Movimiento Okupa

Lunch at 4pm is common, dinner at 10pm the norm. Clubs list 3am and 5am DJ sets, so exceptional stamina or siesta is a necessity. But seriously – the whole siesta thing – I did it twice and felt worse for it both times. Who was it that thought, now here’s an idea: you know how much you HATE waking up? Well now, why not do it twice a day? Brilliant. With numerous vacant buildings in its centre, natural cave formations dotted across the surrounding Sierra foothills, and I guess, a lot of garbage, Granada attracts and supports a dedicated freegan community. I appreciate their philosophy in part – there are definitely elements of their anti-consumerist, light-footed lifestyle I can’t help but respect. But it’s not uncommon to find streets strewn with garbage, four or five sets of legs dangling out of big wheelie bins – an eyefull of butt crack demarcating the torsos’ disappearance. I rarely see their scavenging turn up anything particularly worthwhile, and though some attempt is made at returning rubbish to the bins, a lot gets away in the process. Paris – ah Paris where everyone is deliciously gorgeous and outrageously stylish (if I lived there, surely there’d be hope for me), where Thierry Henry lookalikes walk the streets, where the Musee d’Orsay ruins you with room after room of work by Cezanne, Monet, Van Gogh... I flew Vueling, the cheap(ish) Spanish airline, to Paris. A Spanish guy in my Arabic class called Carlos was working their check-in desk. From the rear of the queue, he called me forward 'Australia, Australia!' introducing me to his co-workers, and bringing me behind the counter. He turned to the people at the front of the queue who I’ve no doubt were unamused and says 'un momento’. He starts telling me all about his night out, then points to his computer screen: 'so which seat do you want?'… Now I might’ve invited myself to the Alpujarras with him. I think he asked if I was interested in going when he visits his Aunt, but he could very well have asked if I wanted him to bring back a jar of marmalade. Despite this, I passed intermediate Spanish to start in ‘Avanzado 3a’ which is quite shocking for I still feel out of my depth, though a recent excursion to get a videoclub card went down without a hitch. Little things.

Taking Okupa, the attitude, to Paris.