Skip to the good part

Saturday, September 26, 2026Est. 2026. Most of what's in here is older.

Don't fix it if it ain't broke

Still Running / Odds and ends

No. 0081Odds and ends

1968

Hermes Rocket typewriter

Hermes

Running 58 years

Poems typed on the corner, pay what you like

A 1959 Hermes Rocket portable typewriter next to its lid. Not the one in the story. — A 1959 Hermes Rocket portable typewriter next to its lid. Not the one in the story. Photo: Arlo James Barnes, CC0. The real one is in the original post.

A Swiss-made 1968 Hermes Rocket has been this street poet's main machine since 2020. The routine: pick a corner that feels right, type a poem on the spot, and let the reader pay whatever it was worth to them. The poet has been at it about seven years, and for around four of those it has been their main income. Quiet typewriters are no use out there. The clatter is what makes people stop.

A Corona 4 used to go out on the street too. It's retired to home duty.

Retold from a post on r/typewriters. Read the original

More from Odds and ends

No. 0034Odds and ends

Lionel train set

Original boxes, original smoke pellets A postwar Lionel set with its original boxes, led by a 2026 steam engine of the late 1940s and early 1950s. Not the one in the story.

A postwar Lionel set with its original boxes, led by a 2026 steam engine of the late 1940s and early 1950s. Not the one in the story.

Running 74 years

No. 0082Odds and ends

Royal Quiet De Luxe typewriter

A wizard's character sheet, typed on Grandpa's Royal A Royal Quiet De Luxe portable typewriter in its carrying case, in a museum. Not the one in the story.

A Royal Quiet De Luxe portable typewriter in its carrying case, in a museum. Not the one in the story.

Running 78 years

No. 0093Odds and ends

McDonald's Hercules plate

Twenty years of dinners off a Hercules plate

Running about 28 years

No. 0098Odds and ends

Four-hole paper perforator

Thrown out with an office, punching paper daily A four-hole paper punch made by Ojop in Eskilstuna, Sweden, in the 1960s. Newer than the one in the story.

A four-hole paper punch made by Ojop in Eskilstuna, Sweden, in the 1960s. Newer than the one in the story.

Running about 116 years