Empire Aristocrat

The hound and my morning walk was overcast and humid.  

Been clearing again.  Took two bags of textiles to the dedicated bin near our local supermarket.  Took all the fridge magnets and postcards etc off the fridge and cleaned off finger marks.  Recycled aging notes and cards then replaced what I wanted to keep.  There's now a lot of clean white space and spare fridge magnets.By the afternoon I'd run out of energy and space in the recycling bin.  

Sitting down in the living room I recalled we had an old typewriter.  Mr is very much in favour of just disposing - to landfill with an out of sight, out of mind policy.  I prefer to recycle as much as I can and slowly Mr has adopted this but occasionally he slips.

In the case of the typewriter, Mr thought it was bin (landfill) material.  I googled typewriters and found several locations where they are treasured, reconditioned and sold to collectors at fair prices. 

Retrieving our typewriter I learned it's an Empire Aristocrat.  Googling that it's probably manufactured in the 1950s.  I saw a less battered model with the same logo for 1953.  Which means it's older than me. 

It was made in Bromwich in the Midlands.   It still works too.  Undecided whether to keep or move it on to a restorer or collector.  Apparently collectors who were brought up with computers are interested in manual typewriters.  

I learned to type on an electronic Olivetti word processor typewriter.  It had a small screen which displayed a few lines of typewritten words allowing for correction.  We also had to learn not to employ the screen and use Tippex paper to correct mistakes in case we found ourselves working in offices with less advanced machines.  An obsolete skill these days.  The Olivetti was a stylish machine and a dream to use with a soft touch responsiveness probably more so than keyboards now.  

To practice for the typing exam I rented a manual typewriter.  By contrast the rows of keys rose and had to be pressed really hard.  I soon had aching wrists.  Imagine those large typewriters in old black and white films from the 1940s and you'll get my gist.

Finally we've had some rain and the weather feels fresher.  My knee has stopped hurting too.  A cycling injury ache is often triggered by high humidity.  

Pleasant evening everyone.

A