Flowers in the Avon River in remembrance of the day our city changed forever and 185 people lost their lives, with many more injured and traumatized. To mark the day, I attended the memorial service and the unveiling of the Canterbury Earthquake National Memorial. As you can see from my photo, I didn’t get very close to the memorial – like many others, I sat on the grass in the park with friends and watched the memorial on the large screen. It was a very moving ceremony.