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Freecycling – The Second-Hand Swap-Shop That’s Kind To The Environment

(Little Green Women, March 17, 2010)

 
Anyone who grew up in the 70s will 
doubtless remember the car boot 
sale of old – loading up on all that 
gaudy household junk so you can 
stand by your car in a field until 
you’ve made some cash off it – only 
to realise you’d bought almost as 
much to bring home with you again.
With the advent of Ebay, there are 
those who believe selling their used goods online is the way to cash 
in car boot-style in the 21st century, but the market has long since 
been flooded.
Enter the tenet behind the 2003 American set-up of Freecycle – ‘one 
person’s trash can truly be another’s treasure’. The UK network works 
under the assurance that it’s ‘changing the world one gift at a time’ 
and it’s certainly making waves amongst the online community.
So it goes that Freecycle is a grassroots, non-profit movement who 
give and get stuff for free – in their own towns. It’s all about reuse 
and keeping good stuff out of landfill. Local Freecycle groups are 
moderated by a local volunteer, and the array of loot available may 
astonish even the most cynical of users.
Local Freecyclers are proud of the service, and feel lucky to have 
such a great system in place.
Freecycler Frances Roche can’t speak highly enough of it.
“Over the last three years I have received no end of things, and I 
know they would have cost me a lot of money if I had gone out and 
bought them,” she says. “Being a single mother, I know I wouldn’t 
have been able to buy a lot of the things I have been kindly given.”
Freecycle works in much the same spirit as Ebay, in that trust is 
implied in your compliance with the group, and anything from bags 
of clothes and old Beanos to teapots and tumbledryers is fair game.

Another Freecycle member Stella told Little Green Women, “I have 
recently had the sad job of clearing a relative’s house. It’s a 
heartbreaking job because everything in the house has a history 
which we may or may not know. However, it’s heartening to know 
that what we didn’t need is going to be useful to others. I would 
love to know whether the person who collected the wooden 
wardrobe doors managed to turn them into a sideboard…!”
A story behind every handover has made for the best of times – 
and even some lasting friendships. 
Negatives are thin on the ground, although there is a general feeling 
that there are those who may be labelled ‘timewasters’ in any transaction.
June says, “My experiences have been varied. I have found homes for 
some unwanted items and received some very useful ones. I have had 
polite transactions, and some people who never showed up when 
collection was arranged.”
Joining Freecycle has doubtless given lots to the many and seems like 
a one-stop shop for value, but for Little Green Women, the biggest boon 
has to be finding new uses for waste. Sign up today!
How to beat the pack
There are numerous Freecycle updates every day – you can sign up for 
those to be emailed directly to you or just log in and peruse what’s available 
in your group at your leisure. Keen Freecyclers will probably subscribe 
to updates, but the quicker the draw, the less disappointed you will be, 
so keep an eye on your inbox!
Edinburgh Freecycle has 5383 members. 
Go to www.freecycle.org to find out more

Girlyman - Everything's Easy

(Morning Star, March 7, 2010)

Album review

This title's a bit of a misnomer here.

There's no end of heartache, heartbreak and loss in US four-piece Girlyman's fifth release.

Opener Tell Me There's A Reason has more than a little folk country accent to its harmonies.

From there on in the whole record makes a virtue of its innate quaintness.

This is not to knock the music. The silken harmonies are exemplary, with a depth and imagination in the lyrical imagery which cause heart palpitations.

Other stand-out tracks include House Song, a tragically sad diary entry by female vocalist Ty Greenstein while True Enough boasts a soft and sweet vocal intro and a languid line courtesy of male vocalist Nate Borofsky.

Lovely.