tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16578117629401503112024-03-14T04:57:40.508+00:00The Carriage of No ReturnCarriage of No Returnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13614715256745303859noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1657811762940150311.post-68125857413988324702017-06-06T12:30:00.000+01:002017-06-06T12:30:00.353+01:00<h2>
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Forgive me, O Great Typosphere...</span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">... for I might have sinned.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">My love story with the Smith Corona PWP is detailed in the letter (typed on funky teddy bear paper from the charity shop).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">I know that most typospherians eschew electronic machines, so I hope you can find it in your hearts to absolve me. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">I'll be back to manual typewriters very soon - have no fear.</span><br />
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<br />Carriage of No Returnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13614715256745303859noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1657811762940150311.post-59628426354349304022017-06-02T06:48:00.000+01:002017-06-02T06:48:04.831+01:00<h2>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Here's the Smith Corona 'Super'...</span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">...it's blending in with my desk rather well, and the lighting is terrible, so you might not be able to spot it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The typewriter is matt finish with green 'go faster stripes' towards the platten, in what I would consider a nod to the Art Deco era (though I might very well be wrong).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">As you can see, tabs may be set and cleared from the keyboard. The keyboard itself is unusual in that it doesn't have a '1' key, but does have a '0' - most of the others in my collection either have both or, more commonly, </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">neither.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The desk it is sat on is a gun-metal grey one, with a black lino top. The Lino gives it a firm, non-slip slightly cushioned surface. It is excellent for typing upon. It is beyond excellent for writing upon with a fountain pen!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I've been using the typewriter over the last few days, ever since I bought it from Richard W, for various pieces of paperwork. For instance, it is ideal for using with my diary - which is of the Filofax type, so pages can easily be removed, the information or appointment typed up, and then the page returned. Everything looks neat and tidy. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">My diary, it has to be said, does not reflect the rest of my house.</span>Carriage of No Returnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13614715256745303859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1657811762940150311.post-23332068225790411882017-05-30T21:40:00.001+01:002017-05-30T21:40:49.813+01:00<h2>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Don't meet strange men in the car parks of derelict pubs...</span></h2>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">... is, oddly, something I don't think my Mother ever said to me. Which is why I found myself in just such a place yesterday moving - well, let's just call them 'items' for now - from the boot of one car into the boot of another.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">She needn't have worried: it turned out I was there to meet a lovely young chap called Richard to buy two typewriters, and all went well.</span><br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HlQZ6QdTIUA/WS3X4bJTvHI/AAAAAAAAAko/dMuRRToMSckBBRNdgKBsDf9ej5IG4jkSQCLcB/s1600/2017-05-30-21-27-01.pdf000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1197" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HlQZ6QdTIUA/WS3X4bJTvHI/AAAAAAAAAko/dMuRRToMSckBBRNdgKBsDf9ej5IG4jkSQCLcB/s320/2017-05-30-21-27-01.pdf000.jpg" width="239" /></a><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Both machines are incredibly nice, and there's an example of the typeface of the Smith Corona 'Super' alongside. That one has turned out to be my favourite, although it was the Hermes that I was most interested in initially - it is in a very unusual British Racing Green. It has all the precision engineering that you would expect from a Swiss-made object.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">There'll be photos of them both on here over the next few days - just as soon as I get the mountain of paperwork sorted on my desk... I want to make a good impression with the photos, after all.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Richard clearly knew his stuff, and had taken great care over the typewriters to clean and service them - both work like a dream. He was also very pleasant to chat to - it turns out we follow a lot of the same blogs and YouTube channels. We had an enjoyable conversation, which I wish had been longer and involved a cup of tea, but you can't have everything.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">In fact, it was that conversation yesterday which has prompted me to breathe some life into this blog, and to commit to posting much more frequently than once in five years!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I'm not saying <i>every</i> encounter with a stranger in a dodgy car park on the edge of city you're unfamiliar with will come to good, but this one certainly did.</span>Carriage of No Returnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13614715256745303859noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1657811762940150311.post-76537931163813135012013-01-21T12:06:00.000+00:002013-01-21T12:06:14.652+00:00<h2>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Friendship is the medicine of life</span></h2>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3XgXNtJB6JQ/UP0uK6bEXNI/AAAAAAAAAGY/V7cmck7boU8/s1600/oliver+four+bank.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3XgXNtJB6JQ/UP0uK6bEXNI/AAAAAAAAAGY/V7cmck7boU8/s1600/oliver+four+bank.jpg" height="320" width="239" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">This Oliver Four Bank is a cherished part of my collection*.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The note explains a little bit more of the story... and my sorry excuse for not blogging.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Incidentally, in the intervening time between posts I completely forgot how to use my scanner and had to relearn. It seems you can teach an old dog new tricks after all, even if you have re-teach him after a few months.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">*I'm sorry that it isn't the clearest photo.</span></div>
Carriage of No Returnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13614715256745303859noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1657811762940150311.post-38773797878199632182012-11-01T20:27:00.000+00:002012-11-01T20:27:43.377+00:00<h2>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">A prophetic word from the 1980s...</span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">I've had this cartoon since the mid 1980s. It was in a Sunday supplement in a newspaper, and I cut it out because I liked the message. I used to keep it in a college folder with my computer notes, and came across it again recently.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New;">See if it strikes a chord with you - especially you Underwood devotees...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">I think that I might get it framed!</span><br />
Carriage of No Returnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13614715256745303859noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1657811762940150311.post-79268120017358625202012-10-29T17:39:00.001+00:002012-10-29T17:39:14.622+00:00<h2>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The photo of the Good Companion...</span></h2>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">... and the chutney pan. I've tried some. It's an acquired taste. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">It might get better when it has stood in a darkened cupboard for a while, or if it is the only food available after an apocalypse. Something like that. Definitely and acquired taste.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">My new companion is a Good Companion...</span></h2>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">...and a lovely one too - with some little issues, but not too many. It is a number 7, and only cost me £3.</span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jLIV9nuflMo/UI65hmeyPtI/AAAAAAAAAFI/FQWC2SVZVDs/s1600/scan0001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jLIV9nuflMo/UI65hmeyPtI/AAAAAAAAAFI/FQWC2SVZVDs/s1600/scan0001.jpg" height="400" qea="true" width="291" /></a><span style="font-family: Courier New;">You can read the story on the right. But I warn you, if the ribbon problems annoy you half as much reading it as it did when I was typing it, you might end up wishing you hadn't started it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New;">I do especially like the unusual keys - my Royal Diana does have the dead key for the accent, but none of the others in my collection have them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New;">Whilst tinkering with it, sadly, the chutney burnt slightly on the stove. I've still bottled it, and will tell people that it is supposed to taste like that... small price to play for getting the ribbon to work properly.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New;">I'll upload a photo of it later, when my camera is to hand.</span></div>
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Carriage of No Returnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13614715256745303859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1657811762940150311.post-23602057812167430302012-10-26T15:30:00.000+01:002012-10-26T15:30:45.614+01:00<h2>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">A little update...</span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">(typed on a little notelet the size of a Rolodex card... smaller than I realised, so the last line got a bit chopped - it should have said 'Typed on the Kitchen Typewriter').</span>Carriage of No Returnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13614715256745303859noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1657811762940150311.post-14329517091711999392012-10-26T07:17:00.002+01:002012-10-26T07:17:40.251+01:00<h2>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Typewriters in the classroom...</span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Another exciting first - my first scanned image! It is of an A5 piece of writing paper - but the scanner seems to have cropped the edges nicely, so that you can't tell at first glance that it is real paper.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New;">I'll keep you up-to-date with how my typewriters in the classroom experiment goes!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New;">(PS - I realise how sexist it sounds talking abouot interesting the boys in the mechanics - that flows out of my conversation with the Headteacher... she was telling me about a recent music lesson where the inner workings of the piano enthused a group of boys. They went from not being interested to wanting to try it for themselves, just because they could see how it all worked). </span></div>
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Carriage of No Returnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13614715256745303859noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1657811762940150311.post-46336924969856037762012-10-23T13:51:00.000+01:002012-10-23T13:51:06.211+01:00<h2>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Selectric Sorrows</span></h2>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I'm sorry that I have not blogged for almost a month - and that I am almost a month behind in reading other people's blogs.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">It's not that I have had an exciting life - just busy with this-and-that, too much work and not enough time in which to do it.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Still, what I have had time to do is to extend my collection a little bit... with two Selectrics. Sadly, neither of them work.</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OpQaC8sajJg/UIaPhy5p8xI/AAAAAAAAAD8/_Qh8q7znNQQ/s1600/IMG_0048.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OpQaC8sajJg/UIaPhy5p8xI/AAAAAAAAAD8/_Qh8q7znNQQ/s1600/IMG_0048.JPG" height="320" width="238" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I think that the motor in both of them works. They certainly fire up, and Selectric Correcting III has lovely lights that light up on the pitch scale. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">That's it on the right, looking all lovely and red. Below you can see the other one - a Selectric II. This one has a black case, which I have removed to tinker with.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I know almost nothing about them, but I do know enough to realise that the cords should be connected to the print/ribbon mechanism rather than merely resting on the keyboard!</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The red one doesn't have dangling cables... instead it seems to be tightly wound around a cog inside.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">As I mentioned above, I know almost nothing about Selectrics... but I do hope that someone out there in the typosphere might be able to point me in the right direction to get at least one of them working.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Is there anyone in the UK who can repair such a beast? I've not managed to find one anywhere, despite searching on the Internet and looking though the Yellow Pages.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">If I can get one repaired I already have a selection of golfball printheads to use, and several ribbons - enough to keep using it for years to come!</span></div>
Carriage of No Returnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13614715256745303859noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1657811762940150311.post-18048515426649609482012-09-28T19:45:00.002+01:002012-09-28T19:48:49.709+01:00<h2>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Electric Dreams...</span></h2>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">... living in electric dreams!</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">My new SCM Smith-Corona Coronet has arrived - all shiny and lovely.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The card gripped in the machine tells of the woes that go with it (but for a short time only I hope), and, as you will see, another machine had to supply the typecast.</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Mre-Txi-FRs/UGXu53gdi3I/AAAAAAAAADk/mIc1XHbl8hE/s1600/IMG_0044.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Mre-Txi-FRs/UGXu53gdi3I/AAAAAAAAADk/mIc1XHbl8hE/s320/IMG_0044.JPG" width="238" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Still, if I get too desperate I can always take it into the bathroom and use the shaver socket - it has a switch to enable it to use 110v.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">As long as I wasn't sat IN the bath using it I would be fine!</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Imagine explaining that to the ambulance crews...</span></div>
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Carriage of No Returnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13614715256745303859noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1657811762940150311.post-84633873997938940662012-09-27T08:19:00.001+01:002012-09-27T08:19:55.603+01:00Conspiracies<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Well, it seems that it has been ages since I last blogged - it is all the fault of being to too busy at work and also having 'an upset stomach' (let the reader understand).</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I can't wait for the new scanner...</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Our new Network Scanner has not arrived yet, so I am still photographing my typecast. I must chase up the company - they are delivering and installing our new copier/printer/scanner and taking away the old ones (the new one does the job of two).</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I typed my typecast on my Royal Diana. It has sat sadly neglected until I bought it recently, and it needs some tender loving care: it will soon be right-as-rain.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">You can see it in the photo below on one of my desks. It looks perfect there, but I would prefer a desktop machine, so after I have nurtured it a bit it will be moved round to a better home.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">As usual, please ignore the stuff in the background of the photo!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>Carriage of No Returnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13614715256745303859noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1657811762940150311.post-64225368344161336432012-09-12T08:29:00.000+01:002012-09-12T08:29:11.618+01:00<h2>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The perfect accessory for the Typospherian who has everything.</span></h2>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-12MB8p_UFvg/UFA2aD428fI/AAAAAAAAACY/sZUONEq4LdQ/s1600/IMG_0037.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-12MB8p_UFvg/UFA2aD428fI/AAAAAAAAACY/sZUONEq4LdQ/s320/IMG_0037.JPG" width="238" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I hope the above is readable - one day soon I will sort my scanner out, and then I can just scan the typing rather than photographing it.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Anyway... here is the case...</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-b1Z_1fc2fPs/UFA3An8eK2I/AAAAAAAAACg/08U6yV85QFM/s1600/IMG_0041.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-b1Z_1fc2fPs/UFA3An8eK2I/AAAAAAAAACg/08U6yV85QFM/s320/IMG_0041.JPG" width="238" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-b1Z_1fc2fPs/UFA3An8eK2I/AAAAAAAAACg/08U6yV85QFM/s1600/IMG_0041.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">As you can see it is the perfect size to carry around - much smaller than a full-sized brief case.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">None of the photos show it, but there is a handle on the top.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Such a kind gift!</span></div>
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Carriage of No Returnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13614715256745303859noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1657811762940150311.post-52352370291578148642012-09-10T09:44:00.000+01:002012-09-10T09:44:05.012+01:00<h2>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Gestetner and Typewriter - machines in perfect harmony.</span></h2>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">On reflection, perhaps I should have left the ribbon engaged for the above post - it might have made it more readable!</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I hope you can manage to understand it - especially if you are the fellow blogger mentioned.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Gestetner is a wonderful invention, allowing typists to produce multiple copies of their work by the simple addition of a stencil to type on and (what feels like) a ton of carefully engineered gears, levers, cogs and rollers.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I don't know if you can make it out, but there is a crack in the framework just to the left of the gold Gestetner logo. Perhaps it got dropped at sometime in its long life... but it still soldiers on, working perfectly and never missing a beat.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Needless to say I have several boxes of stencils and half-a-dozen tubes of ink, so it could go on working for many years to come.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I also have the younger brother, made in the 1970s, which is essentially the same but in a lovely beige colour and more enclosed. That one was made on the cusp of the manual/electric office world, and so can be wound with a handle or electricity (I actually have two of the 1970 ones - I just realised... I might collect Gestetners).</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The one we use now in the office was made about 10 years ago, and is disguised as a photocopier... but I know that underneath it is the same jumble of gears, levers, cogs and rollers.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I'll let you know what Anthony (from the company who looks after it for us) thinks about it.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">A shiny shilling says that he is impressed. Or, at the very least, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">nonplussed</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Pip pip.</span></div>
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Carriage of No Returnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13614715256745303859noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1657811762940150311.post-22789787425242629732012-09-07T08:46:00.001+01:002012-09-07T08:48:00.294+01:00<h2>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Channelling the Spirit of Jessica Fletcher</span></h2>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A plot worthy of Murder She Wrote?</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">This typewriter is the Grandfather of my collection. It's around 100 years old, and it has a story to tell.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I've owned it for the last 20 years, and it was found by my friends Margaret and Phil when they were digging in their new garden. It was wrapped in some tarpaulin, which had protected it somewhat, but the previous owner of the house had cast it out and used it as land-fill. The horror.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-O7iXdrdslrs/UEmiIIc74TI/AAAAAAAAABc/sOnJiTpF5zY/s1600/IMG_0027.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-O7iXdrdslrs/UEmiIIc74TI/AAAAAAAAABc/sOnJiTpF5zY/s320/IMG_0027.JPG" width="238" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">They gave it to me, and I spent several days cleaning it up - including plunging parts of it in an oil bath for several days. The intensive care worked, and it was brought back to life. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">It does carry the scars of its rough treatment: the left-hand margin indicator has broken off (interestingly, on this model, the left-hand margin indicator is on the right-hand side); the backspace key no longer engages properly; and the spacebar travels that little bit too far (and the screw that would allow me to alter that has been a little bit destroyed by being buried.</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nq36in-S6_8/UEmkb6EWdmI/AAAAAAAAABk/6g438s46pRE/s1600/IMG_0028.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nq36in-S6_8/UEmkb6EWdmI/AAAAAAAAABk/6g438s46pRE/s320/IMG_0028.JPG" width="238" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b>But I love it, for all its faults.</b> </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">It is a beautiful piece of machinery - look at the architectural stateliness of the design... </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Look at the beautiful openness and roundness of the font...</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Look at that fantastic little wheel on the lower left - perfect for winding the ribbon on. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I'm going to give it a new ribbon later. I think it deserves it, even though it has a fiendishly convoluted route for the ribbon to travel. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I honestly can't imagine anyone wanting to throw it out!</span></div>
Carriage of No Returnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13614715256745303859noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1657811762940150311.post-81704929290505378832012-09-06T10:08:00.002+01:002012-09-06T10:08:45.526+01:00<h2>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Joys of owning a Shed</span></h2>
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I have a shed - and it doesn't contain any gardening tools (they live in the garage).</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yUnt8OEzF6A/UEhmagc15DI/AAAAAAAAAA8/QcvjTAa6qps/s1600/IMG_0024.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yUnt8OEzF6A/UEhmagc15DI/AAAAAAAAAA8/QcvjTAa6qps/s320/IMG_0024.JPG" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-B1BuTaketzk/UEhmxUd1IaI/AAAAAAAAABE/-1458z0vkIU/s1600/IMG_0025.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-B1BuTaketzk/UEhmxUd1IaI/AAAAAAAAABE/-1458z0vkIU/s320/IMG_0025.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">If anything, it is a bit too 'woody'. When time - and money - permit, I intend to insulate it and clad the inside with something that can be painted. I'm thinking white, or off-white.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">It is a little escape. What you can't see on the photo is the other piece of furniture in there - a three-seater sofa. Very comfy. Ideal for a cup of tea made on the camping stove.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>Carriage of No Returnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13614715256745303859noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1657811762940150311.post-22916516817243221902012-09-05T08:14:00.000+01:002012-09-05T08:14:15.301+01:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2I29fZJIQRQ/UEYe11FpBKI/AAAAAAAAAAs/YUM1JJbV1kk/s1600/IMG_0023.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2I29fZJIQRQ/UEYe11FpBKI/AAAAAAAAAAs/YUM1JJbV1kk/s320/IMG_0023.JPG" width="238" /></a></div>
<h2>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Very Small, Far Away</span></h2>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Can you just make out a typewriter on the desk in the photo? It's not a good photo - and, again, not cropped - but I hope that you can see it.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">It is less than an inch across... it is on a desk in a small glass-fronted box that I put together for my mother. Since she died it has hung on my living room wall.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I thought it was wonderful to come across such a small machine that actually looks as though it is based on a real-life prototype.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The kit (for such it was) was made out of white-metal, and I painted it and glued it together myself - and got a great deal of fun out of it all. The 'tobacco' in the ash tray is really tea leaves.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">That's all for today.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Pip pip.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">PS - this typewriter and office combo don't count towards the ones I mentioned yesterday!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>Carriage of No Returnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13614715256745303859noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1657811762940150311.post-71464380505775691382012-09-04T16:04:00.000+01:002012-09-04T16:04:08.050+01:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HnfjK8dtiBE/UEYWMR8W4TI/AAAAAAAAAAc/5bnUYYvv6is/s1600/IMG_0022.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HnfjK8dtiBE/UEYWMR8W4TI/AAAAAAAAAAc/5bnUYYvv6is/s320/IMG_0022.JPG" width="238" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">This is the aforementioned Kitchen Typewriter. It is an Olivetti M44, and has a lovely type action - a nice firm clack clack clack as I produce my shopping list. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Of course, the list stays in the machine for several days, so it is usually a curly piece of paper that I end up taking to the shops with me. But at least it's legible.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The machine was a gift - I had been chatting to an elderly acquaintance of mine, who would hate to be described as elderly, but there you go, and we were discussing the joys of typewriters. A couple of weeks later I came home to find this joyous beastie waiting for me on the doorstep. It's not the strangest thing I've ever found there, but that's another story. After asking around a bit I discovered that it was she who was the anonymous donor.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">It didn't need much of a clean, and with a new ribbon sparked straight into life. That's one of the joys of a manual typewriter: it sits there, coiled like a coiled thing, ready to spring into life at the touch of a key.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I've never asked it, but I'm sure that it would say that it is happy getting nearly daily use in the kitchen. It had nightmares about becoming jewellery, but it knows it's safe here.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">PS I've not yet got the hang of cropping photos... so ignore everything else you see loitering near the Olivetti!</span>Carriage of No Returnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13614715256745303859noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1657811762940150311.post-69833667249113744232012-09-04T15:23:00.003+01:002012-09-04T15:23:35.523+01:00<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Dear World</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I'm going to try and join the typosphere and start blogging. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Being one of life's collectors the smallest thing can set me off. If you've got one thing, that's nice. Two - well, then you've got a spare, just in case; three? Three! now that's the start of a collection.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I've more telephones than I can shake a stick at, and a couple of weeks ago I realised that I collect typewriters... I went round the house and counted fourteen. Most of them get used regularly - the one in the kitchen, for instance, is used for keeping a running note of items for the shopping list. And why not?</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">During the course of our correspondence I hope to introduce you to some of my collection (which encompasses anything office), and to tell you why it is all important to me.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I hope you're well and keeping out of mischief. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Pip pip.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">PS I've yet to work out how to upload photos - but I shall unleash wonders onto a waiting world when I do.</span>Carriage of No Returnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13614715256745303859noreply@blogger.com6