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Saturday 27 February 2021

10 Years of ozTypewriter

ozTypewriter turned 10 today. To celebrate, my wife took me on a three-hour tour of Canberra's op-shops, antique stores and recycling barns. It was a unique opportunity for me, one not to miss - here was Harriet not only egging me on to buy a typewriter (for once), but offering to pay for it too! In the end we got two, one of which (an electric portable) I bought for $15. Both are in great working condition. And they're both pretty much all black (or at least dark gray), reflecting my other great passion - for the New Zealand national rugby union team. These two have been added, as acquisitions in the past week, to a Valentine I picked up on Friday; the collection slowly grows, once more ...
Anyway, here we are after 10 years of blogging - 2632 posts and 4.465 million page views. Looking back, I think Ted Munk's June 2, 2018, post "On the 'Death' of the Typosphere, a Few Thoughts and Ideas" pretty much sums up my feelings about the past decade. Few things have changed since Ted typecast his reflections, except that perhaps Instagram may have caught and even passed Facebook for the online sharing of typewriter passion. I can't say for sure, because I stay well clear of Facebook typewriter groups, but I do quite like the instant and obviously genuine feedback on Instagram, as transient as it is. As I said three weeks ago, about the efforts of Jonathan Posey, David Brechbiel and Bill Guthtrie in reaching back into the past of the typewriter
 collecting phenomena, and in doing so bringing the Typosphere even closer together, there is still great joy to be had in being a part of this community. I certainly intend to keep going as a blogger, at least for another year or two. By the time I'm 75, I'll probably want to bow out and leave the daily grind of typewriter research and writing to a younger, brighter, more eager brigade.  Then again, maybe not ...
Is it this "kid's" last bout? I hope not.

9 comments:

Bill M said...

A very heartfelt HAPPY 10th ANNIVERSARY!!!
Congratulations on 10 year of excellent blogging Robert!

Bill G said...

Congratulations Robert! Yours is certainly an accomplishment worthy of celebration in my mind. It seems that you did so in fine fashion thanks to your wife — what a wonderful gesture. I must admit that I'm a bit envious of the bounty you ended up with by the time your anniversary outing came to a close. That all black Facit looks fantastic to my eye (I'll bet that it is every bit as good as it looks). Well deserved in my opinion.

David Lawrence said...

Congratulations Robert!

You are the Encyclopædia Britannica of the typosphere, although at the height, they probably had thousands of highly paid and highly skilled erks fossicking out and verifying facts.

You do it all by your good self.

You are very much appreciated.

Perhaps you could consider 'working with' eager young beavers? Cub reporters? Move up into the big office? Affect a pipe? Start wearing corduroy cardigans with leather patches on the elbows?

You are indeed, a prince among men, best of the best, a real honor and pleasure to know you.

dl

typewriter.works said...

ten years already? congratulations, sir. thank you for the innumerable hours i've spent always learning something cool on oz.Typewriter.

(bows)

T

HTBS editor Göran R Buckhorn said...

Congratulation on the first ten!

Richard Amery said...

Well done Robert and congratulations on ten years of the 'Blog.' I thought it was longer. I cannot recall a time when we did not have the blog to turn to for a good read and some research on any brand. Looking forward to many more years of good reading.

Richard A

Richard P said...

Hearty congrats! Your achievements are amazing.

And I'm jealous about that Facit.

Ted said...

Many many congratulations on oz.Typewriter's 10th anniversary! (:
I cannot even count how much I have learned from you, and how much I've been motivated by your example. It is said we stand on the shoulders of giants, and you, sir, are one of the giants :D

Apparel said...

Congratulations on a decade of outstanding blogging, Robert! Austintrim