Category Archives: Uncategorized

The Caravan Royal

Hurry your highness, the peasants are revolting!

Early Royal Caravan

Early Royal Caravan

Royalty don’t travel in caravans, unless fleeing the country. However, that never stopped the use of the word Royal from being applied to caravans, or any other thing. Here’s yet another example:

Royal Caravan: the typewriter

Royal Caravan: the typewriter

I picked this up last week. It’s a variant of a fairly common typewriter known as the Adler or Triumph, Tippa or Contessa, and of course Royal Caravan. It types well and is full featured with basket shift and tabs. Royal typewriter had a previous version that was not portable, although they always call these things portables:

Royal Caravan as used by Bob Dylan

Royal Caravan as used by Bob Dylan in the 60’s

The term “Royal Caravan” does not return the typewriter very high on the search results unless you specify the word “typewriter” however. The most interesting Royal Caravans in my mind seem to be travel trailers – here’s the most well known example:

Buckingham Palace Collection

Buckingham Palace Collection

This one was presented to Prince Charles and Princess Ann in 1955 when they were short enough to get through the door. It’s a miniature version.

no peeking at the royal children please!

no peeking at the royal children please!

There are other Royal Caravans, too:

hotel in Indonesia

hotel in Indonesia

Here’s a famous user of the latest clone, presuming from the source that it is Kubrick typing on one of the yellow iterations of the Adler/Triumph/Royal/Tippa/Contessa/Caravan.

Kubrick I presume?

Kubrick I presume?

You will see many of these on Etsy for way too much, but it seems that yellow and orange are now popular retro-nostalgia colours!

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Filed under Thrift shop finds, Typewriters, Uncategorized

Shiny Black Things

Shiny black thing 1

Volkwagen

Seen last summer

Streamliner

Streamliner

Seen today

Can’t afford either one! OK, maybe the Remington, but $130? I have a Deluxe Model 5 already…I think it was $25.

Oh to be on the road in my VW with my Streamliner beside me on the seat, typing as I drive along. Ridiculous, you say? Yes, but how many people died because some idiot was typing while driving? My guess, very very few. How may have died because some idiot was talking, texting, or browsing their smartphone? My guess, thousands. Once again, the typewriter proves its worth.

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Filed under Street photography, Thrift shop finds, Typewriters, Uncategorized, Vintage cars

Episode 4 in the Works

FROM VINTAGE CARS OF VICTORIA:

(I’m an assistant producer…. and website manager for this project.)

Two Saturday’s ago, August 20th, we shot Episode Four in my TV series “Vintage Cars of Victoria”. This show features three Corvettes, a C1 and two C2’s. That’s lingo f…

Source: Episode 4 in the Works

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Goodbye Gordie

Document (13)

For years your picture hung on my bedroom wall
In my bookcase, your hockey instruction book
On my record stand, the song they wrote about you
In my drawer, your autograph
In my memory, so much
Goal 544, when you busted the Rocket’s mark
I got out my Brownie to record the event on the TV
Goal 600, sitting with my grandfather in the Montreal Forum
The crowd went wild
For the incomparable
Gordie Howe
1928-2016

with my Brownie Starflash

with my Brownie Starflash

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Vintage Car Show 2

The show on YouTube was up for a day then removed for edits! Here it is again.

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Vintage Cars of Victoria, episode II

I am the assistant producer of a TV show! The show is about vintage cars here in Victoria BC, and is the brainchild of my friend Joey. I first got involved last year when I designed his book on vintage cars, and we’ve moved on since to doing local TV.

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April 18, 2016 · 3:27 pm

Blasted Weather

1-IMGP3289

FAREWELL SUMMER

Windstorms rip the sky
Tearing at clouds
Which, torn
Release the deluge

Once living leaves drift silently
When naked branches quiver
A rotting carpet soon to join
Above them bare trees shiver

Fields of flowers
With nectar sweet
Are now asleep
Their peace they keep

The bee retreats
Within the hive
The shivering mass
Will keep alive

Before the blast
The birds are few
In the bush
They hide from view

But on the tree tops
Can be seen
The golden buds
A future green

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Filed under Photography, Poetry, Uncategorized

In Memoriam

Overhead this morning – a reminder of the dark days of a previous generation. Salute to you who fell, and those who lived and suffered. Yet the fighting never ceases. Why is the world so full of insanity?

1-IMGP3619

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Memories of Katahdin

Katahdin - June 1978

Katahdin – June 1978

Before the Appalachian Trail became too darned famous for its own good, in June 1978 my buddy Bob and I hatched a plan to take the overnight train from Montreal to Portland and get off in Greenville, Maine. From there we could get to Monson on the Appalachian Trail and hike north about 100 miles to Mt. Katahdin, where it was possible to return on the homeward bound train. A nice simple plan to go for a long hike in the woods, and with no need for a car or a ride to get there.

logs, bogs, and frogs

logs, bogs, and frogs

The only real difficulty here was hiking the 100 miles through the woods, carrying 10 days supplies. The food bag was so big it was astounding to see, and I think we even had extra food; however we ate it all and still lost a fair bit of weight during the trip. Later on I heard from various “authorities” that the Monson to Katahdin section is the absolute toughest part of the entire AT. When we arrived, worn out, at Baxter State Park, it was raining to beat hell, and freezing cold. This after a week of sweltering heat and horse flies as big as horses. At least there were no flies on Katahdin.

moose alert

moose alert

We existed on the remains of the food for two days, and when we finally got a break in the weather we had nothing left to eat but the crumbs of trail mix down at the bottom of the baggie. But off we went to bag the peak. We’d heard it was a tough climb, but it was ridiculous in the wintry conditions. We got to the  upper bits, half frozen and weak from hunger, only to have a swirling fog blow in and obscure everything. Plus it was snowing lightly. Considering our weakened state, and the prospect of having to negotiate an infamous knife edge ridge to reach the peak, we regretfully called it a day. We saw no one that I can remember. It was beautiful.

starved and frozen in June

starved and frozen in June

Recently Katahdin has been in the news due to a minor uproar over the fact that some self righteous AT speed running “hero” got a $200 fine for creating a disturbance and drinking champagne with a party of friends to celebrate his conquest of the entire AT by the act of running it in record time. All I can say is, I’m glad I didn’t see him when we were there. Lucky for him too, or he would have got a Royal Canadian ass kicking before being tossed down a cliff.

the warning sign at the north end. we started at the south end, no sign there.

the warning sign at the north end. we started at the south end, no sign there.

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Filed under Great Hikes, Photography, Travel, Uncategorized

A Very Short Graphic Mystery Tale

1-boris sees jerry at stn

It was another hot and humid day in Delhi, as a desperate and evil fiend watched the man buying a ticket, unaware he was being followed.

 

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Filed under Books and Short Stories, Uncategorized