024 ARRRRRRRRRRRR

From: ash [e-mail] Date: 2010-04-05 03:48:20 Title: ARRRRRRRRRRRR

things are just cruising along nicely at spcc. we're well set-up, enjoying the new electricity. things have slowed down a lot now that everyone's comfortable, which was bothering me a bit. but T and i had a couple of big weeks clearing out the old place so a short rest was very welcome :) but i feel like things are moving again which feels great. the free shop gear is all organised and nearly ready to go. i gave up on hand washing all the old clothes, and have been using the hydrant hose to rinse the mud and slugs out. most of the stuff is in pretty good condition, considering a lot of it has been sitting in the rain and mud for i don't know how long. i haven't spoken to the others about how it's going to run, but i think a 'swap shop' is probably the best solution. take something, leave something. and a donation tin to help "make spcc awesomer". we have another new kitchen set up which is much better than before. silverio's birthday tomorrow, apparently there's going to be a punk concert downstairs. i think it will be good to start having some people through the place and enjoying it. we're set up and functional now, there's nothing stopping us opening it up a bit. the walls downstairs have been painted, i used some wood to make a couple of bars and counters, the boys collected some pallets for a stage. should be fun. we've offered the space for an anarchist library as well. don't really know the details on this, but it sounds like a great idea. i hope it goes ahead. i've been thinking a bit about the meeting space. i was going to put it on level 2 because i thought maciera wanted the whole top floor to himself, but joao pointed out that the groups meeting are going to want privacy and quiet, so the top floor is much more suitable. it won't take up too much space, so maciera will still have lots of room for himself. the floor upstairs is awful with all the old carpet glue and leaky roof, so i cleaned out a few big rugs to take up there and make it all a bit cosier. i'd like to combine the meeting space with the lectures, workshops, activism, etc. they'll all need a similar kind of set up, so i guess we can just make it a multipurpose space for whatever is needed. there was a group of about 6 graffiti artists outside today, so i went and chatted to them for a bit. turns out they know the guy who does the awesome black and white pieces that we all like. he's a local graphic designer, so if they see him they'll let him know we like his stuff, and tell him he's welcome to come by and say hi. maybe he'll be interested in coming by and covering up some of the ugly graffiti we have, or doing something nice on the newly white walls in the bar downstairs. the guys here seemed cool, they offered to leave their leftover white paint behind for us, so i told them about the punk party tomorrow night, and they might come check it out.

had some issues with the police (i hid behind maciera's bed for what seemed like many stressful hours) and a stranger claiming he owns the place. apparently there's an eviction notice coming, not exactly sure what this means for us (or more importantly, joao, who took responsibility for the project). i'm going to do some research and see if some friends in greece or the uk can help us find some proper legal advice. from what i understand we're perfectly legal here, but plenty of legal squats have been forcibly closed in the past. we'll see what happens i guess, have to wait and see if this notice arrives and what it says before we can start fighting it (if we need to).

lastly, lea and i have created the magnificent 'stone ship' out the front. spent a windy afternoon up there admiring the sea and ARRRRRing at the scurvy ridden invaders (trains and ninjas). i'm a little nervous around ladders, so we've restricted our champagne consumption up there until we have something a little sturdier :)