Ignoring the barricades
Ignoring the barricades
Business owners in The Press (Barricade anger owners of Selwyn St Businesses, The Press Friday Jan 14th 2011) express their frustrations with the continuing presence of barricades around their businesses. But we'd like to ask if anyone still notices them? It's amazing what we walk past every day and no longer see. It's all been normalised.
There are shop awnings throughout Merivale held up with pieces of four-by-two. There's been no information on when these will be repaired and shop staff say they no longer notice them until a customer mentions it or questions when they'll be removed. There is an entire block of shops in Papnui which has been closed and barricaded for months. When asked, nearby shop owners confidently say it's had no impact on their businesses. One shop owner has even said her business has increased as her only competition in the central city has closed.
Do you even see the cracks on the footpaths that you step over? Or the cracks in your walls waiting to be plastered? Just the same way that we hardly comment on the small earthquakes anymore, it seems we are trying to ignore the realities of the slow rebuilding process as much as possible. Perhaps it's the only way to start feeling as if life is getting back to a pre-earthquake normal.