Pa Rum Pum-Pum-Pum

Eschewing a lie in this morning, I headed in to town with S at our usual time (she was at work, I wasn't) to grab a few last minute bits for Christmas. Like all roads leading to Rome, naturally I ended up at the Re:Start Mall in what used to be downtown Christchurch.

Whilst sitting with a coffee opposite the rather cute Ballantyne's Christmas window display (manger, heavenly host, baby, shepherds etc) I was taken by the sound of the piped sounds of Little Drummer Boy from over in the Red Zone.

Standing on the bench and looking over hoarding, I noticed an automaton playing a drum above the mural shown. It may seem strange, but in Christchurch this kind of thing just fits in.

Shortly afterwards I walked through to the newly opened Gloucester St to the extended viewing area at Cathedral Square. It's the first time I've been in The Square since February 1st 2011, just three weeks before the quake. On that day I was taking photos too. There must be only a handful of people in New Zealand who have little idea of what happened to the Cathedral but I was still stunned at how different things were, not just in the square but on my way to the square. My wife's old office building - gone. The arcade we used to walk through to get to the square - abandoned, broken and overgrown. The building where I used to park when I colllected her from work - gone too. All so surreal....

Now as I write this up at home, Christmas beckons. The beer has started to flow, the potatoes have been dug and I'm just off to get the turkey out of the freezer. Again, Christchurch feels a long way away and I've retreated to my rural idyll. And boy, do I feel lucky.