Continental Typewriter at a flea market

No pencils or fountain pens for today, just a little part of the history of writing, or IT :)

Even though last weeks had unstable weather and today according to the forecast it was not different I chose to get up early in the morning and go to the local flea market, that takes place every Saturday. It is the first time I go, and I heard that the best is to go early in the morning. Just to demonstrate how relative things are, I chose to go at 9 o'clock as it is a Saturday, but the flea market opens up at 4 am.

Anyway, I started roaming around, looking here and there. In all this time I didn't even notice the shining sun and the fact that my head and arms are getting burned. Going through junk is mesmerizing and creates a weirdly satisfying feeling.

Between the kitsch, junk, CE (China Export) and other things I can not put a tag on, I saw a part of history, writing or IT. I do not know where to put it.

I think the category for it is IT, as the seller put this Continental Typewriter next to laptops.

I can remember that one of my grandmother's neighbor had a typewriter, and I wrote so Mambo Jambo about 25 years ago or so. At the moment I didn't know how to write, as I haven't started school, but I was fascinated by the fact you could see the letters move to make an imprint on the paper.

I did a quick search on the internet and the last Continental Typewriter was produced in 1954.

Maybe this is not your, "cup of tea"... No problem, there were still a lot of things to see and buy                       I took home a #22 spanner, a punch, and a tailor's ruler. Maybe next time I will find some old fountain pens or something related to writing that is worth checking out.

Spring is here

I do not know how many countries have this tradition but here, it is a custom to offer to the ladies on the 1st of March a small gift in the form of a "martisor" and or snowdrops. In some regions, it is a custom for men to receive them. Anyway, it's meaning is the rebirth of nature the end of winter. It is the white and red string and usually, it comes attached to some kind of figurine, something that shows that spring is here, like a flower or something that brings luck like a horseshoe. And is a custom for women to wear them during the month of March or at least in the first days of March.

Of course, you can find different motifs, flowers, plants, good luck symbols, traditional symbols, birds, insects (usually ladybugs, I haven't seen a dung beetle martisor yet), and colored pencils. Wait .. what?

This is the first year I saw such kind of symbol but maybe it will start a trend. I think the magic pencil from Koh-I-Noor would be a much nicer spring symbol.

Koh-I-Noor in Prague

This is one of the many Koh-I-Noor stores in Prague, close to Charles bridge. It was closed, but luckily I managed the next day to catch it open. 

As the sign says Art Materials inside, so for the no art persons like me the selection was a bit limited. I could not find fountain pen ink unfortunately but I added to my collection a Koh-I-Noor 5219 blue clutch pencil.

A fun fact about this particular Koh-I-Noor store, it is right near the Romanian embassy and the Gingerbread museum

The pencil looks nice and feels nice in the hand and the knurled grip feels a lot better than the Versatil or the thin barrel of the Koh I Noor Notebook pencil

The price for it was 75 CZK which is about 2.95 euro or 3.65 $

Not all the products were cheaper than what I can find in Romanian stores but this was about half the price.

A more in-depth review of the Koh-I-Noor 2 mm clutch pencil will follow.

Until then here is a little of the Prague's beauty.

Even though there are impressive architecture and imposing churches in Prague, the Czech people according to Wikipedia are not that religious.
34.5% non religious
44.7% undeclared
the biggest number of followers has the Catholic Church with a little over 10%
So there should be no surprise if you see a church converted into a hotel or a bar/restaurant.

Opinel No 8

For some time now I am looking for a hiking,  general purpose knife. Of course, first time I started searching for one my mind went directly to Crocodile Dundee -That is not a knife, this is a knife..

but using reason I managed to pick an Opinel no 8.
What I want from a hiking knife is to carry it safely (folding is a good starting point), to have a decent size blade (8 cm is good enough) for cutting food with not too much trouble, stainless steel blade because I will be using it to prepare food, a locking system so the blade doe not close on me.

I found in the Opinel all of the requirements above.
Of course, a folding knife is not as strong as a fixed blade, but I will not be alone with my knife in the jungle where I have to hunt to survive. So opting for a folding blade is more practical. A 30 cm blade would be great if I would hunt for bears or crocodiles. But for cutting the bread and buttering it, it makes more sense to use a smaller blade.
I found a lot of fans of the brand and a lot of reviews of the knife. A lot of them say you can not beat the knife at this price point. (I paid 10 dollars for a stainless steel 8 cm blade Opinel).
First, when I opened the package and got my hand on the knife I said, it's priced according to what it offers. The folding mechanism is encased in wood, and this is not a good thing in my opinion. The wood shrinks or expands and this affects the blade unfolding force needed. It can jump from hard to open it (going to break my nails and fingers) to if it's not locked the blade will just swing around.
It is an old design, farmers knife. In my opinion, the company should work a little on the design.

Opinel No 8

The knife didn't come very sharp. So the first thing was to sharpen the blade to an acceptable level. Second thing was putting mineral oil at in the pivoting mechanism several times and braking it in. Several days of opening and closing.

At this point, i consider the knife has not too much not too little friction during blade opening/closing.

Another thing that I do not like is the finish of the fishtail handle. It is too rough on the hand, so I might just sand it down and maybe reshape the back of the handle.
But after a week of having this knife, I started to like it. And I like it for its simplicity the same reason I didn't like it at first. The wood handle, the simple locking system, the classic and beautiful design that survived over all these years.

Partial eclipse of the sun

Today was a partial eclipse of the sun. Approximately 55% percent of the sun was covered by the moon, on my side of the Earth.

To see it I used some dated technology, the eclipse glasses that I have since 1999 eclipse. Unfortunately then the sky was cloudy and I did not see it. It was a total eclipse in '99.

But good things happen to those who wait. Even if it's not a total eclipse, it's still the first eclipse I observe.

The eclipse seen through the glasses with an old compact Fuji.

Share your eclipse pictures.

Bicycle commuting - part two

Photo by Tejvan Pettinger

What to wear and what to take on the commute:

You can wear business clothes on the commute, but you have to pace yourself to stay dry. If you have to carry things with you a backpack is not the best way to go. It is most likely to sweat a bit with the backpack. A courier or postman bag should be better. A rack on the bike would be the best option. If you can travel light, use a fanny pack or one of the cool running belts.

Bicycles and mustaches

A lot of things have changed in the bicycle industry over the course of history. Now you have bicycles for every type of riding you do, different frame sizes, no more one size will fit all. You get gears, a lot of them, less weight and aero performance but one thing that is still the same ...

Bicycle commuting - part one

Cycling to work can be done you don't have to be that fit, and can be lots of fun (some days).

Whether you are: in love with your bike and want to ride it every day, 

you love the environment so much you don't want to burn fossil fuel, you are to cheap to go by car or you just want to exercise using a bike to commute is a good idea.

If this idea is growing in your mind, read the post and find out a few useful information and tips gathered in 2 years of commuting.