What’s the thing you’re most scared to do? What would it take to get you to do it?
This kind of ties in nicely with a post I wrote a short while back, Just another reason to not go wandering. In that post I wrote about some of my relatives and their constant attempts to get me to travel to the opposite side of the earth and visit them in Australia.
But why am I scared to do it? Quite simply I’m a nervous, trembling Arachnophobic. I don’t like those little eight legged freaks. And they probably feel the same about me.
I can pretty much trace my fears back to my childhood, when my parents in their ultimate wisdom used to force my elder brother to take me out to play with him and his mates and he was never too happy with that. However he and his friends had their fun by stuffing creatures such as spiders down my neck, and it is that point, the fear was born.
If I even see the smallest of critters in my house now, my wife will tell you I go up the wall and won’t settle until the invader is found and removed from the house. This can usually involve hours of furniture moving and me running about like a banshee until the issue is sorted.
I’m not just scared I’m bloody petrified.
So, to get me to Australia I’d have to wear something like a flamethrower, not particularly a very PC piece of equipment in a hot and dry environment where fire spreads so freely, however in a country where every animal and creature wants to kill you I see no other alternative.
Probably just easier that I stay away. Yes that’s it I’ll do just that. Problem solved.
Being a fully paid up member of the whinging Uk, I have the god given right to complain about absolutely everything that i can, constantly.
(This is Written in Sarcasm font and is just an observation…. Apparently)
No to be honest I don’t think we, (me included) complain enough. We tend to accept our lot and just get on with it. Maybe we should all put our hands up more often and let our voices be heard.
Now though, when it comes to weather, that is a totally different kettle of fish. We all have an opinion, and surprisingly in this island nation it’s the one thing we all seem to agree on. Bloody awful weather. It’s a constant topic of derision.
Never been greedy so wouldn’t really need a lot. Enough to see me into retirement and be able to walk out of my job tomorrow would be nice. I’d estimate approximately £250k would see me ok.
If I had a large amount there is no doubt I’d see to my close family and friends, and even my close work colleagues. Beyond that I’d help people and charities as I see fit.
That’s about it really. A good few people would benefit, but as stated at the beginning I don’t really need a lot.
I’m not wealthy financially that’s a given, however I’m as rich as anyone can be with the love and life I have.
Money might just ruin that somewhat. But it would be nice to give it a go.
We are not a traditional family, apart from birthdays and anniversaries there’s not much traditional that we do. We are pretty much a day to day gathering of randomness at its best.
We like what we like, we do what we do. And we enjoy each and every minute of it. Let’s be honest there is not a great deal to celebrate at this moment so you have to make the most of what you have.
A lot of people will probably be able to list a whole raft of traditions they adhere to that have been passed down through the generations, that is not so for me, as my family are somewhat dysfunctional in many aspects.
Not bad in intentions though, as we are quite spontaneous. We may pay the price in embarrassment and discomfort however we are able to laugh at our situation and ourselves and that is always acceptable. (In our eyes)
Don’t be too serious, as life will always bite your ass. Laugh and learn, live and love. Don’t take life so seriously, You’ll go far.
What do you enjoy doing most in your leisure time?
I thought that i may have answered this prompt in the past, but it seems i have not, well done WP, something original.
Like most people my leisure time is important, it’s only in the last two to three years that i have genuinely separated my free time from work time. I’ve definitely created a work – life balance and it was long overdue.
Taking just today for example, the wife has gone out to one of her ladies gatherings, I’m sitting here typing this, and very shortly i will be going out for a couple of miles of walking on what seems like a nice sunny winters day. We’ll have some breakfast when we return, i shall tinker on a project or two and then we will get ready a little later as we are out with family tonight for a “Burns night” supper, as my wife has Scottish roots from her mothers side of the family. No doubt this will involve a few drinks and should be a thoroughly enjoyable evening.
My leisure time is always the complete opposite to work, I don’t worry or stress, and any day away from work is treated like annual leave, yes it really is a holiday where i do whatever i want whenever i want, nothing is out of bounds, even if it is only for a day.
And thats how it should be. The old adage is that life is so short, live for today, don’t fret about tomorrow and just bloody well enjoy yourselves.
Sing, dance do whatever, don’t be embarrassed, the chances are that the people around you watching you have fun will never bump into you again. And if they do, they will remember you as someone just enjoying life.
What’s to lose? Just those ties that hold you down, just shake them off.
Name an attraction or town close to home that you still haven’t got around to visiting.
It probably depends on your view of close to home. Up here in the East Midlands the town you tend to hear mentioned the minute you move up here is Skegness.
Yes Skegness. It’s 85 miles away on the Lincolnshire coast, apparently the most deprived seaside town in the Uk, and the people of the East Midlands seem to have a a fixation with it, and its populous.
It’s referred to up here as “Skeg Vegas” for some reason compared to the Nevada gambling capital of “Las Vegas”.
The famous jolly fisherman advert produced by the local council and railway company.
The snobbier people will shun it and say it’s where the lowest of the low go to holiday, others look on it as a fun destination to have a little entertainment and maybe celebrate upcoming marriages and the like. But there are people who absolutely love the place and have holidayed there for years….maybe even generations.
I’ve been in the East Midlands now for about 9 years and still haven’t visited. Family members ask me, “ What’s going on? Why are you taking so much time?” Others tell me to not bother as it’s a tip, I’m determined to go just out of curiosity, to make my own mind up, and I’ll probably like it as I’ll probably fit into the middle category I mentioned above.
Wonderful Skeg Vegas as it’s known, so famous it had the well known advert (Pic above) made of it and famously ridiculed over the last 60 years or so.
This is the follow up to a recently obtained electronic typewriter that was purchased in January 2025, the initial post can be found here: Samsung SQ3000 electronic typewriter.
Samsung SQ3000 electronic typewriter
The following post will deal with the assessment on its arrival and what I am going to try to do, to get it back working again, as close as possible to its original state.
I’ve downloaded an instruction I manual, I’ve had to download one for a Smith Corona Wordsmith 200, it is in theory the exact same unit, just under a different manufacturers branding.
Assessment
It’s arrived and apart from a little age yellowing it looks ok. There is a PAT testing sticker that says it was last electrically tested back in 1998 and is due a retest in 1999. This corresponds with my date estimate of mid 90s.
Yellowing Pat test date
I will retest and renew the safety checks when I’m finished working on it. I have noticed that the paper bail/release rail is broken on the left hand side so I will have to add that to the repairs, this shouldn’t be a major concern.
Paper bail snappedBroken piece recovered
Before I took the roller out to get to the paper bail I did start the machine up. Everything went as expected and when I tried to type I was getting some weird reactions to the keys I was pushing. All kinds of characters were appearing.
Before
I checked the daisy wheel and there was a click. It wasn’t sitting right. I reset the machine using the two reset buttons and the machine then went through its reset programme, pretty much the same effect as turning it off and on again. (Not much changes in the way of tech there then)
After
Well that’s worked fine, I have tried every combination on the keyboard including the erase function and this is now fully working. It really was quite simple. My next job is to try and fix this paper bail.
Paper bail removed for fixing
There is quite a bit of dust and dirt inside that needs removing. And whilst I’m at it I will lightly re grease the areas that need it. Let’s be honest it’s not been done in the last 30yrs so now is as good a time as any. Inside will get a light hoovering and a bit of a tart up, I’m not going to go mad. I will clean the outside and all knobs and buttons and try to get rid of some of the yellowing, but to be honest as long as it’s clean I’m not too worried about age marks.
The keyboard has lost a few of its letters. I will remove what is left of some of them and use some keyboard decals to replace the missing ones. This will be one of the last jobs I do.
Characters missingKeyboard
Well that’s the assessment done and apart from a few small issues and requiring some basic maintenance I don’t think we have an immense amount of work to carry out. We know it now works. Let’s hope I don’t cause any further carnage whilst working on it.
Let’s get to work.
Repair
Right it’s straight onto the paper bail to try and fix the snapped end. Firstly I’m just going to use some superglue to get it in place. When this is dry I’m going to create two “Doublers”, place one either side of the damaged part and glue these in place to create a stronger repair and to add some stability to this area.
I’ve got some black semi rigid plastic. I’ve created a small template from a tracing that I did of the good right hand side of the bail.
PlasticTemplate
I now have two doublers cut from the plastic that I will use as explained above.
Two doublers
It doesn’t matter that they are not perfectly shaped, however they both fit perfectly well into the profile of the bail arm, and this portion of the arm is hidden in the typewriter housing anyway, so the part will not be visible, but it will now be strong.
SupergluedDoublers in place and clamped
The Doublers have been put in place using a quick set epoxy resin, I will leave this to dry for a good few hours before I tidy it up, with a light clean, and then I will try to get it back in place.
Bail arm repaired, installed and working.
Now that’s done i’ve gone inside and there were a nice couple of spider webs around the transformer that are now history. I’ve secured the cable in the rear of the unit that never had any tension restraint, so that there will be no issues, should anyone now give a good yank on the cable lead. This is a safety addition I have made that was never on the original unit.
Cable restraint screwed to base to prevent strain on internal wires in and around the transformer bay.
I have also tightened all screws and checked the wiring and this all seems ok. Plug and fuse have been checked and all is looking good. I’ll carry out a PAT test once I’ve finished the clean up.
Roller cleaned and degreased Platten switch cleaned
I’ve cleaned the main roller with alcohol, and removed all the old grease and dirt from the platten adjuster switch and the roller advance knob. I have removed the platten plate as well as the six mini rollers that are here. I’ve cleaned them all and re assembled/installed them.
Platten platePlatten rollerRollers installed and platten complete
I have cleaned the daisy wheel as well as in and around the printing head unit.
Clean insideDegreased
Inside the unit I have given a good hoover as well as a light clean and again removed more old grease. I have given the exterior plastic a preliminary polish, this has removed some of the yellowing and made it look “cleaner” I am not going to worry too much about the yellowing as it isn’t that bad, and I don’t really want to venture into carrying out a “Retrobrite” on this unit. It would take too long and there would be no benefit for this project.
I’ve now added very small amounts of a watch lubricant to those areas that i have previously cleaned and removed the old grease from.
Light lubricantMain transport lightly lubricated
The unit has been reassembled and I’m pleased to say it is still working fine. It’s running smoothly and all aspects of the unit seem to be working just fine. To be honest it seems to be printing clearer to me.
Daisy wheel and print quality is perfect
I don’t know how long the print cartridge has been installed but I suspect it may have been a few years back. It’s almost finished, and I do have a replacement on order. I’m sure a fresh cartridge will make the print stand out even more.
Next I’m going to have a go at replacing some, or even all of the keyboard letters. It all depends how it looks when I start replacing them. I’m going to gently rub off the lettering that is left and clean the keys using a 95% pure Isopropyl alcohol solution (IPA).
All damaged and missing key decals removed in preparation for replacement new decals. Others may have to be removed dependant on how the new ones look when in place.
These are the replacement key decals I will be attempting to use.
Qwerty keyboard decals
I’ve replaced the damaged key decals. The ones I’ve used are a lot brighter than the original ones and really accentuate the yellowing. I’m not troubled by this as it keeps its “Old” look. I would have to scrape and wipe for hours to remove all the other keys and to be honest it would look just like someone had gone abroad to have a bright white set of dodgy veneers installed, it would look quite out of place, and in your face. Just like a Cheshire Cat smile.
New veneers anyone?
It serves a purpose and just allows the unit to be usable again.
The final product:
Looking damned fine if I say so myself
Fortunately a lot of the equipment and parts I have used, I was already in possession of, so there are no additional costs for this project. Below you can view the total costings for this project as they currently stand:
Purchase inc postage £13.14
Cable restraint £0.25
Keyboard decals £1.25
Total cost of project £14.64
Again I have managed to save a fantastic 90s retro item from landfill for very little cost, and that is a fantastic result. It has years of use left in it, as long as the consumables remain available, and of that I am confident that they will be available, for at least the next few years. The unit is clean, I’ve just carried out an electrical PAT test and it is electrically sound.
Believe it or not I’m going to go back in time and will write some traditional typewritten letters to friends and family. I’m looking forward to doing that and it will certainly surprise them, it will be totally unexpected.
When all that is done, i will donate this unit to our local LOROS Hospice shop so they can sell it on and raise much needed funds. They deserve it. Edit: This was done in March 2025 at their shop in Hamilton Leicester. I hope it gets them a good price.
Watch the brief video for the final words on this restoration. All 13 seconds of it.
I love this guys views on how Techalcaholism is a real and dangerous thing. Can you relate to any of this? I can, that’s why I ditched MSM and social media…great blog well worth following.
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