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@03AR.CHIVES
I Chris Parker, Comedian fb.com/itschrisparker @chrisparker11
became aware of the Instagram account realised what I was missing most, a Christchurch @03ar.chives a few years ago whilst institution, home to my greatest memories as wasting a few hours of my life away a teenager and the birthplace of my love for on Instagram stories. I wasn’t looking for caffeine – Java Café. I immediately messaged anything of significance, rather to mindlessly the mysterious owner of the account, “Not absorb the repetitive imagery of influencers sure if you do requests, but I would trade my impossibly clean houses, breakfasts at trendy soul to see a photo of Java Café”. They replied, new cafes I’ll never get a seat at, and friends’ “There’s one coming, but it was taken on a new dogs being raised like human children. Nokia 2280. It’s absolute rubbish”. I couldn’t A childhood friend had shared the photo believe my luck. Later that day, it was up. from the profile @03ar.chives, an account There it all was in all its tie-dye beauty, dedicated to sharing incredibly specific including those horrendous spiral staircases images of Ōtautahi city pre-earthquake. that led up to the mezzanine that I couldn’t The photo was of the old Christchurch stand up on. I yearned for a large bowl of Bus Exchange, a building I hadn’t seen since wedges and a mochaccino. I wanted to be back 2009. I was suddenly back there, feeling that there, sitting next to my girlfriend (yes, that’s immense social anxiety one would experience right), talking about Rocky Horror Picture Show, whilst walking down the stairwell to the and planning how we were going to get drunk main exchange while students from every in the weekend. There’s nothing revolutionary school in the city stared from those chairs in being nostalgic for your teenage years. that awkwardly faced you. I instantly started We’ve all been guilty of blasting some My following the account. Scrolling through their Chemical Romance and dancing till we have digital archives was like scrolling back to my ‘the stitch’ while alone in the house. But I think teenage years. Image after image transported there’s a certain level of nostalgia that only me to an incredibly specific hang out spot: millennials from Ōtautahi understand – to be The alley of food carts in The Arts Centre, the nostalgic for a city that held your adolescence food court at The Crossing that I never actually which was then almost entirely erased. I’m so ate at, Hack. It was deeply nostalgic in a way I grateful for you @03ar.chives. Whoever you are, wasn’t emotionally prepared for, certainly not you deserve a key to the city or at least a free while scrolling Instagram on the toilet. It’s then I annual pass for the tram.
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