One Year On

Today is a pretty sad day, it is the one year anniversary of the Christchurch quake  that killed 185 of my fellow Cantabrians. It has changed our lives forever, people have lost loved ones, houses, businesses, limbs, you name it, there are many lucky people like me who survived with no injuries, but the emotional struggle isnt easy either. We were forced to move as our house sustained bad damage, stress, anxiety from worrying when the next quake is going to hit.....you see where Im going with this, its not easy. We had some time off work today to watch the memorial service which was very moving, there was songs, speeches, they read out the names of the 185 that lost their lives and released 185 Monarch butterflies in their honour.  We all observed 2 minutes silence at 12.51 which is when the earthwuake hit last year. I managed not to cry but a few workmates did.

James and I did a bus tour of the "red zone" which is the inner city which is still cordoned off in November and it was very sad to see a once thriving city centre reduced to rubble, overgrown weeds and grass and ge gaps where buildings were. Here are some pictures below to give you an idea of what it was/is like in some areas of my city, along with the outfit I wore to work today - black and red the colours of Canterbury.

What we came home to on February 22 2011

Our house - to the left behind the bench smashed glasses & plas everywhere

A once thriving Hotel/Pub ripped to shreds

Cracks on the outside of our old home

Beutiful old Church where lots of weddings were held

Overgrown grass in central chch - the PGC building that collapsed & killed many was beside the building to the left

A devastated building

Where that dirt is used to be a block of shops - when I worked in the area we used to get hot chips for lunch at one of the shops

My outfit today - Heels - Cotton On, Top - Warehouse, Skirt - Glassons, Tights - Farmers

On a positive note we are all looking forward to the future here in Christchurch - after all we are going to get a brand new city centre at some stage! I will see you tomorrow with an outfit post.

Happy Wednesday Lovelies xxx