Friday, January 22, 2010

Christchurch

I am now in Christchurch about to unpack our worldly goods and settle into our new home prior to beginning my new role as Director of Education for the Diocese of Christchurch.

We have had an eventful few days packing up and cleaning our Nelson house. It is good to cleanse! No more dust, dirt, and accumulating detritus.

We are having a lousy summer in NZ and today is unexceptionally wet.I guess one problem with the case for global warming is that the conclusions of scientists become public convictions when the public experience the world of the senses with some kind of continuity with the work of science. Today is not a good day for deepening global
warming convictions.

As for things Anglican? The Brown win in Massachusetts is a reminder that in the long-term the centre tolerates no extremes. I remain convinced that the Covenant represents the centre of the Communion.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Every blessing on your new post. I will keep you often in prayer. Keep the main thing the main thing.
Faith moves mountains.

Kurt said...

Well, I guess after a small town like Nelson, living in New Zealand’s second largest city is going to take a bit of getting used to! Christchurch has approximately the same population as Buffalo, the second largest city in New York State.

Being a history buff (as well as a vicarious tourist) I’d be off to visit Akaroa! From my internet investigations, iIt appears to be a pretty little town, full of wood-frame houses and white-painted churches. Reminds me a lot of the towns and villages of upstate Chautauqua County where I grew up. (Though Russell, in the Bay of Islands, remarkably resembles Bemis Point, one of my favorite Chautauqua villages. Both towns have a lot of summer tourists, I’ll bet)

Anyway, best of luck in your new job!

Kurt Hill
Brooklyn USA

Peter Carrell said...

Thanks to Anonymous and Kurt. Amaris is worth a visit. But not today. We are in the midst of appalling wet weather!

Anonymous said...

Kurt: Nelson is not a 'small town', it is a CITY, and has a Royal Charter to prove it.

And Christchurch has a Wizard, though I suspect he is a rather wizened wizard by now.

What has Buffalo, besides wings? Well, it has given us this memorable sentence:
"Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo."

Kurt said...

"What has Buffalo, besides wings?"-Anonymous

Snow, of course! And Allentown. And rusting steel mills. Sorry, I was wrong on population figures; on further investigation, I’ve found that metro Buffalo is three times (1,254,066) the size of metro Christchurch (386,100)

Kurt Hill
Brooklyn USA

John Sandeman said...

Kurt,
But you were right about Akaroa! it is a great little town/village. A nice drive from Christchurch, or an overnight stop travelling to the skifields.

Howard Pilgrim said...

"We are having a lousy summer in NZ"
... except for Hawkes Bay and Eastland, where we shifted at least partly to get a warmer climate than we had down south. Enjoy being back in Christchurch, Peter, which like Tarsus is "no mean city", despite Kurt's preoccupation with size and my own with temperature.

Kurt said...

Hi Obadiah/John!

New Zealand is quite a long archipelago, north/south. Howard, what's the general temperature difference between a city or town in North Island (like Russell, for example) and one on South Island (say, Dunedin)? Here in New York State there is usually about a 10 degree F difference between temperatures in Upstate Chautauqua County and the NYC metro area, (Chautauqua County is 1,300 feet above sea level). Upstate almost always has a White Christmas, while in NYC it’s about one in four or so.

Kurt Hill
Brooklyn, NY