Wednesday 27 March 2013

The Old Olympian


The most vivid memory that I have of my Dad when I was young is when he was sitting down at the table in the front room tapping away at the letters of this old Olympia typewriter.  Every week he would sit down and type all of his correspondence on beautiful headed paper, none of which have survived today unfortunately.  I think that he typed everything because if I'm honest his handwriting was illegible to everybody, even himself at times.  Sorry Dad if you're reading this from up above!


Maybe it's because I associate this typewriter with my father but somehow it has always felt manly to me.  The buttons, so strong and sturdy, moved with ease as letter after letter was produced.  Each knowing what it's job was and what it was made to do. Never failing its duty.  There was rare occasions when I was allowed to play office on it and I loved how the shiny square buttons felt as my fingers moved them down and how gently they would glide back into place.  I loved how it smelled of rolls of ink tape and good quality paper.  Even now this smell still lingers.


The letters lined up in regimental fashion facing the blank page are ever ready to fill it with its inky words.  The black ink still remains from some of those old rolls of tape.
To me this is a true Olympian. Strong, beautiful and still as good today as it was on the first day that my father bought it and opened up it's hard cream shell with maroon leather handle.

Do you have anything at home that you treasure and instantly provokes memories?
Rosie xx

7 comments:

  1. Your post brought lots of memories to my mind. I too can remember the smell of my mum's typewriter. She took work in at home to earn money and had to type boxes full of envelopes.

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  2. Lovely post Rosie. It's amazing how everyday things can transport us way back through the years. Today I was walking through school and there was a smell that took me right back to standing waiting at the ice cream van as a child - it turned out to be the workmen drilling through some brick! Who knows where that association came from? Typewriters are so very evocative though - I'm sure your dad would be thrilled that you have such strong memories x Jane

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  3. It's good to have something physical to link the smalls and memories to, it's so nice how one memory then leads to another. I remember typing up essays on my old typewriter, I don't think my daughter even knows what a typewriter is :) xx

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  4. Oh what beautiful memories. I was fascinated with typewrites as a child after my Great Grandmother gave me one (which I still have, it is very old)

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  5. What a lovely typewriter, with what sounds like many lovely memories attached to it!

    Happy Easter!
    Sarah x

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  6. This is a lovely post to read, thankyou for sharing. I only have photos to remember my Dad by. My favourite was taken when he was in the RAF and he was about twenty. I always thought he looked a cross between Elvis and Cliff Richard. Always makes me smile when I look at it, because it was taken before he was married so it always makes me think of when he was just a young good looking lad starting out in life. Karen x :)

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    1. My Dad was 68 years old when I was born.....ok pick your jaw up from the floor now, that surprises everybody. So I never knew my Dad was young but there are such wonderful photos of him when he was young. I love to look through them and sometimes I wish that I had known him then, when his wonderful sense of adventure he had his whole life was just beginning.

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Rosie xx

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