The Bay is and always will be my spiritual home and that made it so much easier to leave the devastation that a number of Christchurch residents have had to and continue to deal with on a day-to-day basis.
It really is so much worse than you see on television for the 20 per cent of that once lovely city that have had their very foundations literally taken from underneath them.
That is not to say that the remaining 80 per cent aren't affected or effected by the physical or emotional scars from the as yet unending aftershocks.
Time tends to dull emotions around such events and there is a very real danger that people will forget what these stoic New Zealanders who continue to put up with their "new normal" as it unfolds before them.
I have heard comments lately about how Cantabs should, "move on as it has been over a year now" and I can understand that those who weren't there just can't understand, but ... let me say this.
I was one of those who berated the Cantabs for being one-eyed and insular but it is these very qualities that have allowed them to survive, adjust, and embrace a new future for themselves.
It will take time. Possibly a decade or more.
Let's not allow events like the Rugby World Cup, Olympic Games, or indeed oil spills off the Tauranga Coast deflect the attention away from a city of proud citizens who are trying to "take care of business" by themselves.
They need and deserve our ongoing support, no matter how long it takes.
Having gone through the 1930s we from the Bay should be the first to understand and the last to say we are no longer willing to be there for support.
Kia Kaha Christchurch and let our region lead the nation to help that proud city for a long time yet.
Dan Odom, Taradale
Bus shambles
Congratulations to Roger Moroney for highlighting the "Shambles for visitors by bus" ( HB Today, October 1). He is my inspiration!
Although previously well motivated to write to the Napier council, I have procrastinated since my own fairly recent travel experience in July.
I had travelled from Gisborne on a Saturday morning and had a return ticket for the Monday afternoon.
Unfortunately, snow closed the road on Monday, thus adding to what is already a "shambles" as accurately described by Roger.
I was required to present myself at the "street depot" on a freezing cold day in order to track down the "office girl" who was wandering the footpath with a clipboard!
Having established that the road to Gisborne was closed, I was then re-directed to the I-Site on Marine Parade to change my ticket for the following day - lucky for me that I had a family member to chauffeur me from place to place as it was probably the coldest day of the year.
Tuesday was worse as there was a backlog of travellers, bags and people spilling all along the footpath, buses delayed by at least half an hour and nowhere warm or comfortable for people to wait.
Add to that the extremely cold wind, dodgy bladders, no toilet facilities, nowhere to change babies, nowhere to buy a snack etc - it's a disgrace. People were openly voicing their disapproval of these poor conditions.
I neither know nor care whether it is the bus company or the council to blame for this state of affairs.
However, there is nothing attractive about this aspect of Napier that would encourage visitors to feel welcome and respected.
I am old enough to remember the old Motor Co where the buses drove in under cover and you still had an option to travel on the railcar between Gisborne and Wellington!
Dare I say that one would expect modern travel conditions to improve not regress - come on Napier, how about a quaint "Art Depot" to add to the famous "Art Deco"?
Diane Doyle, Gisborne
Onekawa Aquatic Centre.
The best kept secret in the Bay.
I have been going to the pool regularly for the past 20 years, sometimes five days a week.
It opens at 6am. I go at 7am.
There is plenty of room and the best showers in Christendom, not to mention the staff.
Get up at sparrow hop and enjoy.
Sam Bristow, Napier
