Kaiapoi's Got Mail!

Abandoned letterboxes in various Canterbury "Red Zones" have recently become prized property, as several artists wanted to turn them into artworks.
The Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA) allowed two groups to collect the boxes: the Avon-Otakaro Network, and Kaiapoi's Rubble Rousers.
The Rubble Rousers have recently erected a 5m-high totem made of letterboxes collected in Kaiapoi's earthquake-blitzed Golden Grove area.
Artist Mark Larsen made copies of the road signs from the streets where the letterboxes came from. They, and the letterboxes, were secured to a pole and the whole creation was coloured red with black numbers. The red stands for the Red Zone, black for the region's blackest day...and of course red and black are Canterbury's sporting colours.
The sculpture is prominently located on an empty lot at the corner of Williams and Charles Sts., where it will stay until that land is redeveloped. It's ultimately planned to form part of a new sculpture park for Kaiapoi, along the River Bank Walkway.
Meanwhile the Avon-Otakaro Network is still gathering letterboxes for its project to build about ten sculptures.

Luck Doesn't Come Into It

Brian Harris was sitting on his front porch last Sunday evening, sipping a coffee, when suddenly bullets flew around him.
The neighbourhood in Washington DC, USA echoed to the sound of several randomly-fired shots - one shattered a house window, another a car windscreen, still another struck the side of a second car. The fourth round hit Brian...
It pierced the pocket of his sweatshirt and bored into his wallet, going through his driver's licence, a bank card, medical card and some money. It broke through the wallet cover, and shattered the front of his cellphone. And then the .380-calibre round stopped, a few millimetres from his stomach. His wallet and cellphone had saved his life.
"That's what people tell me," says Harris, unwilling to admit how close a call it was. Others aren't as shy.
His boss at Catholic Charities, where Harris has worked for three years delivering meals, calls it a miracle. Supervisor Eric Curry says that Brian "is a true witness that God lives."
Even cops who've seen everything hadn't seen this. Washington DC Police Cmdr. Andrew Solberg, a 26yr veteran: "I'm not a religious man, but this guy is blessed. I think somebody was watching out for him. The only time you hear about this happening is in a John Wayne western." Cops believe Harris was an innocent bystander. In fact, the bullet's trajectory was so lucky that even police are citing divine intervention.
Spin the story any way you like - it's still a bloody close call! I hope Brian buys a Lotto ticket!

Penny for Your Loss

The post-earthquake demolitions around Christchurch have turned up a vast array of interesting artifacts.
Last week, a WW1 memorial plaque was rescued from a mountain of rubble at Burwood Resource Recovery Park. It was a Next-of-Kin Memorial Plaque, also known as a Dead Man's Penny, engraved with the name Ernest Wright and the inscription "He died for Freedom and Honour".
These commemorative plaques were given to the relatives of men and women whose deaths were caused by the Great War of 1914-18. In addition to the bronze plaque, a commemorative scroll was also given to next-of-kin.
As the giant shredding machine at the Burwood park processes than 40 tonnes of debris per hour, it was pure luck that this palm-sized item was found.
It's understood the penny was given to Ernest Wright's wife, Gladys Henrietta Wright (nee Mansfield), after he was killed in action in France on 23 Nov.1916. (His death was listed in the Auckland Star, 05 Dec.1916, "Heroes Of The War"). He is one of many "who lie in foreign fields", buried in the Rue-David Military Cemetery, Fleurbaix, France.
An ex-millhand, Rifleman Wright (serial no.25/374) was a member of the 3rd Battalion, C Company, NZ Rifle Brigade. He was born in Christchurch on 01 July 1887, and was survived by his wife and their two children - Ella Kathleen Wright b.03 April 1913 and Gladys Evelyn Wright b.27 Jan.1914.
Park Operations manager Rob Wilson says he'd like to reunite the penny with its owner, presumably a relative of Ernest Wright, as it's value is not in its metal, but in what it means to someone...