185 chairs

What an amazing day we have had!  To start with, it was our first Blipmeet on New Zealand soil,  Mpp26, picked us up at 9am this morning and took us off on a personal guided tour of some of the sights of Christchurch and its environs.  You can see the two Blippers in the extra!  Maureen and Rose!

Maureen was such an interesting guide as she has lived here all her life and she shared her experiences of the earthquakes, and particularly the devastating one of 22 Feb 2011, and was able to show us how life is still affected by what happened on that day.  Acres and acres of land now empty of the many many houses built on unsuitable land which is now grassland, regularly mowed to prevent it becoming a fire risk.  Schools still closed, cliffs fenced off because they are so unstable after people's homes on top of them collapsed and disappeared, shipping containers everywhere  because they are strong and available and useful, the Transitional Cathedral built of a sort of cardboard, plastic with added shipping container.  And Maureen's own story of that day, the difficulties she experienced and the struggle to get their home habitable again.  And the conflict between those who want to replace things as they were before, and those who want to take opportunities to do things differently...

And then these chairs.  185 of them.  Each one with a connection to one of the people who died on that day, standing as a memorial to them.  One bar stool for Maureen's friend, Stephen.  The invitation to go and sit on a chair and remember...  The most moving part of the day.

A brilliant city, reinventing itself amidst the rubble and the ongoing quakes. A city of life and determination and resilience.

Thank you, Maureen, for showing us all those things, and for giving us a day we will never forget.