Our Brave Young Men

I'm in Christchurch for the weekend and this evening I came across these soldiers keeping us safe - by making sure we don't go where it is dangerous. So many streets have dangers in them: loose construction materials, open sewers, crunched cars, insecure buidings with astounding amounts of debris and holes in the roads so deep that as you drive past you can't see the bottom of them.

It is definitely getting colder at nights as we head into autumn and these lads were starting to feel it as they sat in the open back of their tank. They were lovely when I asked if I could take their photo, and agreed although one of them was clearly not thrilled about it (shy the other chap reckoned).

I was in Riccarton mall today and the crowds were worse than at Christmas. Not surprising really when more than half of the city's malls are closed (and many unlikely to re-open). It means the shoppers have less choices and therefore crowd into the ones that are left.

I've spent the past month reading and looking at so much material on the effects of these Canterbury shakes, but actually being here and seeing even a small part of the damage is eye-opening. To truly see and feel (a number of after shocks in the 24 hours I've been here) what Cantabrians are dealing with daily is humbling.