On Wednesday at Belsize Community Library, we had a great turnout of people of all ages, with all kinds of mechanical and electrical problems for our third Restart Party.
Perhaps it was the library atmosphere that inspired people, but we were most impressed with the spirit of those who came – pry it open, test it, and hack it! The spirit of “real people fix things, not just geniuses” really prevailed. And made for lots of fun!
We fixed two of three laptops, an iron, and a couple of other household implements. There was some bad news (there always is!) – a laptop to be sold for parts online, and a hair iron that would require a special tool that we did not have to open it, and some speakers and a kettle that needed further investigation. (The Fixit Clinic in California kindly offered some advice on that!)
Also, another thing we realised is that some of the things we were asked to fix might have actually been under warranty when they first broke. One external harddrive was definitely still under warranty and we encouraged its owner to force the reluctant manufacturer to fix it.
We’ll be planning more events in the Belsize-Camden area in August – hopefully at the Library again. At this last event, most were either Freecyclers or Transition Town people.
So we encourage those who know us from social networks to venture forth for some IRL time! Sign up for email updates here on the blog, Tweet us, or like the Facebook page to stay in touch.