Jump to page: London << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 >>

Wednesday, 23 February 2011 - Kia kaha

It's now been 24 hours as I write this. The death toll stands at 75 so far with dozens if not hundreds more still trapped in rubble. John Key, our prime minister, has declared a national state of emergency, and help is pouring from the world over including the US, UK, Asia, and our mates across the ditch in Australia. Christchurch is flooded, cracked, demolished, and still shaking with aftershocks occurring every few minutes. I'm still waiting to hear from a few folk but as far as I know so far my friends and family back home are all ok, as is my property just outside Kaiapoi. Latest events here, photos from yesterday here, and photos of the aftermath today here. Much aroha to all, kia kaha.

Thursday, 24 February 2011 - Please donate...
Please donate to the New Zealand Red Cross or other such charities if you possibly can. The Red Cross "provides assistance to millions of vulnerable people every year. We help people affected by conflict, disaster and emergency and prepare communities to cope with potential crises." Donations can be made online from anywhere in the world. I've done my bit, and I know in the grand scheme of things it may not seem like much, but every little helps. There are however a number of c*nts operating scam sites purporting to be charities, often having very similar names to legitimate charities such as "Oxfan" as opposed to Oxfam, so as always be vigilant.

Dust cloud over the Christchurch CBD immediately after the quake struck, as shot by a tourist from the Port Hills. More photos from today here. Help has arrived from the world over and search and rescue teams are going for it. But the death toll now stands at 103 and 228 people are thought to be missing, of which 122 people are thought to be inside the CTV building which was one of the most severely damaged. One of those killed is one of my brother's best mates. Water and electricity is slowly being restored, but hillside suburbs have been evacuated for fear of cliffs collapsing, and many people have chosen to leave the city altogether.

That is, or was, one of our public transport buses.		And that is, or was, this guy's house.
The very tip of the Cathedral which was badly damaged and is still a no-go zone. According to the Christchurch mayor tonight the Cathedral will be rebuilt. Up to 22 people are feared trapped under this rubble.		A clock on the Christchurch Art Centre which stopped about the time of the quake (12:51pm).

Friday, 25 February 2011 - Change of note

Amid news that a third of the buildings in central Christchurch are estimated to require demolition as a result of Tuesday's quake, I thought I'd put something a bit happier up here. Kristina babysits a few different kids during the week to earn some (illegal) cash while she's here, one of whom is Alicia. This week was the second of school holidays, and since they were only a tram ride away in the morning, I suggested they come out to La Défense to meet me for lunch since Alicia had never been here before. Granted there's not a lot here for kids given that it's a business district, but she enjoyed it nonetheless. In the centre shot she's being a monkey in a tree hahaha!

Pizza for lunch and imitating American Indians in a busy restaurant while people watched on after Alicia found out Kristina has a bit of Cherokee in her.		And I got climbed all over, and just generally beat up.		La Défense has a massive mall with a massive Toys 'R' Us, and I think the look on the face says it all hehe :) Spot the Lego Eiffel Tower!

Saturday, 26 February 2011 - Planes, Trains, and ...

Earlier in the week, Kristina and Alicia (above) went to some golf driving range out in Bois de Boulogne. I've never done that before and decided I wanted to, so we headed out there only to find the joint was closed today or something - bugger! Regardless, en route we found the guy on the left driving this contraption (and holding up traffic) along a busy Paris road, and later found what used to be a car but is now a completely burnt-out pile of metal, rubber and fibreglass, with two seats, a small engine, and a steering wheel. I'm guessing this used to be granny's shopping cart before someone nicked it and set it ablaze hehe - naughty!

Sunday, 27 February 2011 - "As bad as Haiti"

New Zealand's former Prime Minister Helen Clark, now the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, said today the damage from Tuesday's quake is "as bad as Haiti", referring to the earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12 last year. That kinda puts it into perspective. The difference however is we are thankfully much better positioned to deal with this than what Haiti was. More photos, constantly updated since Tuesday, here...

Monday, 28 February 2011 - Ode to the Arc

Place Charles de Gaulle (historically known as the Place de l'Étoile) surrounding the Arc de Triomphe - I cycle around this every day going to and from work, and I fucking love it! I mean look at it hahaha - what a mess! This is the meeting point of 12 avenues (including the Champs-Élysées), its completely unmarked but is probably the equivalent of eight lanes in width, traffic comes flying on and off in all directions, the car horns get a good work out, and no insurance company that I'm aware of covers anything that drives around this. I see the occasional cyclist from time to time, I once saw a pedestrian make a mad dash from the outside across to the Arc (despite the clearly marked subways that go underneath), I saw a moped get wiped out last month - good times!
Meanwhile, the economic impact of the Christchurch quake will apparently top that of Hurricane Katrina which did a number on New Orleans in 2005, and yesterday we were told the damage caused is on par with Haiti. Good page here with before and after photos of the quake.

Tuesday, 1 March 2011 - Two minutes

Where were you for today's two minutes of silence? I was overlooking Les Halles in central Paris, which was anything but silent despite it being 12:51am on a Monday night / Tuesday morning, but oh well.		Meanwhile this whack job has gone on live television claiming to have predicted last week's quake based on the planets and the moon. Full interview here - it's funny stuff; John Campbell you're still a legend!		This is Matthew (Matti) McEachen, one of my brother Jared's best friends, and one of the first taken by the quake. He had just turned 25. New Zealand's 3 News did an item on Matti here.

Thursday, 3 March 2011 - Tennis, on clay!

Check it out - clay! I haven't played tennis in yonks, and I've never played it on clay. Apparently most (indoor) tennis courts in France are a clay surface (even the French Open is played on clay).		And my opponent: a seven-year-old girl hahaha! It's Alicia, the girl Kristina babysits during the week. She's been playing tennis for a couple years and is bloody good. She even gave me a few pointers hehe. Anyway, I forgot how much I miss playing tennis (there was a court right across the street from my flat in Brisbane) so Kristina and I are going to go on the hunt for some public courts this weekend.

Saturday, 5 March 2011 - Fontainbleau

Finally a nice day on a weekend! Me and that Texas chick who keeps hanging around and won't leave me alone have been an item for six months today, and given the weather we decided to get out of Paris again and go see some more of France. So we got on this ugly train and got off it again here - Fontainebleau. This cute wee place is about 60kms southeast of Paris, though is still considered part of Paris' greater metropolitan area. It's home to about 16,000 and thanks to its 20,000-something hectare forest it actually covers a larger area than Paris itself.

We walked from the train station along cute wee back streets and into this massive wooded park, which is apparently a good place for an afternoon nap.

Eventually we ended up here - the massive Château de Fontainebleau, one of the largest royal châteaux in France. The palace as it is today is the work of many French monarchs, first dating back to the 12th century. By the late 18th century the château had fallen into disrepair, until good old Napoleon Bonaparte transformed it into a symbol of his grandeur.

				There she is, always hanging around. I don't mind though ;)

The château is arranged around a series of courtyards, best viewed from above: Google Maps satellite shot here.

Check out the size of the fish in that lake above - they're bloody huge! Although considering how many people throw bread in the water for them I'm not surprised.		So yes another impressive French château, well worth the (free) look.

The serenity was ruined somewhat by these two having a massive row in front of everyone hehe.		After all that we wandered into the centre of town (complete with carousel dating back to 1900 on the right there) to enjoy the typically crap French service and feed our face in the sun.

Good name for a movie, or play, or album, or whatever this is.		Six month anniversary = dinner at some flash French / Asian fusion restaurant on the edge of the city, mostly paid for by my work like everything else at the moment hehe (I'm a cheap date ;)

Sunday, 6 March 2011 - Sport, it's not meant to be

Last weekend we tried to find a golf driving range and failed, and today we tried to hire a tennis court and failed at that too (we were told we could hire rackets and balls there, but on arrival that turned out not to be the case). Seeing as we weren't far from it we wandered to the Eiffel Tower to get some lunch, and afterwards played tourist and raided the candyfloss and popcorn man. SUGAR!!!				While stuffing that sugary goodness in my face this huge group of motorbikes paraded past. I'm not sure what this was all about but it was entertaining nonetheless.

Weekends at the tower - chaos. My favourite bit is when the cops drive past, and all these dodgy bastards selling crap hurriedly wrap that crap up and get out of there hahaha. They of course come back again two minutes later. I'm not sure why they're not allowed to sell this stuff - I'm guessing you maybe need a license or something? Regardless, something that is pretty rife here (as it is all over Europe and probably elsewhere) is a street scam known by several names such as "Three Shells" or "The Monte", or variations of it. I've been suckered into this myself in Barcelona - check out these YouTube videos here and here.

Jump to page: London << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 >>

Page Comments