Freecycle

You know we like couchsurfing - mostly because we feel like a part of a noble-minded community. For the same reason, we also participate in an activity called "freecycling," which basically means getting stuff from people who don't need it anymore. They don't have to throw the stuff away, and you don't have to buy it new. Or buy it at all - as the name suggests, the freecycling system of exchange precludes monetary transactions. Back in Somerville, I gave away my old bike through Freecycle, and Maggie gave away her old Palm Pilot.

It all works through an email-facilitated message board where people post one of four actions: Offer, Want, Reserved, Given. When we arrived in Paris, we ingratiated ourselves with the Freecycle community here by immediately offering an old digital camera, which was then reserved, and finally given (don't worry mom, we met the recipient in plein soleil on a crowded street). Usually, moderators for any Freecycle community like to see you offer two objects before you can post a "Want" message, and there were lots of things we wanted - a TV, lightbulbs, chairs, a clock.

We got the clock first, not through a "want" post but through someone else's offer. Unfortunately I can't find the "before" picture, but rest assured it was much worse than the after:

(Leather and Plastic Clock in Silver Acrylic Spray-Paint, 2009)

Apparently some woman got this as a wedding present. Yuck. But it does the trick in our living room!

The next item we got was the TV. Not only did we not post a "want" message for the TV, but technically we didn't get it from the Paris Freecycle community. On a walk with Panda one morning, Maggie saw a man putting this TV on the curb. She asked if he was getting rid of it, he said yes, and she carried it three blocks home. The experience exemplified the spirit - if not the letter - of Freecycle, since Maggie saved the TV from a miserable afterlife in a landfill.

(Free Sculpture: Dog Crate, GRE Book, TV, and Clock, 2009)

Unfortunately we haven't been able to watch TV just yet - we need a décodeur (cable box) from Alice, our cable/internet/phone provider, and they're all out. But someday, we'll be able to sit on the couch and watch reruns of American shows from the 1980s (they love MacGyver here). Can't wait!