If you haven't heard yet, the third biggest digger - sorry, deconstruction machine - in the world is coming to Christchurch to speed up the demolition of earthquake-damaged buildings in the CBD.

The 208 tonne, 65 metre excavator arrived by boat from Birmingham recently and its new owners, Nikau Construction, hope to have it working in the central city by October 12th.

Capable of demolishing 22 storey buildings, the machine is reputed to be extremely sensitive and precise, with a series of cameras informing the operator's every move. 'It's so accurate' says John Paul Stil, Nikau's project manager, 'that you can literally pick a painting off the wall!' (To which we say, 'Pshaw! We do that every day round here.').

If all that's not enough to set your world on fire, don't worry: my four year old son is excited enough for all of us.

It just goes to show, though the reconstruction effort might be taking longer than some would like, we can at least be thankful that things have moved on a little from Petrus van der Velden's day.