Striking around midday, many people across Canterbury today will have experienced the short and uninvitingly sharp wind change; it was the ironic and almost comical effect that this wind had on the city of Christchurch though that made me chuckle.

The way this typically-Kiwi-early-summertime southerly wind (some would call it, simply ‘awful’ or ‘unseasonable’ but I choose to stick with ‘typically-Kiwi-early-summertime’ thank you) swept over the Plains and, following days of everybody’s favourite – usually clement always blustery – wind from the nor’ west direction, ripped through Christchurch and the people therein; even then though, it was not the sight of so many middle-aged, T-shirt-and-shorts-wearing, trying-not-to-appear-as-though-they-had-suddenly-been teleported to northern Canada, that made me chuckle.

Oh no, in that moment I thought wryly of Mr James Shaw and his loyal Green supporters; oh yes, I thought wryly indeed.

Specifically, I thought about single-use plastic bags.

The sight was amazing, remarkable, it was unlike any other rapid and prolonged Christchurch wind-shift I had witnessed; in an unprecedented turnaround, blowing gayly in this gale-force south/south-westerly wind, tumbling across roads and littering sidewalks, I saw no single-use plastic bags. Seriously, there was not one.

What I did see, however, and this was the source of my sudden yet mirthful outburst, was a maelstrom of other floating projectiles.

I focused, I strained, I recognised brand names, logos, supermarket logos; what I was seeing was the result of an inevitable surplus of reusable shopping bags.

Whales aren’t choking on these ones though, so that’s something; we’re now making a mess of the New Zealand landscape, instead.

Article by Tim Walker

Edited by Calena Oceans

Photography by Messa Backyard