Friday 28 February 2014

Appreciating typewriters.... a little too much?


Hi. My name is Scott, and I have a typewriter problem. 

Well.... Not a problem per-se. They've all been kept in cupboards and haven't obstructed hallways and bedrooms. I'm not climbing over typewriters to get into bed. 

That said, I have contemplated keeping one next to the bed so that I could bash off some writing ideas when I had a sudden urge. Like at 5 am this morning when I had an amazing dream, and then realised I could structure a plot around some of the images in my dream that would make a brilliant science fiction novel. 

But anyway..... 

As you can see, I have a lot of typewriters there. The pile to the left - the smaller pile, is the 'to sell' pile. The rest of them, well they are just too beautiful to part with. And I have a handful of standards and other machines that aren't in this shot, so the problem is slightly bigger than this. 

So while I feel these guys aren't in the way, and they are beautiful pieces of industrial art (and I write on them all) it doesn't appear that there's a real problem. 

That is, until I move house. 

Things are in a bit of a state of flux here at the moment, and the only certainty is that I'm going to be moving. Somewhere. It is either going to be interstate or overseas, but we're still waiting on long over-due decisions to be made.

While this collection is combatively minor by typewriter collecting standards, it is still a large enough collection that it will be difficult to move. Particularly as it is possible that it may all end up in storage for a prolonged period. 

Ironically this isn't the largest collection in this house. Miss Jane's yarn supply is larger, and her book collection positively dwarfs the space taken up by these machines. And let's not talk about her wardrobe. But the typewriter collection has the disadvantage of being both harder to store, harder to move, and heavier than all of the books and yarn (including my own books) combined. 

I'm currently cramming as much as I can into boxes, and I'm sadly doing all the packing by myself as Jane has already headed interstate. Packing your house is stressful at the best of times, and while I've got nil certainty at the moment as to what direction we will be moving, when we will be moving, and how we will be moving there, I'm finding my mood swinging back and forth as I have to make hundreds of complicated decisions while I have what I would call 'soft goals'. 

I've already thrown our nearly more than I've packed. I have nearly 5 cubic meters of e-waste sitting on my back deck, and about a hundred boxes (I've already packed 36, and I haven't even started on the yarn on the books). 

It is all doing my head in! 

Now. What the hell am I going to do about these typewriters. 

P.s. Jane would kill me if I had a typewriter next to the bed. We have banned televisions from our bedroom (I always have, so no real loss there) and I think such things would be very unwelcome. And besides, I have an iPad, and it does the job with a fair bit more silence. But I have thought about a Hermes featherlite / baby

Speaking of which..... Hello Sexy! 


14 comments:

  1. Nice collection. I too will be packing and moving only I do not have a certain date yet. Still looking for a job and house. The house is easier than the job. I hope I can find a company that offers commercial moving. That is enough work, but I have moved myself only this time we have much more to move.

    Typewriters move themselves:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oT4_FbzQeio&index=18&list=PL4D03E6FC16E9D434
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3hbUm_3zjw&index=17&list=PL4D03E6FC16E9D434

    No typewriter beside the bed, but I do keep a writing pad and pen & pencil there.

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    1. Ha ha ha. I loved these videos when I saw them a while ago. Thanks for reminding me about them. Gorgeous. Or should I say Georg-eous.

      As I'll be either moving far, or very far, I'm definitely going to have to go down the route of using a commercial mover to shift the stuff. But I'm doing the packing myself.

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  2. Scott, you need to get chummy with a neighbour who has a lockable garage. Fast. Or, how about storing them in the roof cavity of an understanding relative? Not sure if either of these are good ideas, but sometimes you just have to think outside the box.
    Best of luck. I have seventeen machines and I still don't know where to store them.

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    1. I meant the roof cavity of an understanding relative's HOUSE, that is.

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    2. Might be a plan. This is going to be quite a struggle. If we go OS, we're putting everything in storage anyway. But yes, we'll have to see! I have over 60 machines. And I can't even remember how I got there!

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  3. It's called Spring cleaning. (:
    I moved apartments last year and had the same problem even with only 16 typewriters. I travel light so 7 had to go- donations, gifts, swap, sale. Then I told myself, finally, I have space for machines that I really like. All best!

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    1. You have only 16? Wow. I've got over 60 including the standards. This is going to be tough. BUUUUUUUUT I may be moving into a permanent place soon, so I'll be happier then.

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  4. That is a very cute baby, Scott. Best of luck on sorting out your move and your destination - that's got to be mighty stressful until a decision is made. Writing always calms my anxieties, so Dr. Tony recommends keeping that Hermes close by at all times.

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    1. Oh, I can't even describe how stressful it is. And writing definitely does so much to calming me. Sadly, I have a struggle finding time to do that.

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  5. I just hate moving. Good luck.

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  6. ALL moves are disturbing... that's why I hate them. Your photo is impressive, and chilling for someone who's moved many times. So, er.. [cough] Scott... let me know if you need any help with storing any er Special machines [cough] maaaaaate.

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  7. It must be the moving season... I know your trouble! Guess our solution of hiring a shipping container isn't an option for you. Good luck parting, even if it's only for a little while.

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  8. Ive been meaning to post a pic of my collection. Good that most of yours have cases, standards excluded of course. Nice hermes but
    All of these machines are your babies

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