The Rain Keeps Falling in Our Heads

On my way home from shopping I thought I would stop of in the city to catch up on the latest happenings as I had heard that the Re: Start Mail was on the move. I just got out of the car when the rain came down once more so I decided to go and have a coffee and wait until the rain had stopped. Had a lovely coffee and conversation with a couple of ladies, in the city for a look around. They were both from Christchurch but hadn't been into the city for a while.

Just got outside again and the rain come down once more.. so just kept walking. Got a little wet but that didn't matter as I wanted to get some shots of the move. The sun did try and come out later this afternoon and now it seems to have cleared off and I can see a wonderful sunset.

The shot top left, is where some container shops were here is a shot I took just after it opened in 2011, about the same position.

The shot on the top right, is off people having have some lunch in the Re:Start Mall and the bottom left is workman getting the containers put into their new home.

The shot bottom right.. I saw this guy all dressed up in a fancy red coat and walking stick walking down the mall, he stopped and spoke to one of the workers and just walked off into the rain.. looked like he was going to a fancy dress party! Love the cup on the road cone!

More About the Re:Start Mall; Twenty retailers opposite Ballantynes have move to a spot near the Bridge of Remembrance to make way for the $100 million Cashel Square development on the former Shades Arcade and Whitcoulls sites.
The mall retailers will reopen on June 13.

The City Mall is the main pedestrian mall in the central city of Christchurch, New Zealand, comprising two sections of Cashel Street plus the Bridge of Remembrance and one section of High Street. The Bridge of Remembrance was pedestrianised in 1976. The main mall was closed to traffic on 11 January 1982 and formally reopened as a pedestrian mall on 7 August, but it was not until 1992 that the entire mall was paved. The mall was redeveloped between 2006 and 2009, and track was installed for an expansion of the heritage tram network.

The September 2010 Canterbury earthquake caused damage to some buildings, but the Boxing Day aftershock, directly underneath the city, caused even more damage, including building failures. The 6.3 magnitude February 2011 Christchurch earthquake devastated the mall; the façades of many buildings collapsed and there were several fatalities. The centre of the city was subsequently closed to allow demolition work to proceed. Structures affected included most of the heritage buildings in the mall that are or were registered by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust. Part of City Mall, the section of Cashel Street from Oxford Terrace to Colombo Street, was the first part of the central city to open again, on Saturday, 29 October 2011, marked by a ceremony at which the Prime Minister John Key officiated.

Organisers initially claimed that it was the world first pop-up mall, but there were already container malls in other places, for example Cholula (Mexico) and Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan). Organisers of the Christchurch mall project were threatened with legal action by organisers of a similar project in London (Boxpark) that is yet to open.

The Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority completed the removal of the Red Zone cordon, including removing the remaining cordon around City Mall, in June 2013.
For more information on the Re:Start Mall.