Brian Holden: Memorial table idea a bit of a stretch

A table and chairs entry memorialising the 185 who perished in the earthquake - the table will be 55m long. Image / Supplied

Four years have passed since the Christchurch earthquake which resulted in the deaths of 185 people. Last Tuesday saw the unveiling of the six innovative shortlisted designs for a multimillion-dollar Canterbury Earthquake Memorial.

The designs ranged from a memorial wall with a reflective pond, a shallow pool with the names of those who perished, visible underneath the water. Another Riverside Promenade design with a remembrance wall shows a row of cherry trees to honour the Japanese nationals who died in the quake.

The preferred design will be created using up to $10 million from the Government and $1 million from the mayoral relief fund. From the shortlisted designs, one will be chosen which will be alongside the River Avon.

One design that would certainly not get my vote is the Table and Chairs entry. It consists of a bronzed 55m table and 185 chairs representing the number of people who died in the earthquake, on some of which people could sit and others would be built into the design to structurally support the table.

I have no problem with the chairs, but find myself bewildered by the insanely long table, which presumably will be used by those who stroll and picnic in the park. It'll be a beast of a thing. Imagine sitting with your family somewhere near the middle section having a snack when an orange rolls across the table and drops over the other side. That's an awful lot of table around which to trek to retrieve the fruit.

Of course, what most people will actually do, is duck under the table to get to the other side. Constant situations are bound to arise where the table will be, to put it bluntly - a damned nuisance. If indeed it does get the nod as the number one choice, Cantabrians can look forward to seeing ongoing scenes of frustration as users duck and dive to get around - or crawl under the table.

With the need of a vehicle upgrade staring the And Another Thing team in the face, the time has come to drive a little slower past car sales yards to see if there's anything that might catch my eye. My wife's newish car is fine but mine, at 225,000km is becoming shall we say, rather - tired.

A scroll through Trade Me is certainly a good place to narrow down one's choices and get to know what you can expect for X amount of dollars, before setting foot on to a car sales lot. After an hour-and-a-half I came to the conclusion that there was no other car that really pushed my buttons so as to speak. Crazy I know, considering that my current set of wheels is a 15-year-old rather bruised Honda Accord, with a quarter of a million Ks on the clock.

But hey, apart from that, my six-cylinder fuel injected beast rides smooth with power to spare and when I put my foot down to overtake, it leaps into the air. The car has never missed a beat. I love my 1999 Honda Accord.

So, after much deliberation, the decision has been made. My KiwiSaver nest egg can sit untouched for a little longer. Rather than trade up, I'm going to keep my car - and give it a makeover. A "birthday present" I believe is the term that is used.

A visit to the panel and paint shop has revealed that for a few hundred dollars I can have the car's exterior looking like (well almost) as good as when it came out of the showroom all those years ago. Regular maintenance has paid off, with 100 per cent trouble-free motoring and a prognosis from my service team down the road that I've got many more miles left under the bonnet. That seems to be the case with cars these days, if looked after - they last and last.

Oh and for what it's worth, I've scored a set of rather nice original alloy wheels which are being shipped up from Christchurch. I can't wait. Hopefully within a couple of weeks my spruced up pride and joy will be ready to roll. I'll keep you posted.

-Brian Holden has lived in Rotorua for most of his life and has been writing his weekly column for 11 years.