The Quake, Heat and Sun!!!
With Uni being so busy and the end of the academic year rather scarily upon us, I very rarely get time to post an entry, as you know. However, with disruptions from the earthquake that hit Canterbury on 4th September, the ability to get on with assignments and the like is proving rather diffucult. Uni was completely off limits for 2 weeks following the earthquake, which meant I could do little seems my entire years worth of research was in my office. And for good reasons it would appear! Whilst there was no structural damage to any of the seperate 90 buildings to campus, a lot of windows were broken and just general chaos! One of the worst affected areas of campus was actually my building - my office is on the 5th floor, and when we were finally allowed back into Uni, it took 4hrs to put back into order. More disheartening was the damage to the Classical departments ancient artifacts collection, which is on the level directly above me. This collection is the largest body of ancient Greek and Roman artifacts in the Southern hemisphere, most impressive being the red and black amphora Greek vases. Sadly, the majority of this collection has been destroyed as a result of the glass casings falling over, despite being weighted. Thankfully, some of the larger pieces will be able to be glued back together.
The clean up effort is still going on around the city and at Uni. Some residents of the city still have no water or sewerage, gaining aid from the army, and the disruption caused by road works, cranes and diggers is beginning to annoy some people - why they just can't be patient I don't know! At Uni, there are an abundance of cranes around, mostly near the library attempting to replace broken windows on all 11 levels. The library is completely off limits for the rest of the year, which means campus is relatively quite due to the lack of study space to accomodate the majority of students who are not lucky enough to have an office. And from the pictures which have been released, the library is closed for good reason......
On the upside, Summer seems as though it has finally decided to arrive! It seems comletley bizarre having to look through the wardrobe for the shorts, singlet and jandels! This weekend, Christchurch reached 24 degrees on both Saturday and Sunday, and it is supposed to be about 20 degrees today. It all seems even more delightful due to the clocks being moved forward an hour this weekend just been, so the late night BBQs are just round the corner.
With the study not happening due to the newly experienced heat (after losing 2 weeks of uni and being stressed out of my mind, the heat is now an issue!), I decided to go for a bit of a wander around the Uni gardens. These are located near campus, and the staff club is located in the heart of them, although the gardens themselves are open access to everybody. With all the classic signs of spring around me, I thoroughly enjoyed my little meandre in the gardens.
The staff club - before being the staff club this was home to the Rector of the University, known as the Ilam Homestead. It was made famous on the movie "Heavenly Creatures" directed by Peter Jackson, based on the true events of 1954 when Juliet Hulme and Pauline Parker murder Pauline's mother. Juliet's father was actually Rector of the University, so the family lived at the Homestead. Much of the movie is actually filmed here.
Spring is definitely my favourite season of the year. I love all the emerging colours and greenery, the lambs and other baby animals in the fields and awakening to the sound of birds. As well as the promise for warmer weather!! My favourite aspect of spring would have to be all the blossum though. I love the colours and the smell! Some of the blossoms around campus are still coming out, but everywhere else seems to be in full bloom. Roll on summer!!!
