Poo and morons at the helm

Elizabeth pooed on the back terrace the other day and she grabbed my arm and took me outside to see it. Then she pointed at her poo and said, “I did a dog-poo”.

Ben’s Dad came to visit last weekend and he’s just left this afternoon for Christchurch. He’s off to see Christchurch as an earthquake tourist. I’m looking forward to seeing his photos.

Nothing about Auckland excites me so I struggle when we have visitors now to feel enthusiastic about the place. On Saturday we drove through traffic to reach Devonport where we parked the car and caught the ferry into town. We went in search of markets and some urban space for people and not cars. Unfortunately we were too late for the Farmers’ Market behind Britomart in central Auckland, which only runs until midday, and I was very unimpressed by the urban space there. Here’s a pic:

Then we took Mike to the Wynyard Quarter to find another car-free space but I’m bored with the Wynyard Quarter. There’s nothing much there and it feels somewhat “arid” as Mike pointed out. It does have a car park though:

Auckland has lots of car parks. Maybe I’m fussy but I don’t find car parks particularly attractive. Motorways aren’t especially appealing either and there are also lots of those.

I have heard Auckland referred to as the City of Sails. This is wrong. It should be the City of Cars. There is very little in the way of car-free, open, urban spaces for people to walk. Auckland is not a walkable city by any means. I stumbled across a blog-post recently which described Auckland as NZ’s least walkable city and certainly compared to what Christchurch had, it stinks. There are some nice photos of the urban spaces Christchurch had before the quakes in that link and here are some old ones from my own photo database:

Poplar Lane during the April 2010 Jazz Festival

New Regent St

Cathedral Square during the World Buskers’ Festival

A lane leading to SOL Square with some very cool bikes

Poplar Lane, August 2010, when they were laying the new tram tracks

I love to walk but Auckland is a car-city and I’m just not interested in having a love affair with our car, although it is a nice car. Walking is good in so many ways: It slows the progression of Alzheimer’s; it lifts your mood, lowers blood pressure and protects against heart disease and cancer as well as boosting self-esteem. Driving makes you fat, produces pollution, creates congestion and the infrastructure required for a city filled with cars – roads, motorways and car parks –  is inherently ugly. There are morons running this city and there is very little sign it is going to change anytime soon.