This Pacific was the first to turn up. At $35 it was the cheapest in the shop. But not cheap enough for me to feel compelled to buy it.
Many of these typewriters were poorly displayed. This Royal, marked at $90 was rather hidden amongst a room filled with beautiful lamps.
This Chevron was caged in glass, and out of reach. Which was a real shame. A typewriter needs to be touched!
This wide carriage SM9 in excellent condition really grabbed me. But the $150 price tag meant that it lost its grip pretty quickly. And that case was so huge, I knew I'd have problems getting it back to Brisbane.
This Hermes Ambassador was in fair condition, and I'd personally love to have - or at least try, one. But at $395, I simply said: "Get F****d"!
Oh, Lemir. What can I say!
No..,
I bought a nice little marble desk-set, and a few other bits and bobs, and I was soon on my way.
We walked across the road to a paper specialist, who had a familiar face on display.
How about that... Surrounded by paper you couldn't easily use to type on. Well done.
The Melbourne writer's festival is on at the moment, and it makes me wonder how many other typewriters have been dragged to town. And... Where was my invite, dammit!
Later in the evening we ended up in a 1920's inspired cocktail bar.
Incidentally, the cocktail of the day was an 'Ernest Hemingway Daiquiri'. I didn't have one. The ingredients SHOULD have been: one Royal QDL, one Remington Noiseless, mixed, shaken and bled into.
What a way to celebrate an end to the day of Antiquing. Oh, and I got some new shoes and seriously cool socks.
Well, the choice was obvious really. I packed my bags last night ready for my flight tomorrow (I have a dinner to attend tonight) and I slipped in between a some of my shirts my Gossen Tippa.
I was very tempted to go with the Hermes Baby, but in the end I didn't for a very particular reason. And the Kolibri isn't quite ready for travelling just yet.
The Tippa has the right weight x size x usability, so it was more or less the most obvious choice. But the Hermes baby came a very close second. But, there's more...
Many of you are familiar with the 'Crumpler' line of bags. My daily workbag is a Crumpler message bag, and I also have a Crumpler laptop bag. They're excellent bags for people like myself that spend a bit of time on bikes/motorbikes and public transport as they are very strong, reliable and resistant to water.
Also they're something of a Melbourne icon. The company started in Melbourne in the 70's, where they produced bags for messenger workers. As bicycle messaging took off in the 80's and 90's, Crumpler's messenger bag designs along with their reputation for quality construction, took off like a rocket.
Today, they're all over the world. They're a lot more polished company these days, and have internationally dropped the unusual naming of a lot of their products that the locals found humours, but they still retain a lot of their old charm here in Australia.
So why am I mentioning this? Well, because Crumpler still have one of their earliest stores continuing to operate. Further more, you can get made to order custom Crumpler bags here - which was what really differentiated the company early on.
So, while I'm in the area I'm going to see if Crumpler can sort out a bag made specifically for my Gossen Tippa. Something that has good knock padding, and provides a bit of weather resistance so that I can just throw it over my shoulder and take it with me on my motorbike.
Seem like a good plan? We'll see what transpires. I've been emailing them, and not getting a whole lotta response, so they're either too busy or - just not working at the moment. I might be up for a bit of a disappointment there.
What am I excited about? The pretentious music scene, old buildings that aren't being targeted for demolition so they can build a glass-filled shopping centre or casino, the cultural vibrancy, streets where people actually walk around and do things instead of charging past in a 4WD with a roo-bar and a southern cross sticker... Oh, the list could go on and on.
That little music video above is filled with comic references and twists that takes the piss out of much of Melbourne's contemporary music culture. Just for reference 'the 86' is the tram route number, and 'going down to JB-HIFI, Flick through Indie', is an insult in the Melbourne music scene.
You know, I probably wont even have time to hang out somewhere and listen to some music. Instead, I'll be gorging myself on some of the best food in Australia. The tourists hang out in Lygon Street these days, and you know what... I'm a tourist these days. Lygon street is packed wall to wall with beautiful restaurants and cafes. It is well known for its Lygon Street Italian Fiesta, a huge celebration of Melbourne's Italian migrants and their families.
We're in Melbourne on and off for about a week and a bit. But we've rented a car, and we're heading out of the city to the towns of Ballarat and Bendigo - probably via Castlemaine. These towns are located in the middle of the goldfields that made Melbourne explode from a southern backwater town, to the massive sprawling metropolis it is today that was once Australia's capital.
We're going down for a two day conference, but I'm also going to be catching up with family. We're at first staying in a Beautiful Art Deco hotel in the city that has been named after a similar Deco hotel in the UK: The Savoy (not under my name). It has been a bit of a crappy year, and I've been sick of late - along with some work/life stress going on. So it is going to be really good to get out of Brisbane.
As there's a few people from Melbourne that read this blog, so drop me a line if you want to catch up for a a type-out/in or just a drink.
Speaking of typewriters, there's an important decision to make. Which typewriter will I take with me to Journal my time in Melbourne? Naturally I have limited my selection to Traveller typewriters, but it turns out I have more of those than any other. So here's a selection which will be the most appropriate.
The Candidates: Let's drop a few of these guys on the floor next to my luggage and have a look...
The Venerable Hermes Baby in De Luxe case. Usabilty 3/5 Size 3/4 Weight 5KG Approx. (lighter 330 gram non-deluxe option available) Operational condition: 4.5/5 Value risk 3/5
Empire Aristocrat 'Office in a case' Usabilty 3/5 Size 4/4 Weight 4.6kg Operational condition: 5/5 Value risk: 4/5
Groma Kolibri 'super sassy' Usability 4.5/5 Size 4/5 (5/5 out of the case) Weight 5kg (lighter out of the case) Operational condition: 4.5/5 Value risk 2/5
Hermes Baby 'Featherlite' DE keyboard. Usability 3/5 Size 3.5/5 Weight 4kg Operational condition: 3/5 Value risk 4/5
Triumph Tippa 'Jumpy roo' in De Luxe case Usability 4/5 Size 3/5 Weight 5.2kg Operational condition 1/5 (can be fixed though) Value risk 5/5
Alternative option: while checking out the local second hand and antique shops (which I will invariably do) buy one.
The Usability gives a subjective assessment of which is the better typewriter to type on. Size, is a generalised assesment as to how much suitacase space it will take up. Weight is important due to limited luggage weight capacity - although I can take it on the plane. Operational condition indicates what level of operational wear there is to this machine, and how immediate are the problems I'm having with them. While Value risk rates how which is the better machine to take depending on replacement value.
