primary beams with big claws and drag whole portions of concrete floor onto the ground. For the thrilling denouement, the thick concrete ceiling of the building’s underground bomb-shelter will be blown to pieces and all the material that once made up the Fire station will compactly fill the volume of the basement underneath. This, we were told by an authoritative man in a blue suit and tie with a thick folder under his arm, will be very loud and will raise a lot of dust and asbestos into the air. Special machines will ensure that you will not be getting any of those nasty chemicals into your lungs by spraying water into the air, so all the “bad” particles stick to it instead. Afterwards the whole area will be levelled, pounded flat by even more big machines and finally covered in nice shiny asphalt with crisp straight lines drawn on it. Beautiful! The entire 24
process will take a further 10 weeks and if you have not seen some of it already, this is your chance to see men crushing a building to little pieces – literally!! Luckily for us spectators, only boring things have been happening so far – furniture being removed from rooms, windows being smashed, workmen having cups of tea and shouting across the courtyard at their mate to get a copy of Nuts and a bacon sandwich, so you’ve not missed much of the action. Grab a bottle of premium alcohol, some salty snacks and get to Wellington street to watch the action while it happens! And if you are finally thinking of buying a car, this is your time. After less than 3 months, you will have yet another excellent place to park it!
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