In the Comments section, Piers Beckley wrote of his old electronic typewriter: "I loved it, because it meant I didn't have to tippex or retype when I miskeyed... Finally got rid of it a couple of years ago after I realised I hadn't plugged it in for more than a decade and was never going to again."
Ah, Tippex... in my day I must have bought enough of it to pay for Mike Nesmith's swimming pool. I used to get it wholesale, by the box.
When I finally decided let go of my massive office-sized Adler, someone in the Crime Writers' Association was gathering unwanted typewriters for remote regions where they could still be put to good use. I drove it over to Robert Barnard's house in Yorkshire and took my daughter along for the ride. She'd be about six, I guess.
It was a summer Saturday and on the way back we stopped for some lunch in Ilkley and took a rowboat on the river. When it came time to hand it back I somehow managed to tip it and put us both in the water. Kid came home in a whole new outfit.
Happy days.
Tuesday 14 September 2010
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2 comments:
I think I was actually more like 4-ish at the time, as all I remember is that I got some awesome neon pink trousers after being dramatically dragged out of the lake. I fear you may have started something irreversable by purchasing those trousers for me that day...
Speaking of typewriters, some writers still use them: Harlan Ellison for one, who is planning to say goodbye to the first one he ever owned:
www.harlanellison.com
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