I shared the leadership of the River of Flowers remembrance at Te Pā ō Tautahi / The Bricks / Barbadoes St Bridge today. Still poignant, heartfelt and incredibly sad, five years on.
I took this photo after many people had already placed their flowers into the river and I couldn't help but notice how the flowers all followed their own journeys.
Some went out into the main current and were quickly lost from view under the bridge. Others meandered more slowly, while a whole group of them have gotten caught up in the toetoe and are making very little progress.
I didn't capture them in the picture, but there were a couple of flowers that landed on the bank that didn't make it into the water.
It felt like a metaphor for the recovery in the city ... Some elements are streets ahead of others, some are meandering, others have gotten caught up in the rushes, and there are a few who have yet to make it into the picture.
How long will this remain the case? Much aroha to everyone who commemorated a loss today, however you have done that. Mauriora ki a koutou.
