Anyone familiar with the Heathcote Valley will recognise the silos from the Maltworks. They rather stand out in the valley and are something of an eyesore (though I have met people who actually like them). Well each to his own I guess, but whatever your opinion of the view, the fact is they are coming down (much to the relief of many Heathcote residents – including the one I met today who was very excited about them coming down).

So in about another week or so they will be gone (that is how long they estimate it will take them to get them down). As you can see with the photo below, they are using a wrecking ball and a rather large crane to bring down the silos. I’ve also recorded a video of the wrecking ball hitting the silos, so will link to that once it has finished uploading to YouTube.

The Maltworks are being cleared away for a planned over 55′s lifestyle village which is being developed by Christchurch company PLC Villages.

If you are driving down Brougham Street and wonder what the large white tent like structure is on Sydenham Square – it is the Ark of Hope. An interactive art installation by Side Door Arts Trust. The ark will have a garden inside of it and will be open to the public at 7pm Friday the 16th of December and will remain open until 22nd of December.

If you visit Ballantynes in the revamped City Mall you’ll be sure to notice the children’s story characters displayed in their window.

I’ve just spotted the new book exchange in Heathcote on Martindales Road. It’s about 2 houses down from the library that is now closed. As you can see, there are three fridges with this exchange – one for fiction, non-fiction and for children’s books – oh and the top of the orange fridge has magazines in it. I’ve not added anything to it, but it’s certainly my intention to at some point as I think these book exchanges are fantastic ideas.

Railway underpass on Martindales Road, Heathcote

I’ve been watching the new railway bridge take shape over the last few months – it’s quite a fascinating process but one which I have no knowledge on. I simply stop and stare at what I understand is a tamper going back and forward along the track. According to Wikipedia a tamper is “a machine used to pack (or tamp) the track ballast under railway tracks to make the tracks more durable“. You sure do learn something new every day!

Plasser 09-16 Cat Tamper

The railway bridge was damaged in February’s big earthquake so has had to be replaced. It used to a be a single lane and was quite old. The new bridge can’t be far off from being finished and is now double lane. I always felt a tad nervous going under the old bridge!

This hotel on Durham Street is being deconstructed. Just one of the number of big hotels lost to the quakes.

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Snapped in Woolston. Green bananas for sale at Taste of the Pacific. Reminds me of the joke about the man who asked his doctor how long he had. The doc replied “don’t buy any green bananas.”

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I grabbed a coffee from this caravan this morning. The art on the van is by local graffiti artist Wongi

This is Manchester Street from near the corner of St Asaph & Manchester Streets. I aimed my long lens through the wire fence. What I noticed immediately was the old Paint Sign on the side of the building. This has been revealed now that the building beside it has come down. See below for a close up of the sign – it was hard to get a better shot due to the cordon.

The statue above is just a few doors along from The Drawing Room on Manchester street but behind the cordon. I can’t remember what was there. Someone has left her standing upright. There’s also rather a high stack of shipping containers being used to protect workers from a building collapse – I can’t work out which building it is. That’s the problem when you can’t get into your central city, your memory starts to fade. There’s talk of running citizen tours through the CBD once it’s safe. Needless to say I’d be one of the first on the bus if I could grab a seat.