The day I died (and went to hell)

         The Ute. 

Utes are a very common vehicle in Australia. They were invented here to service the needs of our farmers. However they have become synonymous with any male (and often females) wishing to paint themselves as a "hard-working Aussie'. As such they have become popular with tradesmen and lazy dickheads. Typically most tradesmen will be better served with a van, however in order to prove their masculinity they often buy these things so that they could 'just throw stuff' in the back, and look blokey when they drive around. However some have gone to the extent of bolting in lockable boxes the size of the tray after they have discovered that their tools and supplies are easily stolen, and they can't transport beer without it sliding all over the place. 

On the streets utes are a danger. Not only do they frequently spill their contents onto the road (I've sometimes had to swerve to avoid ladders, paint, pipes, entire air-conditioning units etc.) but often they are driven by testosterone laden wankers that drive like they think they are in a race car. As such, they can even buy over-powered race-spec equipped utes that often end up wrapped around a tree because the rear of the car has close to no grip on the road unless it is carrying a load. 

But I digress... 

Resignation.

I looked closely at my work ID on Tuesday, and noticed that it expires in a bit over a week. The ID is current for 5 years, and as this was my first ID issued by the hospital I work at, it meant that I was coming up to my 5th year anniversary.

The ID has been worn down across the front by a USB stick that used to hang with it on my Lanyard. That USB stick is gone. The 'Flu fighter' sticker that was stuck on my ID after I got a flu vaccine 3 years ago has been covered by a sticker that was put there by a 4 year old girl as a thank-you. Her younger sister has leukaemia and we were at the time preparing them for a long hospital stay during bone marrow transplant. We generally call this a 'BMT'.

So I've been working at the Royal Children's Hospital for 5 years now. I never advertise my place of work on my blog or Facebook for a variety of professional or personal reasons. Almost half of that time has been spent working in children's oncology. When I left oncology two months ago, I got out my Olympia SM3 and wrote a letter to every staff member I had been working with on the ward at the time to say thank you, and to reflect on my relationship with them.

I said relationship, and not working relationship for a reason. In an environment like that personal friendships are formed, and bonds are made as people lean on each other for support. It took me hours to write the letters, but they were worth it. In a way it is the complete opposite of burning your bridges. A positive way of ending a working relationship that could form greater working relationships if you ever work with someone again. And with a typewriter I was able to bring a bit of happiness to a group of people that work in a high-stress environment.

I didn't just work in oncology. I worked at various times in almost every department of the hospital. I'm one of the few people that have been in every single room in the huge sprawling RCH hospital campus, and I know where pretty much everything is. People wave to me and greet me warmly in the hallways, and I sometimes can't even remember who they are. I've worked with so many people that I simply can't remember all of them. But I seem to have left a good impression wherever I go.

I can write about this now because I handed in my resignation yesterday. It wasn't type-written, it was emailed. Three lines brought about the end of my time at the RCH, a couple of days before the end of my 5th year. My time at this hospital ends very soon. I'm currently knee-deep in a project for another department, but I've made major headways, and will be leaving it in a very progressed state for who ever finishes it.

The world's slowest house-pack has now gained momentum. I'm cramming stuff into boxes now with purpose and focus. I have a direction now too. We've declined the overseas offer (yes Richard, you were right! It WAS Qatar) and both Jane and I are focused on building a future in Melbourne. She's happy in the position she has down there, and the day after we declined Sidra's offer I had a phone interview with a hospital down in Melbourne.

But that's a story for another time.

So this is it my friends. My computer is about to be placed into a box, and I won't be writing any blog entries for a while. I'll be chatting on and off on my iPad, so I'll no doubt keep up to date with the goings on with everyone else's blogs.

So I'll see you soon online. I guess it won't be overseas now, but in Melbourne.

Hang on. What's this email from a hospital in Canada....

We're going for safari.....

Brisbane 2014 type in (that was really an out)

I got a phone call from Steve K (writelephant) about 10:30 telling me that he'd managed to acquire one of the covered park benches at the park. This was fortunate as the section directly under the bridge that I wanted to use was sadly off-limits. They had done some grass replacement there.

So when Natalie (NatsLapTaps) and I got to the park, we grabbed the two tables that I brought with me, and quickly tried to set up under the cover before anyone else tried to push us off the table. The park was filling fast with picnic attendees, and covered space was becoming quite sought after.

The people.

From left to right - Louise Cause, Me (Scott Kernaghan) John Lavery, Steve Kuterescz, Natalie Tan, Rino BreeBart, Rob Messenger and Steve Snow. Oh, and an Olympia SM3.

Everyone seemed to arrive in very quick succession after 11 o'clock, and once again I was enjoying the company of a group of really great people. John (McTaggart's workshop) was technical as usual, and Rob (OzTypewriter) was passionate about the history. Natalie was exploring and just enjoying the company, while Louise was being her usual witty self. Rino (Long, slow blog)and Steve K got their hands on as many writing machines as they could to see how they typed, and Steve Snow (Impatient Typewriter Mechanic) was right there with them.

John, trying to diagnose Natalie's machine's over-eager bell. 

Natalie was enjoying writing on one the invading Lettera 22's. 

Now here's a crew I could hang with. 

Natalie's Favorit 2 got plenty of love. 

Rino was documenting me, documenting him. And also documenting typewriters. 

Steve K got down to some serious writing. And just looked.. cool.. doing it. 

It's always great listening to one of John's stories. 

Lou and John rather loved Steve Snow's QDL. 

Rob had plenty of history. And found a fellow smoking buddy with Lou. 

The Weather

For the most part we had a very lovely day, and the sun was enough to give me a sunburn. Looking at Rob Messenger's photos I could see my face progressively grow pinker as the day went on. 

However every so often we had some heavy cloud come over and threaten to dump a little rain. We even ended up copping a bit of a shower at one stage, but it soon passed and we were once again in the Queensland sun. 

The Typewriters

Last year we had two beautiful Lettera 22's side by side. This year, Louise brought back Pinky Beecroft and Steve Snow brought his mushroom L22. But this year they were joined by Steve K's beautiful machine, that is in incredibly good condition. I have a feeling that I'm going to have to bring my pistachio green machine next year so we keep the L22 love growing. 

There were two 70's plastic H3K machines. I brought my cursive, while John brought another machine with a very fine larger techno typeface. John also brought several other Hermes machines - an amazing, yet dauntingly large Hermes Ambassador, and a very interesting Hermes 9 that was set up for telegram operators. 

John seemed to have the Hermes machines down pat, as he brought his glossy and charming Hungarian keyboard Hermes 2000. But I rounded out the collection with a Hermes Baby named 'Kermit', which Louise ended up taking back home with her after the meeting. 

Mind you, John's Cyrillic Klein-Adler was nothing to be scoffed at. And would certainly hold its own in a 'most interesting machine' competition. Although Steve Snow's Royal QDL, and immaculate Underwood Noiseless 77 were also attention-stealers. 

Rino brought in a Remington 5T that was very nice to type on. It felt just that little bit smoother than my own 5T machine and I could quite happily spend an afternoon typing on it. Next to his machine I sat my Smith-Corona Sterling, which was sadly playing up. Some screwdriver love will be coming its way soon. 

Rob didn't disappoint. He had his brilliant Underwood 4 bank with USB attachment hooked up to his laptop, and was giving demonstrations on how to use the machine. But Rob's real beauty came out later.... 

It was a stunning Fox, and really stole the show. The machine is now heading to a new home in John Lavery's collection, where I'm sure it will be just as loved. But what a machine!  Everyone wanted a go on it. It was a real cracker. 

Rob also brought out a very interesting Monarch that was heading to John's as well. Such a beauty!

Natalie brought with her an amazing looking green Adler Favorit 2, which joined John's Klein-Adler in bringing some push-rod classiness to the event. And can I say, it is nicer than my own Favorit 2. Much nicer.

The other machines I myself brought were an Olympia SM3 in maroon (yet to be featured on my blog) and my Remington 16, AKA "The Filthy Platen" - which stayed in the car, as I couldn't be arsed lugging it's 15 kilo bulk it across the park after carting the tables and chairs. 

Oh yeah, and I also brought my Triumph Tippa, which is one of my finest traveller machines. It seemed to surprise a lot of people with it's sharp and punchy feel. Which is something it often surprises me with whenever I get on it. 

All in all, I think everyone had an enjoyable day. I certainly did, and I'm pretty eager to get to another one next year. I'm sure it will happen, even though circumstances are changing for many of us in the next 12 months.

Everyone that came today had something in common, and it wasn't the typewriters. They are all story tellers. These are people that enjoy a tale and love writing and reading. I think really the typewriters are incidental, and are an extension of their story-telling. Steve K, Steve S, Rino, Lou, John, Rob, Natalie and I guess myself - all have tales of our lives we want to tell - and in some cases tales of lives that never existed. And in a way I feel that's really what this was all about. 

Well, at least as much as checking out the pieces of industrial art-work that each other owned. 

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What to wear?

Brisbane type-in/out 

Captain Burke Park

11m 9th of March. 

Bring typewriter - and a camp chair. 

With the type-out/in Only a few days away I've got a couple of things on my mind. Firstly, the weather. Like last year there's a cyclone brewing off the coast, but at least this time there's no expectation that it may come anywhere near Brisbane.

Secondly, what to bring? I keep looking at my collection of typewriters that are currently filling the lounge room floor and thinking about which ones will come with me this time.

I'll probably do a run to grab something for lunch from somewhere on the day. But if you feel inclined to bring some food and liquids, be my guest. Oh! I better get the esky out of the garage.

Natalie from Darwin is a confirmed show, as is Steve K from Perth, and Steve S from Brisbane. There's Rob from Canberra, and John from Beaudesert. I even believe that Rino is still likely to swing by. Add to that a handful of others that have suggested they're coming, and I think it could very well be a fun day's typing. Certainly we'll have almost all of the Australian Typosphere here in one spot. I just wish Teeritz and Jasper could have been able come along, then we'd pretty much have the whole set. Maybe for next year's event?

John has hinted that he may bring a bag of tools with him to the type-in. So if anyone has a machine with a niggling issue, well... here's one of the most experienced techs I know offering to give some assistance.

I'm also thinking of grabbing some Mexican to eat at my favourite joint in 'The Valley' on Saturday night, in case anyone is looking to have a bit of a pre event catch up. Might even stuff a couple of traveller typewriters into the car and see who wants to bash out some prose with me over a burrito.

So with that all set, I've got something great to look forward to this weekend. I just need to survive the work week first!

See you all soon. And as always, email me at typeinbrisbane@icloud.com if you have any questions, or want my phone number.

Enjoy!

Brisbane Type - in/out is go.

Finding a venue that will suit everyone's needs has proved to be a bit of a pain in the backside. So I've decided to think outside of the box, and make up a venue of my own. 

Captain Burke park is a beautiful spot that sits under the Story bridge at Kangaroo point. It has a fantastic view of the CBD, and plenty of space for us to sprawl out. There's sheltered BBQ tables near the wharf, but I doubt I'd be there early enough to score those. As such, I'm going to load some tables into the back of the Exxy, and set up right under the bridge itself. 

The photo above shows the bridge spanning the park at the point that I'm likely to nab for us on Sunday morning. 

Captain Burke Park is to the left. You can see the ferry Wharf lit up in the centre. 

I wish the idea had occurred to me sooner. I even had the ferry wharf to the park just peeking out of the side on the original poster for the type-in. 

Anyway, I'm on the hunt for tables but I should be able to hire them cheaply. I think I have plenty of chairs, but it wouldn't hurt if anyone coming brought their own if they want something particularly comfortable. 

The park is located at the very tip of Kangaroo point, just off Ipswich road. 

May the type be with you. 

To get there, just put Holman street Kangaroo point into your GPS, or look it up in your Refidex. 

Yes. I just said Refidex. How Brisbane am I! 

If you have never been there before, and need some instructions on how to get off the Story bridge or Ipswich road to get there, let me know. It is surprisingly easy to miss the turn-off and end up driving over the bridge. 

Again, email me at typeinbrisbane@icloud.com if you have any enquiries, or intending to come along. This will be a nice laid-back meeting, so feel free to bring a picnic, but I'm sure I'm probably going to be doing a take-away run at some point. 

Yeah, sorry. Just using this as an excuse to show off some of my Story bridge photos. 

Brisbane Type-in 2014 March 9.

Just a quick reminder that the Brisbane Type-in is still going ahead. I've yet to settle on a venue, as the original site that I had booked informed me that a large party was going to take place in the room next door, and were likely to be 'very noisy', so I've canned that and I'm searching for a new venue.

Please, if you are interested in coming, mail me  to let me know.

I'll announce the new venue as soon as possible.

For the rest of you, set the date in your calendar. Natalie from NatsLapTaps is coming all the way from Darwin and I believe that Rob Messenger is still working on his plans. I'm busy trying to decide which of my machines to drag along! (as well as packing house, but that's a different matter...)

***EDIT*** Steve K of Writelephant will be there, as well as Steve Snow from the Impatient Typewriter Mechanic. And of course - John lavery, our long suffering technical adviser over at McTaggart's Workshop.
****

See you all soon.

And yes, both of those photos in the poster are mine, so don't fret about copyright.

January Newsflash

Hot off the press news from Platen HQ. 

New to the Junkyard....

Type-in, and type-in workshop news.  

A QWERTY Blick 8. Speaking of 8.....

One more thing...

Mmmmm diamonds. Made in 1922.