Updating things in a slightly coherent way
Rugby
First things first, I decided in the end to take the kids along to the All Blacks' victory parade. It's not really my thing at all, but since Seth in particular was so into the World Cup, and since this isn't something they can see every day, I decided in the end to just do it. I found it boring but the kids, and Seth in particular, were delighted. My mum told them afterwards that when they are as old as she is (which boggled the kids a bit) they'll be able to tell their grandkids that they saw that parade, and that's basically why I did it. When I was around Seth's age Princess Diana came to New Zealand and my parents took us along to Queens' Park in Invercargill to see her (actually I believe the family was there too, but no-one cared about anyone else). They were never royalists and didn't care about it at all but because it was something that was unlikely to happen again they took us along. I still remember that day and how excited we were and I figure it's not about what the adults want and like, but what the kids do. Especially after the year they've had, I think the kids need fun and exciting things to do and remember. In a similar vein, I'm *shudder* thinking of taking the kids to Woodford Glen tomorrow for their family day to open the car racing season. That's definitely not my thing, but it's cheap enough to go, they are having a lot of bouncy castles, face painting etc and the kids get another new experience.
Finalists!
It appears that Seth's teacher didn't put the videos of the 'Peter and the Wild Poaka' and 'Train Station' onto their class blog because they have been entered into a national competition - and they are now in the finals. My email has been down for around 48 hours so I don't have this straight from the horse's mouth so to speak, but one of the other mother's in the class told me this morning that both videos are in the final 6 in their categories. That's a massive achievement considering that they are up against kids much older than themselves. Here's hoping that I get my email working again soon and can find out a few more details.
David Tua
On Wednesday David Tua came to our school to see and talk to our kids. He had auctioned his time as a home handyman on trademe to raise money for breast cancer research, but the person who 'won' him chose instead to bring him to Christchurch and get him to go around a few schools on the east side and cheer them up a bit. While there he gave away several pairs of boxing gloves and signed them to individual kids and Seth was one of the lucky kids to get a pair. He is very happy and now thinks he'd like to be a boxer, which made me giggle. He's such a skinny wee thing he'd be knocked over really quickly. Still, I used to do kickboxing and really enjoyed it so if he wants to give it a go (once the first flush of excitement has worn off) then I'll see if I can find him somewhere to go. They filmed his visit to our school and it showed on the late night news that evening but he went to several other schools as well. I have to say I do admire the way our principal manages to get our school into the news - and it's good for us. The more publicity we get for positive things, the more awareness of the school is raised, and the more likely we are to survive as a school because people want to send their kids there.
Pop-up Mall
There's a bit of a fracas brewing over the section of Cashel Street due to reopen tomorrow. Way back in April I wrote that they were planning to have this retail hub open on October 29th and it looks like they are actually going to pull it off. However, the trouble is that they called it 'the world's first pop-up mall' which is a) blatantly ridiculous because others have happened before and b) caused an as-yet-incomplete container mall in London to throw a hissy fit because we borrowed the idea from them and all sorts of other complex things that I'm a bit shaky on. As far as I can tell both sides are being ridiculous about it all, demanding apologies and refusing to acknowledge where ideas came from respectively (and, as a reminder this isn't new to either London OR Christchurch, so this whole thing looks quite petty on both sides). But seriously, taking legal action against our container shops? That seems really OTT, and despite their assurances that they don't want to hamper the rebuild of Christchurch, where exactly do they think the money to pay the legal fees is going to come from? Any money that has to go on defending this thing will have to come from funds that are being used to rebuild. The Re:Start initiative borrowed quite a lot of money, apparently from the quake fund, to get off the ground and if they are forced to go through this legal process then we can assume it will take longer for that money to be repaid and able to be used in future rebuilding projects. I think both sides need to stop being stupid and I think the legal action is way beyond necessary.
City Size
We are no longer the country's second biggest city :-( It shouldn't feel as bad as it does because honestly before the quakes I would have told you that Wellington was bigger, and most people here thought the same. No-one realised that this was the second biggest city But I think it's the knowledge of how many people have left that is so upsetting - how many more will we lose before we're back on track and can start to grow and renew again?
On the edge/documentary
I realised yesterday that I'm not doing as well as I thought I was. I've been seeing counsellors and feeling like I was wasting their time because I'm 'fine' but a conversation with my mother pulled me right back down again. She's gone back into negative mode where she's convinced that it's all terrible and the city will be a wasteland and it's only being rebuilt for the edification of developers etc etc and while most of that I fear is true at least to a degree, it didn't bother me too much. Her negativity was a bit wearing but overall not to bad. That is, I was fine until she started talking about the school. She hates the Education Minister and has decided that because North New Brighton school is surrounded by green zone housing and our school is so close to red and orange zone places that the minister will close us down and merge us with them just because of geography. I protested that surely they would take into account roll stability, reputation, quality of education etc etc and she said she doesn't trust the minister to look at things properly and that she expects her to operate based solely on economics. I broke down. I couldn't deal with that idea at all. Worry about the school and its future is what sent me right to breaking point in June and July; it's what has caused me the most stress and depression this whole entire year but I thought I was over it; I thought I'd got past it. But having that conversation proved to me that I have merely been suppressing it. I don't want to go back to where I was in June, but it was painfully obvious yesterday that I haven't dealt with those issues, I've just put them behind me and ignored them. I suspect that's not going to be particularly helpful in the long run.
Interestingly enough, that conversation started out of a discussion about this new documentary which is coming to cinemas next month. Some people think it's too soon, but I'm quite keen to go see it. Apparently they were working on it after the September quake and were almost done when February hit. Knowing that, seeing the optimism people had in the first part of this trailer is quite gut wrenching:
Cathedral
*sniffle* They made an announcement about the cathedral this morning and while they couched it as progress and forward moving etc etc to me it's not good news. They are deconsecrating it (well, that one was fairly obviously having to be done) and partially demolishing it to have 'a mix of old and new' and that's the bit that I dislike. They aren't going to rebuild it as it was and since it's the bit that I knew, that I saw when I approached it that is damaged and will thus be gone, it's very sad. I hope we don't get an ugly modern building butted up against what was once there - this is the core of our city and it needs to be amazing. Actually I just read the article in more depth and it's even worse:
But the much-loved cathedral would never look "exactly as it used to" and whether it would be rebuilt on its current site was not yet known.
This is a sad sad day :-( The hope that the cathedral would be fixed and back together in the square was one thing I'd kind of held on to. That is now up in the air - it won't look the same and now it may not even be in the same place. The only thing I can hold onto is that despite my irrational fear of heights and spiral staircases I have been up the spire of the cathedral twice. A friend is (was?) a bellringer for the cathedral and so on New Year's Eve we often went with her into the city and climbed the spire to the top to watch the fireworks and the people gathered below. It was magical to be up there (even though I had a massive panic attack and froze coming back down). I am also grateful that I got to be in the belltower with the bellringers last year. I wasn't game to go to the top, but I got to see them ringing which was really cool - and that is the last time they will ring those bells in that tower. I'm also grateful that last year I was able to go with Summer on her kindy trip to the cathedral and I took some pictures inside it. There are plenty outside but you don't tend to see as many of the interior.
I just ... this is the one building I really never wanted to have to deal with as being gone, and yet here it is :-( Whatever happens it's not going to be the cathedral as we knew it.
Edit - I know it's totally irrational and stupid to be so fixated on a building but I've been crying ever since they made the announcement. I haven't cried like this since ... well, since the red zone announcements in June. Watching the video where the bishop makes the announcement made me sob. It's so very obvious what with all the hedging and 'at this time' stuff and the 'look at this lovely place we're that we still have' thing at the start that they fully expect this to be a totally new building with only bits and pieces of the old in it. She says there's more good news than bad, but I don't understand how she can say that - apart from being told that the building was going to be totally bowled there is very little that could be worse news as far as its fate is concerned. It sounds like some of the interior will be taken out and put into a new building, but that most of the actual structure will be gone. A brand new building, a possible move to a new location - it all means that we have, for all intents and purposes, lost the cathedral.
Excuse me while I go cry some more ...
First things first, I decided in the end to take the kids along to the All Blacks' victory parade. It's not really my thing at all, but since Seth in particular was so into the World Cup, and since this isn't something they can see every day, I decided in the end to just do it. I found it boring but the kids, and Seth in particular, were delighted. My mum told them afterwards that when they are as old as she is (which boggled the kids a bit) they'll be able to tell their grandkids that they saw that parade, and that's basically why I did it. When I was around Seth's age Princess Diana came to New Zealand and my parents took us along to Queens' Park in Invercargill to see her (actually I believe the family was there too, but no-one cared about anyone else). They were never royalists and didn't care about it at all but because it was something that was unlikely to happen again they took us along. I still remember that day and how excited we were and I figure it's not about what the adults want and like, but what the kids do. Especially after the year they've had, I think the kids need fun and exciting things to do and remember. In a similar vein, I'm *shudder* thinking of taking the kids to Woodford Glen tomorrow for their family day to open the car racing season. That's definitely not my thing, but it's cheap enough to go, they are having a lot of bouncy castles, face painting etc and the kids get another new experience.
Finalists!
It appears that Seth's teacher didn't put the videos of the 'Peter and the Wild Poaka' and 'Train Station' onto their class blog because they have been entered into a national competition - and they are now in the finals. My email has been down for around 48 hours so I don't have this straight from the horse's mouth so to speak, but one of the other mother's in the class told me this morning that both videos are in the final 6 in their categories. That's a massive achievement considering that they are up against kids much older than themselves. Here's hoping that I get my email working again soon and can find out a few more details.
David Tua
On Wednesday David Tua came to our school to see and talk to our kids. He had auctioned his time as a home handyman on trademe to raise money for breast cancer research, but the person who 'won' him chose instead to bring him to Christchurch and get him to go around a few schools on the east side and cheer them up a bit. While there he gave away several pairs of boxing gloves and signed them to individual kids and Seth was one of the lucky kids to get a pair. He is very happy and now thinks he'd like to be a boxer, which made me giggle. He's such a skinny wee thing he'd be knocked over really quickly. Still, I used to do kickboxing and really enjoyed it so if he wants to give it a go (once the first flush of excitement has worn off) then I'll see if I can find him somewhere to go. They filmed his visit to our school and it showed on the late night news that evening but he went to several other schools as well. I have to say I do admire the way our principal manages to get our school into the news - and it's good for us. The more publicity we get for positive things, the more awareness of the school is raised, and the more likely we are to survive as a school because people want to send their kids there.
Pop-up Mall
There's a bit of a fracas brewing over the section of Cashel Street due to reopen tomorrow. Way back in April I wrote that they were planning to have this retail hub open on October 29th and it looks like they are actually going to pull it off. However, the trouble is that they called it 'the world's first pop-up mall' which is a) blatantly ridiculous because others have happened before and b) caused an as-yet-incomplete container mall in London to throw a hissy fit because we borrowed the idea from them and all sorts of other complex things that I'm a bit shaky on. As far as I can tell both sides are being ridiculous about it all, demanding apologies and refusing to acknowledge where ideas came from respectively (and, as a reminder this isn't new to either London OR Christchurch, so this whole thing looks quite petty on both sides). But seriously, taking legal action against our container shops? That seems really OTT, and despite their assurances that they don't want to hamper the rebuild of Christchurch, where exactly do they think the money to pay the legal fees is going to come from? Any money that has to go on defending this thing will have to come from funds that are being used to rebuild. The Re:Start initiative borrowed quite a lot of money, apparently from the quake fund, to get off the ground and if they are forced to go through this legal process then we can assume it will take longer for that money to be repaid and able to be used in future rebuilding projects. I think both sides need to stop being stupid and I think the legal action is way beyond necessary.
City Size
We are no longer the country's second biggest city :-( It shouldn't feel as bad as it does because honestly before the quakes I would have told you that Wellington was bigger, and most people here thought the same. No-one realised that this was the second biggest city But I think it's the knowledge of how many people have left that is so upsetting - how many more will we lose before we're back on track and can start to grow and renew again?
On the edge/documentary
I realised yesterday that I'm not doing as well as I thought I was. I've been seeing counsellors and feeling like I was wasting their time because I'm 'fine' but a conversation with my mother pulled me right back down again. She's gone back into negative mode where she's convinced that it's all terrible and the city will be a wasteland and it's only being rebuilt for the edification of developers etc etc and while most of that I fear is true at least to a degree, it didn't bother me too much. Her negativity was a bit wearing but overall not to bad. That is, I was fine until she started talking about the school. She hates the Education Minister and has decided that because North New Brighton school is surrounded by green zone housing and our school is so close to red and orange zone places that the minister will close us down and merge us with them just because of geography. I protested that surely they would take into account roll stability, reputation, quality of education etc etc and she said she doesn't trust the minister to look at things properly and that she expects her to operate based solely on economics. I broke down. I couldn't deal with that idea at all. Worry about the school and its future is what sent me right to breaking point in June and July; it's what has caused me the most stress and depression this whole entire year but I thought I was over it; I thought I'd got past it. But having that conversation proved to me that I have merely been suppressing it. I don't want to go back to where I was in June, but it was painfully obvious yesterday that I haven't dealt with those issues, I've just put them behind me and ignored them. I suspect that's not going to be particularly helpful in the long run.
Interestingly enough, that conversation started out of a discussion about this new documentary which is coming to cinemas next month. Some people think it's too soon, but I'm quite keen to go see it. Apparently they were working on it after the September quake and were almost done when February hit. Knowing that, seeing the optimism people had in the first part of this trailer is quite gut wrenching:
Click to viewCathedral
*sniffle* They made an announcement about the cathedral this morning and while they couched it as progress and forward moving etc etc to me it's not good news. They are deconsecrating it (well, that one was fairly obviously having to be done) and partially demolishing it to have 'a mix of old and new' and that's the bit that I dislike. They aren't going to rebuild it as it was and since it's the bit that I knew, that I saw when I approached it that is damaged and will thus be gone, it's very sad. I hope we don't get an ugly modern building butted up against what was once there - this is the core of our city and it needs to be amazing. Actually I just read the article in more depth and it's even worse:
But the much-loved cathedral would never look "exactly as it used to" and whether it would be rebuilt on its current site was not yet known.
This is a sad sad day :-( The hope that the cathedral would be fixed and back together in the square was one thing I'd kind of held on to. That is now up in the air - it won't look the same and now it may not even be in the same place. The only thing I can hold onto is that despite my irrational fear of heights and spiral staircases I have been up the spire of the cathedral twice. A friend is (was?) a bellringer for the cathedral and so on New Year's Eve we often went with her into the city and climbed the spire to the top to watch the fireworks and the people gathered below. It was magical to be up there (even though I had a massive panic attack and froze coming back down). I am also grateful that I got to be in the belltower with the bellringers last year. I wasn't game to go to the top, but I got to see them ringing which was really cool - and that is the last time they will ring those bells in that tower. I'm also grateful that last year I was able to go with Summer on her kindy trip to the cathedral and I took some pictures inside it. There are plenty outside but you don't tend to see as many of the interior.
I just ... this is the one building I really never wanted to have to deal with as being gone, and yet here it is :-( Whatever happens it's not going to be the cathedral as we knew it.
Edit - I know it's totally irrational and stupid to be so fixated on a building but I've been crying ever since they made the announcement. I haven't cried like this since ... well, since the red zone announcements in June. Watching the video where the bishop makes the announcement made me sob. It's so very obvious what with all the hedging and 'at this time' stuff and the 'look at this lovely place we're that we still have' thing at the start that they fully expect this to be a totally new building with only bits and pieces of the old in it. She says there's more good news than bad, but I don't understand how she can say that - apart from being told that the building was going to be totally bowled there is very little that could be worse news as far as its fate is concerned. It sounds like some of the interior will be taken out and put into a new building, but that most of the actual structure will be gone. A brand new building, a possible move to a new location - it all means that we have, for all intents and purposes, lost the cathedral.
Excuse me while I go cry some more ...