Lire la traduction française
We live in a society that values material possession and individualism, forcing anyone wishing to build or repair anything to go out and purchase his very own hammer, screwdriver, reciprocating saw... I have often talked with friends about the need for a workshop Co-op. A place where there would be all the tools that anyone would ever need for any kind of projects, there to be used by anyone. Seriously, if you are not a fulltime handyman, how many times a month do you REALLY need to use that wood planer? Was it worth that 300$ price tag if you only use it once or twice a year?
I had to travel halfway around the world, but I have finally found what I have been searching for a LONG time. CERES, a landfill turned organic playground has one of those coop tool sheds for bicycles! If you’re only aiming on fixing brakes and gears, you can manage to get along with only a screw driver and a couple of Allen keys, but go anywhere deeper, and bikes are notorious for needing highly specialized tools that are used for only one specific part and nowhere else.
At CERES, they have recognized the need for such a workplace. You pay a ridiculously low yearly membership of 10$ and you get unlimited access to all the tools, as long as they remain onsite. Not only that, but you also gain access to a wealth of knowledge in the form of volunteers who are present at the workshop every weekend and are particularly keen on sharing their passion. To a point where the main rule over there is that volunteers will never fix anything. They will teach anyone willing how to do it themselves though. It is an incredible place to learn.
They also have a HUGE yard full of spare parts coming from bikes donated in various states of disarray. Need a new shifter? Just dive into that pile over there. Your wheel rim is bent beyond repair? Look up! The room is a giant dome made out of bike wheels! Just reach up and grab one! If you want, you can event start up from scratch and construct your very own bicycle for the ridiculous price of about 50$. You just need the patience to build it up yourself, but with such incredible help around, you’d be crazy to pass up the chance to learn how.
We are in dire need for more places like this, in all the fields of repairs. Every city should have a coop mechanic shop for car repair needs; every neighbourhood needs a local tool shed with 2 or 3 lawnmowers, hedge trimmers and ladders. If we centralized the equipment, we wouldn’t need to double, triple all those tools and we wouldn’t need to rely on overpaid specialists who charge you 100$ for an oil change, just because they have access to tools and you don’t. You would get more involved in the community, share knowledge and get more proactive when it comes to maintaining and repairing the few things you do own as a group.
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Sunday, May 23, 2010
Monday, May 10, 2010
Legoland , Australia
Lire l’original en français
Melbourne, Melbourne, Melbourne… Such a harsh mistress. We maintain with this town the type of toxic relationship a pop starlet has with her obsessive fans. We want to see her, touch her, and spend most of our time with her but every letter sent, signed with a touch of perfume, stays unanswered. It’s one thing to be publically rejected, but it’s quite different to be totally ignored. There comes a time when even the most ardent fan must realize this relationship is going nowhere fast, no matter how many letters written with newspaper clippings he sends.
What I don’t understand, is that we are far from being incompetent, I would even go so far as saying we are downright resourceful … Just this week, I repaired three different doors, a necklace, an electric hedge cutter and a washing machine. Having more than one string to one's bow, one would think it easy to find a job. But we have been here for six weeks now, and no paying job has found its way to us. We even went to the length of retaining the services of a head hunter. A person whose first duty is to call potential employers, praising our achievements in exchange of 12 % of our future wages, if there is a positive outcome. The results? Zip, Nada. It seems the market is saturated with travellers looking for a job.
With no money, we can’t stay in a town where the average rent for a single room is around $ 200 per week. So we decided to leave Melbourne for new places, new horizons. But until we leave, we take in fully the generosity of a small friendly family to live properly in Melbourne.
Allow me to describe this family in a few words: Rob likes board games. Especially the ones in which he can crush you. He adores building all sorts of things and is especially fond of LEGO blocks, which can be found in every nook and cranny of the house. He also shapes his own Warhammer figurines with such craftsmanship, putting to shame the pathetic plaster figurines I made during my fifth year in high-school.
Colleen is a wonderful mom: she prepares fantastic organic meals, rides with her offspring on a quirky bike imported straight from Denmark and likes to support local merchants. She beams with attention for others, so much so, she gets up in the middle of the night to make sure pure strangers are Ok when they suddenly cough abnormally.
The kids are, well, kids. Calm for a minute, tornados the next. Rarely boring when they’re present. Lizzie would be a born mime, if only she could stop talking for a few seconds. Charlie is an adventurer confronting zombies one day and building blanket fortresses the next.
With 3.8 million inhabitants in Melbourne, the odds of finding a couple with which we would get along so well are astronomical. We feel so much at home with them. It’s really hard to believe: two weeks ago, we didn’t even know they existed.
See HER view
See His and Hers Videos
See His and Hers Photos
Melbourne, Melbourne, Melbourne… Such a harsh mistress. We maintain with this town the type of toxic relationship a pop starlet has with her obsessive fans. We want to see her, touch her, and spend most of our time with her but every letter sent, signed with a touch of perfume, stays unanswered. It’s one thing to be publically rejected, but it’s quite different to be totally ignored. There comes a time when even the most ardent fan must realize this relationship is going nowhere fast, no matter how many letters written with newspaper clippings he sends.
What I don’t understand, is that we are far from being incompetent, I would even go so far as saying we are downright resourceful … Just this week, I repaired three different doors, a necklace, an electric hedge cutter and a washing machine. Having more than one string to one's bow, one would think it easy to find a job. But we have been here for six weeks now, and no paying job has found its way to us. We even went to the length of retaining the services of a head hunter. A person whose first duty is to call potential employers, praising our achievements in exchange of 12 % of our future wages, if there is a positive outcome. The results? Zip, Nada. It seems the market is saturated with travellers looking for a job.
With no money, we can’t stay in a town where the average rent for a single room is around $ 200 per week. So we decided to leave Melbourne for new places, new horizons. But until we leave, we take in fully the generosity of a small friendly family to live properly in Melbourne.
Allow me to describe this family in a few words: Rob likes board games. Especially the ones in which he can crush you. He adores building all sorts of things and is especially fond of LEGO blocks, which can be found in every nook and cranny of the house. He also shapes his own Warhammer figurines with such craftsmanship, putting to shame the pathetic plaster figurines I made during my fifth year in high-school.
Colleen is a wonderful mom: she prepares fantastic organic meals, rides with her offspring on a quirky bike imported straight from Denmark and likes to support local merchants. She beams with attention for others, so much so, she gets up in the middle of the night to make sure pure strangers are Ok when they suddenly cough abnormally.
The kids are, well, kids. Calm for a minute, tornados the next. Rarely boring when they’re present. Lizzie would be a born mime, if only she could stop talking for a few seconds. Charlie is an adventurer confronting zombies one day and building blanket fortresses the next.
With 3.8 million inhabitants in Melbourne, the odds of finding a couple with which we would get along so well are astronomical. We feel so much at home with them. It’s really hard to believe: two weeks ago, we didn’t even know they existed.
See HER view
See His and Hers Videos
See His and Hers Photos
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