A Broken CIty

 

Sunday morning saw us heading off in the car to do a few messages and to then visit some family and friends. As we headed across town we decided that it was a good time to take a look at the city centre. In my first year at Teachers College I was in a hostel in Latimer Square so that was our starting point. The hostel, Morley House had long gone (actually they pulled it down after we had been in it a year!!!) and its replacement was still there but not looking too good either.

As it was such a lovely day we decided to walk around a very extended block - into Worcester, along Gloucester, down Oxford Terrace, along Cashel and back to Madras and our car.

What a sad and broken city it is. There were many people out doing what we were doing and for such a lovely day the mood was sombre and it was surprising quiet, except for the sound of a few demolition companies working. We were able to get right up to the corner of the Square and Colombo Street and had a very good view of the Cathedral.  From our view point it still looks very much intact. As I write this post, there is yet another report on the radio about whether it should be demolished or rebuilt. Personally I think it is too soon to make that decision. There are plenty of our buildings to demolish or rebuild. Let the City Fathers work on those first. Fence it for safety reasons and a tourist attraction for the next few years and then decide. If we look at Europe after WW2, it was many many years before some of their historic buildings were rebuilt.  We moved on around towards the Bridge of Remembrance and it is still standing but the old CHCH public library is well supported with huge steel bracing.

Cashel Street looked inviting but it too didn't have the hustle and busy of a city centre on a sunny Sunday afternoon. There were a couple of buskers playing the violin and their mournful tunes certainly added to the sad  atmosphere. A good irish jig would have been better.

The following photos are a collection of what we took and give you a glimpse of what we saw.