Wednesday, March 01, 2006
snow and pancakes
eh' up everyone...
Hope you are right smashin, I'm doing fine over here.. nothing huge to report but thought I'd give a run down of things I've been up to over February, great month that it was!
First of all, the squat is still growing and expanding, there is a great kids room now with home schooling for the 5 kids we have with us.. the hall has been the site of some great big communal dinners and squatters banquets, as well as regular Yoga and Falong Gong (chinese meditation) classes, we have a nice chilled out lounge and an all mightier, party, DJ room down in the basement which seems to work quite well.. there is always something going on and even though its not all plain sailing, it is mostly a wicked place to live..
I caught up with Renee (NZ mate from last summer) as she works close to where I work, and she had a spare ticket going to this movie/show called 'Odna', it is a rediscovered Russian silent film from the 1930s with a full orchestral score to go along with it - the BBC orchestra plus choir and soloists accompanied the film which was shown in a huge place in central London.. it was definitely different and something I wouldn't have thought of going to, good to experience it all while I'm here I guess!!
Then I went up to Nottingham for the weekend to take part in planning the upcoming climate camp happening Aug/Sept in the UK, its going to be a mix of positive alternatives and education etc plus direct action against climate change causes, kinda this years G8.. nice to be up in Notts again, saw some old faces and hung out at the Sumac, even pulled some pints at the bar like old times!
Have also visited some cool places that have been occupied to stop demolishion so that new fancy apartments can be built. First Tonys Cafe - the guy has been running the place for 20 years and refused to leave so it could be knocked down for flats. So the community rallied together and kept it going for several months after it was ment to be evicted. When we went to visit there we folks having tea and having a chat - it was darn cool but unfortunately they lost the place the following weekend.. Apparently the story made it all round the world first though.
Now its happening again, this time a big old empty theatre and multiple buildings along side it in Hackney - just before they were set to be demolished a group moved in and have been squatting it for a week now, I went to see it last week, its massive and heaps of potential to be turned into a community space, they are facing eviction tomorrow so gonna go down and support them..
A new building in London that is having more luck is the old Eastern European and Slovenic Studies dept building right in the middle of central London, vacated by the university last year, students promptly moved in and have transformed it into free accommodation and a social centre - its wicked and complete with the student bar and cafe!! I went there for a benefit gig on Friday and had a blast..
Also been checkin out the car boot sale up the road a bit on Sunday mornings, picked up some bargains and it involves a lovely cycle ride along the canal.. still biking round London, getting a pretty good street knowledge now and luckily it doesn't really rain much so no excuses!
However, it has been rather chilly again recently, and even have had snow flurries - yesterday I biked home from work over Tower Bridge (the iconic one you see on cheesey London stuff) in the snow!! Rock on, how hard core and cool is that!?! Then it cleared up for me to see a beautiful sunset full of reds and oranges on my way home- far out its hard to describe but it was fantastic!!
Well, you may not be aware, but yesterday was also Pancake Day, and like everything else over here, its been picked up and another marketing opportunity, but despite this we decided to have a pancake party at the squat.. luckily a shit load of eggs were skipped in some lovely co-incidence! The table was set beautifully, with a big roast dinner to start things off, then it was pancake craziness - we had pancake races round the hall, flipping competitions and imaginative topping creations.. mmmm it was the best! Heaps of fun and everyone commented how wicked the place and people are when we all get together and do something communal.. next in the pipe line is a rollar disco!! Now thats what I call a great idea! gonna have to source some funky threads baby..
Bad news is I suspect my camera has packed it in already, can't get it to work. Grrrr.. I want to sort out the photos I have managed to take on it and gather a bunch from everyone elses cameras and then put some up here for y'all.. so watch this space.. bummer if that is the case, but ahhh well. Maybe I'm just not ment to take photos!!
Gettin excited about Paris, and about the summer and festival fun!! Renee (as above) is set to finish up work and wants to travel round and go to loads of festivals and work or volunteer so looks like I might have a mate to go round and have a brilliant summer with! Yipee and can't wait! Oh AND my matiepotatierockintheparty pal Maddie is coming over in a month!! Very cool and planning a trip up to Manchester for a big catch up :)
Well, there is so much more I could rant on about but I won't.. I will leave you with some strange but true tidbits of useless information...
I just discovered that Lift is called Lilt over here, same branding and all, just one letter different! And the latest fashion craze to hit london streets - keeping the tag on the outside of your cap - all the kids are now walking round with big labels hanging off their caps. Not sure why, not sure I want to know why, but there you go.. wonder if it will make it over to NZ!
OK, saying goodbye and all that stuff now
claire
Hope you are right smashin, I'm doing fine over here.. nothing huge to report but thought I'd give a run down of things I've been up to over February, great month that it was!
First of all, the squat is still growing and expanding, there is a great kids room now with home schooling for the 5 kids we have with us.. the hall has been the site of some great big communal dinners and squatters banquets, as well as regular Yoga and Falong Gong (chinese meditation) classes, we have a nice chilled out lounge and an all mightier, party, DJ room down in the basement which seems to work quite well.. there is always something going on and even though its not all plain sailing, it is mostly a wicked place to live..
I caught up with Renee (NZ mate from last summer) as she works close to where I work, and she had a spare ticket going to this movie/show called 'Odna', it is a rediscovered Russian silent film from the 1930s with a full orchestral score to go along with it - the BBC orchestra plus choir and soloists accompanied the film which was shown in a huge place in central London.. it was definitely different and something I wouldn't have thought of going to, good to experience it all while I'm here I guess!!
Then I went up to Nottingham for the weekend to take part in planning the upcoming climate camp happening Aug/Sept in the UK, its going to be a mix of positive alternatives and education etc plus direct action against climate change causes, kinda this years G8.. nice to be up in Notts again, saw some old faces and hung out at the Sumac, even pulled some pints at the bar like old times!
Have also visited some cool places that have been occupied to stop demolishion so that new fancy apartments can be built. First Tonys Cafe - the guy has been running the place for 20 years and refused to leave so it could be knocked down for flats. So the community rallied together and kept it going for several months after it was ment to be evicted. When we went to visit there we folks having tea and having a chat - it was darn cool but unfortunately they lost the place the following weekend.. Apparently the story made it all round the world first though.
Now its happening again, this time a big old empty theatre and multiple buildings along side it in Hackney - just before they were set to be demolished a group moved in and have been squatting it for a week now, I went to see it last week, its massive and heaps of potential to be turned into a community space, they are facing eviction tomorrow so gonna go down and support them..
A new building in London that is having more luck is the old Eastern European and Slovenic Studies dept building right in the middle of central London, vacated by the university last year, students promptly moved in and have transformed it into free accommodation and a social centre - its wicked and complete with the student bar and cafe!! I went there for a benefit gig on Friday and had a blast..
Also been checkin out the car boot sale up the road a bit on Sunday mornings, picked up some bargains and it involves a lovely cycle ride along the canal.. still biking round London, getting a pretty good street knowledge now and luckily it doesn't really rain much so no excuses!
However, it has been rather chilly again recently, and even have had snow flurries - yesterday I biked home from work over Tower Bridge (the iconic one you see on cheesey London stuff) in the snow!! Rock on, how hard core and cool is that!?! Then it cleared up for me to see a beautiful sunset full of reds and oranges on my way home- far out its hard to describe but it was fantastic!!
Well, you may not be aware, but yesterday was also Pancake Day, and like everything else over here, its been picked up and another marketing opportunity, but despite this we decided to have a pancake party at the squat.. luckily a shit load of eggs were skipped in some lovely co-incidence! The table was set beautifully, with a big roast dinner to start things off, then it was pancake craziness - we had pancake races round the hall, flipping competitions and imaginative topping creations.. mmmm it was the best! Heaps of fun and everyone commented how wicked the place and people are when we all get together and do something communal.. next in the pipe line is a rollar disco!! Now thats what I call a great idea! gonna have to source some funky threads baby..
Bad news is I suspect my camera has packed it in already, can't get it to work. Grrrr.. I want to sort out the photos I have managed to take on it and gather a bunch from everyone elses cameras and then put some up here for y'all.. so watch this space.. bummer if that is the case, but ahhh well. Maybe I'm just not ment to take photos!!
Gettin excited about Paris, and about the summer and festival fun!! Renee (as above) is set to finish up work and wants to travel round and go to loads of festivals and work or volunteer so looks like I might have a mate to go round and have a brilliant summer with! Yipee and can't wait! Oh AND my matiepotatierockintheparty pal Maddie is coming over in a month!! Very cool and planning a trip up to Manchester for a big catch up :)
Well, there is so much more I could rant on about but I won't.. I will leave you with some strange but true tidbits of useless information...
I just discovered that Lift is called Lilt over here, same branding and all, just one letter different! And the latest fashion craze to hit london streets - keeping the tag on the outside of your cap - all the kids are now walking round with big labels hanging off their caps. Not sure why, not sure I want to know why, but there you go.. wonder if it will make it over to NZ!
OK, saying goodbye and all that stuff now
claire
# posted by claire @ 8:46 AM 
