Hopefully a year without major earthquakes
02 May 2012 As architects have revealed their designs for the rebuild of Christchurch, let me just add some words to the discussion. I refer to the editorial in Saturday's Press (28 April) which is our local newspaper. The writer claimed no design style should be imposed or we would get a conformist uniformity, like in (beautiful!) Napier which was rebuilt in the then prevailing Art Déco style after the 1931 earthquake. Napier's main streets might well have been built in one style but no-one who has ever been there can claim this is conformist uniformity. Every building looks totally different, different shapes, different colours, different decor, vibrant, playful, joyful, uplifting. Nothing of all this can be said of the proposed grey boxes suggested for Christchurch's central city. That is why the reaction of the people here is overwhelmingly negative - including mine. "The writer of Saturday’s editorial (28 April) about the negative reaction on the architectural designs of the new Christchurch is right in one thing: 'What we are getting are buildings designed in the style prevailing today in this country – a bit Modernist, Brutalist…' But the rebuild of Christchurch needs more than a reflection of the current fashion as the new buildings will not only fill gaps but line entire streets and squares. By allowing all these similar-style and mostly uninspiring buildings side by side we will get exactly the result the writer says must not happen: we will get a CBD of conformist uniformity, just a little flasher and shinier than the Stalinist centres of the cities of Eastern Europe after World War II. You cannot call it diverse architecture if one of these big greyish boxes has incorporated a small yellow box and another one has blue and the next one green glass panes. Surely design is and will always be a matter of taste. But steel, concrete and glass façades have nothing charming, nothing warm, nothing romantic – nothing for the soul. The art of designing a vibrant city is to combine old and modern, playful and practical, past, present and future. This is a huge challenge here as Christchurch has lost so much. Therefore it is even more important to save or rebuild as many heritage buildings as possible and not knock them down with nibblers, stone by stone, dust to dust. And it requires architects to dig deeper than just design what is fashionable at the moment." 23 April 2012 I have just added a page to my stories about the fairytale claim of a "Green & Clean New Zealand". It is about a tunnel project in the really pristine World Heritage area of South Westland which would transform the peaceful village of Glenorchy at the northern end of Lake Wakatipu into a race-through place and the gravel roads to a place named Paradise into a bus highway. No cars, not even other bus companies would be allowed to use the tunnel which would halve travel time to Milford Sound. It would be the vandalism of some of New Zealand's most spectacular nature for the sake of one greedy company. If you feel only half as strongly as I do about this project, please sign the petition against it. The people of Glenorchy have deserved to keep their paradise and Paradise as it is, and with them the people of New Zealand and all travellers of the world who have fallen in love with this area because it is as it is. Read more on my Tunnel Vision Vandalism page. 16 April 2012 Citizens' opinion is not asked, just their money
03 April 2012 The demolition of the Anglican Christ Church Cathedral is a hotly discussed topic in our city - although personally I think the discussion is not passionate enough. Having no sense of history and history-related culture at all, many people just accept that the city's namesake will be gone and something new that "will not kill people" standing at the same site. If you have seen some of the uninspiring shoebox-like steel and glass designs suggested for the future CBD there will not be many reasons to visit the new CBD at all. That's perhaps why the City Council is discussing plans to turn the one-way street system into two-way streets. The thought behind it is... that people will go shopping in the CBD if they have to drive slowly (and probably get stuck) on certain roads where we now have traffic flow, like on Barbadoes Street. I will surely not waste time in the CBD if they demolish all neo-Gothic heritage buildings and replace them by cold and modern look-alike architecture. I think the most interesting cities are those where old and new are side by side, the romantic old buildings (that kill people when they are not reinforced properly) reflecte in the glass fronts of the new ones. Just something interesting. People will surely not flock into the CBD if they are forced into traffic jams. What absurd idea! I would rather take a ring road further outside and can go to the big shopping malls if glass and steel is the future of Christchurch's inner city including the new Cathedral. My inner city destinations would be the Botanical Garden and Hagley Park, and Riccarton Park further west. A loud voice in the fight for saving, reinforcing and rebuilding heritage buildings is the Wizard, Christchurch's living piece of art. He is eighty years old and as loud as ever. Amazing! If you want to sign his and a heritage group's petition for saving Christchurch's historical building, where it is still possible, you can do it here: Today I read an article in The Press which says that 70 churches and Christian organisations from Canterbury (which is our region) support bishop Victoria Matthews in her decision to demolish Christ Church cathedral. They say that "God's real Church is the people, and people matter more to God than any building". I even agree with this. But another sentence is of concern to me. It says hat a "unified perspective of those who actually lead chuches and oversee church buildings" is needed. This may well be true. To me it just explains why the congregations are getting smaller and smaller. Because those who lead the churches do not really get it what the people want and need. Let's put my thoughts about the demolition of Christ Church Cathedral here (thoughts after reading an article in The Press on 27 March 2012): Hidden agenda and demolition by neglect According to CERA’s demolition manager Warwick Isaacs knocking down the Anglican Cathedral is the only viable option. He says – as does bishop Victoria Matthews - every time he comes in “it is getting worse”, and that even small aftershocks are continuing to degrade the building. The question is: why? Because the church’s owner has done next to nothing to stabilise the building since February 2011. It is similar to the deterioration of the brick wall along our property. Because AMI Insurance has not bothered to have a small crack repaired after the February earthquake, it has deteriorated in the following quakes and is now broken in several parts and a much bigger repair job will be needed – whenever this will be. It is the same with houses that have only a few cracks. If you do nothing, one day they crumble and fall. Or look at hillside sections and houses sliding because the retaining walls have not been properly repaired or replaced. Why would you not want to prop up unstable walls and instead watch them getting weaker by the day? And why does the Anglican Church only listen to local “experts” and not to international experts who have done such work over and over again? The restoration expert Marcus Brandt has given the only logical answer: because you do not want to get the result - which is saving, restoring and strengthening the Cathedral. Leaving the building to the elements from above and below is like not giving a crutch to a man with a broken leg. The Wizard is dead-right that there must be a hidden agenda, and Marcus Brandt has revealed it in his brilliant piece in last Saturday’s Press. Coming from the city with the world’s highest (Gothic) cathedral, I am shocked at how many people accept the unacceptable. Christ Church Cathedral is more than a building and the symbol of the city. It stands for Christchurch’s heritage and history, it holds the blood, sweat and tears of those who built and helped to build it. It may not be spectacular in terms of international grandeur but even for someone like me who comes from a place where you find hundreds of much more spectacular Gothic churches, it is quite a pleasant building. In terms of historical value for New Zealand it is really old even if the “real” Gothic churches in Europe are 700 years older. It marks the start of neo-Gothic architecture in New Zealand and is irreplaceable, and therefore every effort should be made to restore it. Here is the article by Marcus Brandt I refer to: 24 February 2012 Just coming back from a two-week trip to the south of New Zealand's South Island, including Stewart Island. It was probably the quietest travel I have ever been on, with all accommodation at remote places where you could hear nothing but the sounds of silence. It was amazing. The trip started with me on a mission. Despite massive problems with my achilles tendon I participated in the New Zealand Masters Games in Dunedin - and won two gold medals in my age group, in discus and shot put. I was happy when it was over because it was hard on my nerves, all the time thinking that I could injure my achilles tendon seriously.
Never in my life have I done such strange warm-ups, with nearly no running, just some hobbling, a bit of stretching and proper upper body warm-up.
Despite not having 
However, after a rest my calves felt rather tense, so I just went to the massage. "Sports injury massage" sounded good ;-)) It was free ACC treatment LOL There were two guys attending one calf each, it worked miracles, and they put a pressure bandage on.
I had two great throws in the shot put warm-up when I did not throw full power. In the competition I wanted a little too much. It was not bad but not as good as before, and my achilles tendon got sore again. But I survived. Got some ice from the massage duo and advice on how to cure it and treat it and work out in the future according to the latest research.
The results could have been better but also worse, and given the circumstances I could be happy, and I am confident I have not done more damage, and I am pleased all the workouts have not been in vain.
More photos on the German page 05.02. Gold-Games 19 January 2012
No text yet, just adding some new pages.
You might have spotted one of them already. I am working on a photo documentary on a family of paradise ducklings that I have visited since early November 2011. Then I spotted 18 tiny, fluffy ducklings. Now they are huge and their number down to 11. They start arguing, growing up, some are brave enough to feed from my hand. My visits to their home on the banks of the river Avon are highlights for me, so much I do enjoy this extraordinary clutch which one day had a late arrival, or adopted member of the family.
You find the story by clicking on Paradise duck tales in the left sidebar.
|     Why Christ Church Cathedral could be (have been...) saved: Petition to save heritage buildings in Christchurch: |