Posts by Emma Hart
-
Radiation: Signing off, moving on, in reply to BenWilson,
OMFG so it's just like Libya?
Oh, totally. I'm surprised the Red Zone isn't constantly besieged by film directors, honestly.
-
Radiation: Signing off, moving on, in reply to Craig Ranapia,
Better or worse than the disaster porn?
Dude, I haven't seen anything that makes it look as bad as it is. Consider: no-one has been able to remove food from the CBD for six weeks. When we get back in there, we'll have to battle rats, street by street. The only thing that's going to drown out the smell of rotting fish is if we do actually flood the sewerage ponds, which is looking quite likely.
-
I shall sadface too. Sadface.
(I wish it were otherwise, but: See cover story. Again.)
Yeah, wanna picture how their 'gosh we're all still renovating our houses' cover went down in Christchurch?
I think I broke The Listener.
I thought that was... oh, you mean the website.
-
I dream of high ceilings and ladders on runners.
Everyone has fantasies about ladders on runners, right?
-
Since September I've found it hard to hold a plot or complex cast of characters in my brain and consequently I'm finding it hard to engage with novels
There was a point a couple of weeks after the Feb earthquake where I suddenly thought, "Wait a minute, this book I'm reading, and have been quite enjoying, is utter bilge." My brain needed to mend. But since then I've largely been re-reading old favourites - partly due to the total lack of libraries.
But one of the things I brought back from Mum's just before that was the copy of Barbara Else's The Warrior Queen that I gave her years ago, and we both loved. Not much happens in that either, but it's so delightfully, engagingly written. It's a warm book, despite its subject matter.
I will say, I loved The Sound of Butterflies. It was atmospheric in a way that reminded me of Tanith Lee, and which I really enjoy. Though not right now.
-
enthusiastic Canadian is a suspicious conjunction, eh
Oh, you have not met my friend Sinead. She does go out a lot, too.
-
I get that "I could be at home here" feeling in Wellington - it's the same instinctive yes or no you get house-hunting. I love the way when you fly in the land looks like it's just now shoved itself up out of the sea. I love the way the centre of town, the shopping and all the bars we keep getting asked to leave, is all walkable. I love the area around the waterfront. I love the way that even though I've never lived there, if I spend fifteen minutes standing on the street I'll meet someone I know.
-
I still have no idea how those of you who live in ChCh are brave or strong enough to choose to stay
Or lazy enough. The practicalities of leaving are crushing: how would we sell our house? so how could we buy another? Finding new jobs, new schools for the kids, leaving all our friends behind - and almost all of our friends are staying, which is a big deal, because Home is also people.
And yes, as you so beautifully put it, that fragility is everywhere, it's inescapable, so we may as well learn to live with it here as elsewhere.
-
Up Front: Where You From?, in reply to Geoff Lealand,
One notable house I lived in during my years in Christchurch was on the sweeping bend of Carlton Mill Road
Was that the blue house, Geoff, or the one next door?
Late 1990s in CHCH Jacqui
When I arrived in 1990 it was already firmly 'uni': I never heard it called anything else.
I actually think it is very sad how much many kiwis denigrate our local ways of talking. Once we get past the cringe New Zealand English is fascinating and deeply cool.
Word. And yes thanks, I understand it just fine.
-
And Emma, if you want to know what's the goss in Timaru, this was the only game in town last night.
Mnnnrgh. You've heard me on Hubbard after a few wines. Just imagine I said that again, with a few notes about blatant fucking pandering added in.
Wellington ( late 1988-94)- very fond of the place, lots of my friends have moved there
That is one of the reasons I'm so fond of Wellington. A startling number of my uni friends live there now. I've been thinking Megan and I should simply merge our friend collections. It's about that time, surely.
One thing about the earthquake, I think it's made us a lot more conscious of our built environments. I mean, I knew I was attached to the Provincial Council Chambers. I was less aware of how much I loved the Lanes, or the Dux, or Knox Church.