Dear Construction Workers of Christchurch

I got my first letter to the editor published in The Press this weekend, exciting! Then I forgot to scan it, and can't find the hard copy. So I am just going to re-print the original here, it is slightly different because The Press scaled mine down a little (I really need to work on colouring within the lines, so to speak). 

And just for you, my fine blog followers, some background: over the summer I have been staying in my home town of Christchurch, which is just month shy of its two year anniversary of the rather devastating February quake which reduced it from a flat, spread out, boring city to an empty shakey shit hole. We are now in the throws of the much anticipated rebuild, which fills this shakey shit hole with large teams of local and outsourced manual laborers  the majority of whom I can only imagine are nice and respectful people. They are all but drowned out by the vocal and disrespectful builders and construction workers who seem to feel entitled to stare, whistle, cat call and abuse every woman who walks past them. And this is why I wrote them this:

Dear construction workers of Christchurch.

Please allow me to begin this letter on a sincere word of thanks. Your skill and hard work fills the emptiness of my most beloved city with the foundations of hope, and for this I am truly grateful.

I do, however, have a few concerns regarding your level of attentativeness whilst on the job. Never in my life have I seen a group of men so fascinated with the female form, with such enamour do you stare at mine as I pass by. Considering that many owners of breasts continue to occupy the city, the time that your gaze is away from the task at is a great cause for concern.

Furthermore, the whistles that follow me down the foot path indicate that you have mistaken me for a canine. The fact that the foundations of our new city rest in the hands of men who cannot distinguish between human and animal does little to reassure me of your competence. I respectfully request that you keep your eyes and cat calls to yourself while the females of the species happen your way.

Yours sincerely,

Rachael Lundy