It’s strange to think so much of it’s gone now. The earthquake in 2011 destroyed large parts of Christchurch. Avonhead was mainly untouched, but the city centre was devastated. I’ve looked at pictures of the damage online. I’ve scrolled through the photos of crumbling walls, rubble, smashed cars, cracked roads. Whole buildings have disappeared and there are unexpected gaps in the skyline. The Cathedral is in ruins.
And little of this has been repaired. Jade confirmed this when I spoke to her about it on Skype. The broken masonry has been cleared away from the roads and pavements, but in many places the ruins still stand. The Cathedral is still derelict.
And those buildings that have been rebuilt are different. The city centre will not be restored to its original state. It will be slowly replaced with new structures, new layouts. The old city will never return.
This is disconcerting. In my mind I can only see Christchurch the way it was in the 80s. It’s forever frozen in that state. And yet that state no longer exists. It’s as if the city were never real and I only imagined it.
The same is true of Skye. She died when she was still a teenager, so she’ll always be a teenager. She’s forever frozen in the 80s. She’s become like someone I dreamt up, a character I invented.
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