Saturday, October 30, 2010

Typecast: Typewriter meet-cutes


Here's the typewriter that almost came home with me but for its snarling seller. It really wasn't about the couple of francs more or less, but the fact that I enjoy a machine much less (and in fact avoid using it) when there is no joy that comes with finding and acquiring it:


P.S. Note that it had been raining and the seller hadn't even bothered to cover it up. Yikes.

4 comments:

  1. Adwoa you are such a great writer. I am sure that sooner or later you will publish a wonderful book - and it will sell very well :)
    Finding this post today is very curious for a reason.
    Just today I was at the Zürich city lake flea market - the last day for this season. I returned intentionally to see some Olivetti's lettera 32 and 22 that I previously passed on. There as a lot of anticipation and I was disappointed. The seller was not paying any attention to me and was really not interested in selling them. All 3 were in their badly kept bags (some without handle, pretty dirty) and once I opened the 22 were full of dirty/smell/water (no idea where from as it wasn't raining...) the 32 was OK but was a spanish one same color of the one I have so I wasn't so keen. I tried to spend a bit more time by the seller but she kept ignoring me so I left. I entirely agree with you: with no feel good there is no buy !

    As I bought most of my typewriters online I still have a lot of fond memories on how much I wanted them and the surprise when I received them ! :)

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  2. Thanks for the compliment, David! It is awfully nice of you :)

    I think we've all had those experiences, but sometimes I'm willing to ignore it if the machine is really special/ is in great condition. Otherwise there is no point...

    I don't know why some sellers are so rude. You would think they would be grateful someone showed some interest! Unless they actually like carrying the machines back and forth to the market all the time, who knows.

    I'm just glad I've found some other criteria that prevents me from buying more typewriters :)

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  3. That poor orphan Olympia, abandoned to the cruelty of its indifferent seller ... I agree, the stories that accompany a typewriter, including the story of how we got it, always linger around the machine and affect how we perceive it. In a few cases the experience of getting the typewriter has been so bad that I've had to dispose of it as soon as possible so as not to reminded of it!

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  4. Wonderful written, and so true! Personal involment of some sort either from yourself or others, breathe life into the machines again. And as they say, easy come easy go...

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