25.02.12. Ford Coupe, 1938, Christchurch Botanic Gdns carpark
Botanic Gdns carpark by Avon River: Saw a brown, 1938 Ford Coupe, 2 seater, with dickie seat. My mom had driven the same 1938 Ford Coupe in Durban, SA, where I grew up in the 1950s. The Kiwi Coupe was the same brown colour, same running boards. Fond memories of travelling all over Durban, boy on a dickie seat. Still heard the thudding heartbeat of the potent V8 engine.
Botanic Gdns: Leah liked the AQUATIC TOPIARY DISPLAY, flowery penguins, whale, seagull, by the restaurant pond.
25.02.12. Christchurch Festival of Flowers, Botanic Gdns
Saw a series of EDIFICE BUILDING POP-UP FLORAL ART arrangements, potted in Wendy Huts below Botanic Gdns trees. Huts stopped viewers' tampering in the day & locked in flowers at night. Quakes inspired several flower displays, colourful contrast to post quake drabness.
Display board:
Earth, rocks, buildings fall
Yet nature's colour
Remains for all
June Hay & Kay Thomson
Another display board:
Canterbury Bells
In remembrance of the cathedrals and churches lost in the
earthquakes. The juxtaposition of the new life of flowers spilling from
the fallen bells represents the strength of the spirit of Cantabrians
Group Credit - Students of the School of Floristry, Academy New Zealand
Artists - Mylinda Jane Sterling & Nicole Hazelhurst
25.02.12. Christchurch Festival of Flowers, Botanic Gdns
From Botanic Gdns / Christ's College side gate, by the rugby field, I snapped the Prefects Room below a cracked, brick wall. Prefects Room, cordoned by a fence. Unreinforced brick wall above looked ready to collapse. So many people were harmed in the Feb 22 Killer Quake by that sort of negligence, bricks falling into rooms & onto people.
25.02.12. Steel mesh fence cordon. Botanic Gdns view, Christ's College, Prefects Room, quake cracked, brick wall
25.02.12. Christ's College, side gate view, Christchurch Botanic Gdns
By Botanic Gdns / Museum gate, a Greening the Rubble Pallet Planters display: small plants in a pallet. Cute idea for tourists, but yet to take off. There were many demolition sites to green, as CERA wanted to demolish 1 500 CBD bldgs. Why clutter demolition sites with junk, like old pallets? For months, plant succession was already happening, pioneer weeds like ragwort growing up to 2m high in abandoned properties.
Nov 2013. Greening the Rubble would still be active, but not much greening happened, as many CBD demolition sites were stony, weedy. CERA, Council, property owners should green their rubble instead.
25.02.12. Greening the Rubble, Festival of Flowers, Christchurch Botanic Gdns
By Canterbury Museum door, a pavement kiosk, two signs:
GUIDED WALKS
DISCOVER
OUR
UNIQUE CITY
WALKS COST
$NZ 15.00
PER PERSON
Tourist Rip off.
25.02.12. Post quake Guided Walks kiosk, Rolleston Ave
Rolleston Ave: Great Hall of the Arts Centre, scaffolded, few repairs done, awaiting insurance payout. Trekked along Rolleston Ave, on the pavement opp Christ's College school hostels, avoiding the school's greystone bldgs, to Armagh St, back to our car.
25.02.12. Steel mesh fence cordon. Post quake scaffolding, Great Hall, Arts Centre, Rolleston Ave
During quake years, we'd become dodgers, alert for dangerous bldgs & crossing the road to a safer pavement. Our safe walking habit. If there were tall bldgs both sides of a street, we walked fast.
25.02.12. Post quake, Christchurch CBD map, Rolleston Ave
Armagh St entrance to Botanic Gdns carpark: A new CBD map was erected for tourists, showing the forbidden red zone. So far, citizens were banned by Civil Defence, then CERA from the CBD for more than a year post Feb 22 Killer Quake, while CERA did demolitions. NZDF soldiers would control CBD steel mesh fence cordon checkpoints for 28 months post 22.02.11 Killer Quake. CERA occupied private & Council land & banned owners & citizens from the CBD, with NZDF checkpoints, like CERA owned the CBD.
More than a year post 22.02.11 Killer Quake, Council encouraged tourists & erected snazzy maps, implying the CBD, banned to citizens, was a tourist attraction, while Christchurch green & red zoners languished in squalid living conditions & orange & white zoners still awaited CERA's slow land decisions on their properties.
CERA minister Brownlee's excuses & expedient apologies for tardy Tonkin & Taylor's land reports were wearing thin.
11.27pm, M4.3 quake, depth 11km, 20km NE of Christchurch (GeoNet). Disturbed our TV viewing. Pegasus Bay Fault again.
*Trekked Christchurch Botanic Gdns, Rolleston Ave. 38 images.
Tue 28.02.12. Royal Commission of Inquiry, engineers' latest: An engineer took full responsibility for a design flaw he approved, for a concrete spandrel which killed a woman, when the concrete panel fell off Ballantynes in the Feb 22 Killer Quake. Engineer apologized for his mistake, then blamed Council engineers for not finding the design mistake! Engineer only apologized when hauled before the Royal Commission a year post quake!.
A bldg owner whose Manchester St bldg killed a man in the Feb 22 Killer Quake said although his bldg was quake strengthened, he didn't know his bldg had killed someone until recently. He apologized! Blame-shifting at the Royal Commission: Only accept responsibility for rotten bldgs under examination by Commission lawyers & perhaps apologize. (The Press 28-29.02.12).
There would be more buck-passing & blame-shifting at the Royal Commission of Inquiry into PGC & CTV multi-storey collapses. And at the Coroner's Inquest into CTV deaths.
TV One News reported that since the 04.09.10 Darfield Quake, 18 months before, there were 13 000 quake related injuries. That would've included Luke's broken, collar bone, after skateboarding over pavement buckling, post 04.09.10 quake.
Meanwhile mayor Parker clowned in Wellington, telling people he was scared of Wellington bldgs & told Wellingtonians to bang desks for 45 seconds to emulate a quake. Parker had scarcely showed his face in Christchurch since the Feb 1 protest & his China junket paid by ratepayers. Only appearance he'd made was for photo ops on Feb 22 Killer Quake anniversary. Parker must sort out his working relationship with CERA & sort out trashed, eastern suburb housing & trashed roads. (The Press 29.02.12).
Content & pics, Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
See We'll close more buildings say quake engineers (The Press / Stuff Co).
See Business owners likely to run out of cover (The Press / Stuff Co).
See Engineer accepts responsibility (The Press / Stuff Co).
See Red zoners stressed to breaking point (The Press / Stuff Co).
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