The Square

I passed through town after work today. It's at least 2 if not more months since I was last there. 

It's hard to describe what the experience is like. I struggle to recognise much of it, or comprehend the visual reality with the old maps that exist in my head.

Some road layouts have changed too, and without landmarks, or landmarks I recognise, it is like being a new unfamiliar city with flashes of familiarity.

I stopped in the square to take in the changing face of my city. The Challice sculpture survived the quakes, unlike the wreck of the Cathedral on the left.

Behind the Challice is a old BNZ building. It is tagged, broken and looks awful. I thought it was coming down. Maybe, maybe not. I thought the building on the far left was also to come down too. The curved white one behind the tree stays.

I didn't count how many cranes dot the skyline, but you can see a few of them here. The there are vast gaps of nothing, and often I struggled to remember where exactly I was or what used to be there.

And then there are the building sites, like the one on the right, with or without cranes.

If nothing else I was reminded the process of healing after a natural disaster is a long, in more ways than one. Except for a few people - mostly tourists, and a couple of locals playing chess, I had the square to myself.

The little fur child is much the same.