new old profile cast rings reviews linkers random notes email layout host

� In this diary, I record my life as a transvestite. Perhaps it will help somebody else, who finds their lifestyle doesn't quite match that endorsed by the 'tranny mafia'. Well, I've been there... and survived. The debriefing starts here.

�loves: All kinds of stuff that society thinks I shouldn't.

�hates: Microsoft. Obviously.

�reads:
secret-motel
artgnome
enfinblue
stepfordtart
ten-oclock
boombasticat
lawliiet
annanotbob
fifidellabon
my-serenade

Lynn Jones
Becky
Samantha

Christchurch, 2011
12:26 p.m. -- 2011-02-22

What a world I have woken up to this morning.

Christchurch, New Zealand. I know that city well... or perhaps I should say that I knew it well. It won�t be the same next time I go there.

I used to like watching the locals play a game of chess with giant pieces in that square. I never had the nerve to actually play, because I always suffer lapses of attention in chess, and make stupid mistakes... but I can appreciate those who play well. I remember the visitors� centre with the locally produced artwork that I couldn�t afford, and the sculptures in the square that I could enjoy for free. Nachos with cheese out on the pavement, and two lovingly restored vintage trams that dinged their cheerful way around the city on a pointless but picturesque circular route to nowhere.

The wide streets of a well-planned city, rather than one that has congealed into place since the middle ages; such a joy to drive around. And parking! Parking you don�t have to hoard, or fight over. Those wide streets will have saved lives.

I remember the Wizard, who is actually called Ian and can be a bit of a tosser but is nonetheless an institution. A regular public speaker in Christchurch who would take on all comers in a battle of wits, and usually prove that his foe had come poorly armed. In the UK, we�d have given him an ASBO, sectioned him under the Mental Health Act, or perhaps made him Russell Brand. In New Zealand, they have been far kinder to him. He would have been taking his usual place to speak at 1pm...

I remember trying and failing to get a good photo of the cathedral that would include its impressive spire.

Today, that spire is rubble, fallen upon the cathedral itself, and in the square. Other buildings have collapsed in on themselves, or out into the streets. Aerial photos show scenes reminiscent of the second world war in Europe, but this didn�t happen over five years; it happened in minutes.

I know the kiwis, and I don�t doubt that they�re doing everything possible to save lives and care for the casualties. I know they�ll rebuild, presently. I have been to Napier, which was damaged by an earthquake and fire in 1931. That worked out well, and the result was the construction of a beautiful Art Deco city. Reconstruction also did the nation no harm at a time when the global economy was in the toilet � just like now!

I doubt that Christchurch will benefit quite so much from the 2011 �quake. Present-day architects are too thoroughly up themselves to produce a ciy�s worth of attractive buildings with a long future ahead of them... but I know they�ll rebuild the cathedral and the square. I�m determined to go back there as soon as they�re �open for business�.

God of Nations at Thy feet

In the bonds of love we meet;

Hear our voices we entreat;

God defend our free land;

Guard Pacific's triple star;

From the shafts of strife and war;

Make her praises heard afar

God defend New Zealand.

previous - next

|