No, not sets from the movie Blade Runner (1982), set in a dystopian future Los Angeles of 2019, but artists’ impressions of actual developments happening now.

Are they meant to depict buildings after a big earthquake before it occurs, or a manifestation of a city’s architectural nervous breakdown?

The statement below is on the KCDC website.

We were told at the meeting that the planned cycle lanes between Te Moana Road and Ngaio Road on both sides are going to be dropped, not “put on hold”, and the “road widening” simply means that the central (new grassy) median won’t be as wide as was planned; although they still want to get rid of one of the two northbound traffic lanes between Elizabeth Street and Ngaio Road as exist now, they are talking about one lane which is like a “king single”, wider than usual.

The ornate stone wall is doomed, but they were receptive to bollards to stop a car from Elizabeth Street careening across the road into a shop.

“Following discussions with the Waikanae Community Board and community advocacy groups, we’re working with NZTA to make changes to the proposed layout for State Highway 1 through Waikanae. This includes trying to keep the free turns at Te Moana Rd, road widening to improve safety, and improvements to the Ngaio Rd traffic lights and pedestrian crossings. We’ve also put the cycle lane plans on hold while we look into other options.”

At the Skatepark which is in Waikanae Park.  The “drift party” sounds intriguing…

The stones forming the gravel beaches tend to be larger here, the smaller ones get carried downstream.

We’ve held the view for some time that smartphones coupled with social media have become a blight on society.  It’s not just people ignoring the world around them to read what’s on that little screen, but it now has created a new psychological disorder:

Nomophobia occurs in situations when an individual experiences anxiety due to the fear of not having access to a mobile phone. … Observed behaviors include having one or more devices with access to internet, always carrying a charger, and experiencing feelings of anxiety when thinking about losing the mobile.

Even worse, it is also causing physical problems, not the least of them severe neck pain; the greater the angle the neck is inclined, the greater the load on it:

Below is a photo we took in New York’s Grand Central Terminal in 2012 when the smartphone epidemic was in its early stages. The woman is probably bending her neck at about 25° but the man is probably bending his at about 45°. If they have continued to do this since then, our hunch is that they now have significant neck pain.

‘Witness’ by Sophie Saunders (27 October until 9 December).

Opening Night: “You are warmly invited to celebrate our next suite of exhibitions marking Women’s Suffrage 125 at Mahara Gallery, at 5 pm on Saturday 3 November with writer and iwi kuia, Queenie Rikihana-Hyland.”

Event: Wednesday, 9 November at 11 am: Q&A with artist Sophie Saunders in ‘Witness’.

All welcome and free entry.

WOW = World of Wearable Arts, originally held in Nelson, now Wellington and fittingly (pun intended) this is on display at the Whitirea campus hub of the Arts Trail in Kapiti Road until it ends next Sunday.

Perhaps the chain and anchor were inspired by Renee Chignell? 🙂