Grass is greener on the other side but . . .

Press, 29 July 1989, Page 17

Grass is greener on the other side but . . .

Many people lured across the Tasman by cheaper housing, more job opportunities, and a more exciting lifestyle will find everything there as promised, but even in the same city, it will be a day’s drive apart. Big cities offer boundless amenities and opportunities — on their terms. Living there does not mean you have (easy) access to everything they have to offer. On Sydney’s lower north shore we had dozens of ballet teachers, but my friend’s child in the inner west had to forgo lessons because there were no teachers for miles (read hours) away.

But she was close to a university, which I wasn’t. Where there is both, you are two hours drive from downtown. Wherever you live there’s always something missing. Whereas in Christchurch you can have everything because, whether we know it or not, Christchurch offers all of the amenities and none of the hassles of bigger cities. Huge distances and congested roads isolate people from the amenities and from each other. Big cities care less, especially when you are down. Australian song writer Eric Bogle sings about a

woman who lay dead in her flat for a year when her children and grandchildren lived in the city (true story, Sydney, circa 1982). Her death was reported in one paragraph in the morning newspaper. If that happened here there would be an outcry and a lot of soul searching, which is much healthier. Christchurch is still of a size that a single issue (or a radio station) can galvanise us. We can talk across barriers because we have the same reference points. When cities get too big they lose this cohesion. People have the idea that because big cities have more hype, individuals are more productive. But they are not. You don’t have as much time to be productive if you spend half your day getting to work. Returning to Christchurch I was struck, not by how little people accomplish but how much. Our neighbour worked full-time as he built his own house and ran a small commercial orchard. Saturday morning found him selling raspberries and playing with his grandchildren. Very low-stress, but very high-production.

When I came back remarks like... “It’s an hour before the shops

close, I’ll go into town and choose some light fittings,” caught me offguard. I’d forgotten you could do anything in an hour. As for the good life, Kiwis will find that they have to be mega-rich in Australia to do some of the things they have to be only half-pie rich to do here. Things like ski-ing. Initially, Kiwis emigrating to Australia will find they have to give up more of the good life than they take on board. It is far more accessible here (and inaccessible there) than they realise. And some still complain Christchurch is a backwater where nothing ever happens and it is impossible to change anything because bureaucracy is so bad and getting worse... that depends where you are from. A young British university lecturer found that Christchurch, far from

being a place where nothing ever happens, amazed her with the speed and efficiency with which things DO happen.

Our easy access to the sources of power and to one another was a revelation. Everyone knows somebody who knows somebody who is in Parliament or Council (or somewhere), whereas in big populations you are far more removed from local contact. When she came to Canterbury things began to happen and she got the sense, that she had never had before, if you want to mobilise and get things organised here, you can. Christchurch galvanised her!

There must be an ideal size where a city has all the amenities without having so much of everything that life becomes a hassle... and Christchurch is it.

Rosaleen M c Carroll