Dear Editor,
I promised in my last letter to address the matters of property and agriculture in this epistle. Well rather strangely both topics come to mind as a result of two natural disasters that l have experienced here in New Zealand.
On Tuesday 22nd February 2011, l was about to take luncheon in The Christchurch Club situated behind the Cathedral when all hell let loose when the earthquake struck. It wrecked the CBD and destroyed buildings both commercial and domestic across the city.
From the ashes have risen buildings of beauty and buildings of nasty, practical, economic haste. The private, rebuilt homes have generally shown imagination and taste. Houses full of light, brightness and height; challenging and exciting in construction, original and varied in the use of materials, attractive to the eye and far more suitable for modern purpose than their forbearers. Christchurch property prices have soared, many home owners have rebuilt with insurance money and downsized at a healthy profit.