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Tuesday 9 February 2021

Magnus Messenger, Typewriter Boy

I know this is ridiculous, but my 13½-month-old grandson has been bitten by the typewriter bug. Magnus’s craze started a week or so ago when I was showing him the three portables that are sitting in his parents’ bookcases, lining a wall of their loungeroom. There’s a 1960s Consul, a 40s Royal Model B and a 50s Glasgow-made Remington which I redubbed the Golightly-Riter. After that, Magnus was constantly pointing to the three and asking to be lifted so he could press the keys. So the Go-Lightly has been taken down off the shelves and placed at his level. I jokingly suggested, “Never too young to start typing”, thinking this would be a rapidly passing phase. It hasn’t turned out that way. On a visit to the typewriter workshop yesterday, Magnus’s eyes lit up when he saw a swag of spare parts typewriters lined up. Yes, he assumed they were there for his immediate use!


5 comments:

Bill M said...

Great to see Magnus enjoying the typewriters!

Joe V said...

This is so enlightening to one's soul! Thank you for sharing, Robert. He'll be a writer for certain.

Bill G said...

To be honest, this does not seem so ridiculous to me. When I was very young (these are the things that fill my oldest memories), I picked up on my father's passion for motorcycles along with most anything else that had wheels and an engine. A few years later, around the age of 8, I began riding thanks to Honda's wonderful Z50 "Mini Trail".

Five decades later, I still find motorcycles fascinating and am still riding them. This despite the fact that almost none of my friends (be it earlier or later in life) shared my interest in these machines. So I certainly don't find it inconceivable to think that Magnus might develop a lifelong passion for typewriters and writing based on these experiences that the two of you are sharing together now. Great story!

Richard P said...

A chip off the old block! That's great to see.

Emily said...

This is a lovely article! The pointing at typewriters and wanting to press their keys is still occurring - he is a funny boy!