the rest of us did. (it was a form of PTSD that needed to work itself out, and it has.) Tonight I’m sitting up not sleeping because I can’t shake the irrational idea there’s going to be a good shunt.
I took the photo from the St Martins Road bridge, Fifield on the left, Riverlaw on the right – our corner, we’re a few doors down.
Then there are the good things: the beach, the parks; Risingholme in the autumn. Piko. Coffee shops. The Tannery. The forest. The people; always the people
Greg’s piece is not clear, because nothing is clear. We’re both pulled all which way.
PS: I had an idea that quake counselling and help is available in Auckland. Have you rung around? Dogs: def stressed: herbal remedies I’m told. -
when words don't add much its good to reach for the art.
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Jackie Clark, in reply to
I’m here, in Auckland, Shulgin. If there’ anything I can do, let me know. Email me. Even just for a talk. If you need a friend, I’m here.
Also, I'm a bit of a dog person. Well, a complete dog nutter really. So there's that. -
Shulgin, in reply to
"I took the photo from the St Martins Road bridge, Fifield on the left, Riverlaw on the right – our corner, we’re a few doors down. "
....cool.... I was just a few street corners off...if one was to be particular...like a poem...suggestive of street corners and volcanic vista's,,,but still east Christchurch...and of course Risingholme in the autumn..spent many hours there on the playground with my daughter...my mother even rolled down the slope with my daughter..as if she was a child again...memories...
LAWRENCE ARABIA - THE 03
I don't even phone my brother(s) now in the 03....
Always fond of the Bridge Street cafe ...might meet Joe Bennet walking his dog while doing the same....the 03....
...might get a coffee at C1 down High Street...right opposite Alice in Videoland...or a tattoo at zelandia next door....
walked past those empty offices...that the... savage malls emptied...before the quakes...what is going on here?
Thanks Jackie...very kind...we have spoodle...she doesn't shed...but she makes it very difficult to rent a house in the 09...housing crisis...
poetry and a sense of humour...and stiff upper lip...carry on regardless...
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....and a dozen letters to the Editor
PEACE
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Hebe, in reply to
From a simpler time. Always wondered if they were Steiner kids.
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well I dunno...but probably...the 03
Talking Heads: Lawrence Arabia
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Lawrence Arabia - Talk About Good Times
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you can mix some good stuff with those clips...a voice over..a bit of history...some flooded shit....high up the foot hills..in gumboots...the good days...the 03 ..with a Leroy finn 1234...held 2gether with the base....yeah....
and a dozen lettersto
the
editor.....
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The Phoenix Foundation - Thames Soup
i don't live here...... -
Minnie Ball, in reply to
Thanks Hebe. This is all true. So hard to do while in the middle of it.
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After a trying week, I just shamefully typed "I want to leave Christchurch" into the search field of my browser and this piece popped up. We've only lived here 5 years, most of that time spent optimistically riding out the quakes. We bought our first house in January 2011. Not long after, amidst drains that wouldn't drain, toilets that didn't flush, and the near constant rumble of aftershocks, my family in the US gently suggested that we might consider moving there temporarily 'while things settled down.' We stoically brushed them off. Surely the worst was over. Last month we put our art and photos up on the walls for the first time, feeling fortunate to have our repairs more or less complete. But now the backyard is covered in a layer of silt and mud and the fences are damaged. We left town for the weekend instead of cleaning up. I feel guilty for secretly being overwhelmed, because the water didn't even reach the house.
Over 5 years, we've become established here -- but in reality, in life, we're just starting out. Is this where we want to be? I thought I was prepared to wait the wait for future Christchurch, but today I'm just not sure.
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and now...
for some sober financial analysis, about blocked drains, and grandstanding daddy
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/10019150/Christchurch-in-financial-strife
Christchurch in financial strife
PS They are planning night flights from Queenstown soonish...some of you could wisk away,,,in the night....just an idea.
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apparently...it is about horrorzontal infrastructure...the cost blow out that is,,,drains...
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Hebe,
A great blog on the flooding and its complexities.
http://thechristchurchfiasco.wordpress.com/2014/05/10/silt-and-the-city/
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http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/10046758/Brownlee-Quakes-didn-t-cause-floods
actually...back in the day i lived in Harrison street...for a while...was no floods back then...mr woodwerk....
this is why I left churchtown.... the inhumane amongst us...a mere few streets over...
cruel east west earthquake...i really hate political earthquakes...ah well I suppose the west will be shoved off its datum...when the Alpine Fault goes....
then there will be a sense of liquefaction... and all people will be equal...with nuth'n...
cheque book politics...and BTW this "was" NZs second largest citee....
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Hebe,
Sitrep: moving along now and obfuscation has reached new heights with this stunner http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/10054608/Christchurch-flood-action-in-legal-limbo
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Hebe,
Sitrep: obfuscation has reached new heights with this stunner http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/10054608/Christchurch-flood-action-in-legal-limbo
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Is this the current Chch thread? It'll do anyway ;)
I just wanted to say massive props to this woman who has seen her way to making a difference to the homeless here in Christchurch, and has scored a groundswell of support through this Stuff article.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/city-centre/10156724/Cleaners-gesture-to-homeless
Facebook page -
Lilith __, in reply to
I just wanted to say massive props to this woman who has seen her way to making a difference to the homeless here in Christchurch, and has scored a groundswell of support through this Stuff article.
Wow, thanks Robert, I missed this.
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Central heating...
as the de facto current Chch thread...I see Nicky Wagner crowing in Th eStar that she has her political zest back!
Hah! - that always happens when you are a grated lemon!
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