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Christchurch Report
On my flight into Christchurch, when we descended, I saw something unusual; everybody peered out the windows curiously. We were all trying to see if we could discern any changes to the Christchurch landscape post-quake. So hard to tell from the air - had that glimmering slough been there before? Had that industrial neighborhood looked so bleak?
The minute I got off the plane, Christchurch looked like a disaster. But that's because the airport is mid-renovation. Half of the airport looks like a disaster zone, and the other half is getting the dreamy-white-spaceport look. After fumbling around for a bit, I got a cab to my business destination. Driving along, there was a tumbled chimney here, a shored-up porch there. I counted eleven such sites before we passed a Victorian brick house that looked like it had been stomped by Godzilla. Further along, it became clear; Godzilla really didn't like brick buildings.
At my business destination, we promptly went for a business lunch. "How did the quake affect you - no, wait - do you mind when people use the earthquake for small talk?" "No, we don't mind," everyone said. "It's all we're still talking about anyway." Quake impact among six people ranged from needing the house recladded, to still having no sewage, to seeing their untouched side neighborhood double in population overnight. Then we talked about other things. (Such as, Christchurch is the syphilis capital of New Zealand!)
Soon after this, I was bundled off to the venue where I was giving a talk. "It takes ages to get anywhere now, with half the roads closed," said my main host. "The art museum? Still shut...the Arts Centre? Heavily damaged. Us? We're doing okay. This is still home, we're not about to walk away from it. But sometimes when I'm driving around and I pass a building that's been knocked down, like the school I went to, I just want to have a jolly good howl." By now we had arrived in the techy part of town, and I had to admit that Christchurch's claim to being Silicon Valley-like had some merit, as we drove past isolated business-park software office after software office.
Despite the traffic, there was a great turn-out for my talk, and people hung around afterwards, reluctant to tackle the traffic again, but also interested in the topic and quizzing me about working with Agile developers and social media.
There was a sense that Christchurch is ready to start the future. Ten years from now, I won't be surprised if it all looks like the renovated side of the airport, instead of the un-renovated side.
The minute I got off the plane, Christchurch looked like a disaster. But that's because the airport is mid-renovation. Half of the airport looks like a disaster zone, and the other half is getting the dreamy-white-spaceport look. After fumbling around for a bit, I got a cab to my business destination. Driving along, there was a tumbled chimney here, a shored-up porch there. I counted eleven such sites before we passed a Victorian brick house that looked like it had been stomped by Godzilla. Further along, it became clear; Godzilla really didn't like brick buildings.
At my business destination, we promptly went for a business lunch. "How did the quake affect you - no, wait - do you mind when people use the earthquake for small talk?" "No, we don't mind," everyone said. "It's all we're still talking about anyway." Quake impact among six people ranged from needing the house recladded, to still having no sewage, to seeing their untouched side neighborhood double in population overnight. Then we talked about other things. (Such as, Christchurch is the syphilis capital of New Zealand!)
Soon after this, I was bundled off to the venue where I was giving a talk. "It takes ages to get anywhere now, with half the roads closed," said my main host. "The art museum? Still shut...the Arts Centre? Heavily damaged. Us? We're doing okay. This is still home, we're not about to walk away from it. But sometimes when I'm driving around and I pass a building that's been knocked down, like the school I went to, I just want to have a jolly good howl." By now we had arrived in the techy part of town, and I had to admit that Christchurch's claim to being Silicon Valley-like had some merit, as we drove past isolated business-park software office after software office.
Despite the traffic, there was a great turn-out for my talk, and people hung around afterwards, reluctant to tackle the traffic again, but also interested in the topic and quizzing me about working with Agile developers and social media.
There was a sense that Christchurch is ready to start the future. Ten years from now, I won't be surprised if it all looks like the renovated side of the airport, instead of the un-renovated side.