With Respect

I spent last weekend in Christchurch, and enjoyed it.

I have to admit that Christchurch has greatly improved since my last visit there. Not that I take credit for that. But I do congratulate the residents of Christchurch for not succumbing to the humiliation of not having the courage, fortitude and street-savvy to make it in Auckland. What they have done is accept their lot as perpetual members of the Flat Earth Society and set about making their city a better place.

How they have done it, I do not know. I imagine it must have been a slow and measured process—something like those easy questions at the start of Who Wants to be a Millionaire. First we’ll begin with “we’ll be a better city than Hamilton” (easy), then “a better city than Hastings” (harder), Orewa (ambitious to the point of ridiculousness), and so on.

How does this bettering manifest itself? Well, for a start Christchurch is cleaner than Auckland and, thus far, mercifully devoid of tagging; Christchurch’s notorious one-way system is now somehow more submissive; and the shopping and restaurant selection is probably the best in New Zealand.

But it is the people. It is the people of Christchurch who have most improved. On this visit I found them less insular than in the past, less focussed on the Crusaders, and less inclined to indulge themselves in fatuous criticism of Auckland. Instead we have shop-assistants and restaurant staff who are pleasant without being intrusive, and who really know their stuff when it comes to product knowledge. We have courtesy and consideration in the shops and on the streets. Even an arrest I observed was expedited with a modicum of decorum and the tacit acceptance that it was “a fair cop”.

Yeah, you are doing well Christchurch. Auckland, for once, could learn from you. Thanks for the experience.



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