Dolly

Jumpin' out of bed and stumble to the kitchen,
Pour myself a cup of ambition....

Well I'm in the kitchen alright and I do intend to have a cup of coffee very soon - the first song I heard this morning was Dolly Parton singing Nine to Five, for N day.  This is one of those songs that I remember vividly from childhood.  The movie came out in 1980, when I was only six.  But the real reason I remember it was because of my typewriter.  I had a children's pink typewriter (made by Mattel, possibly?) which was absolutely the bestest Christmas present ever, which arrived when I was nine, or perhaps eight, and the music in the TV ad used the intro and a parody of the lyrics from Dolly's' song, with the ching-chang clang of typewriter keys.  I was beyond thrilled when I opened it and it was used to bang out lots of short stories in anticipation of being a famous novelist some day.  (Don't chuckle, like most people I think I probably still believe I have "a book in me".  It just might be written in crayon and unfit for human eyes, but still.)

Only years later did I find out that it had been the subject of much heated discussion between my lovely parents.  Mum's take on it was that 'Well, this is what she asked for, so this is what we'll get.'  My dad's very sensible opinion was that 'It's essentially a toy - it won't last.  If she wants a typewriter, get her a proper one.'  Now if this or this had arrived - hell, I'd probably still have it, and see here for more wonderful pictures.  But I reckon Mum made the right call.  I don't think I would have been farseeing enough at that age to equate a real typewriter with lasting enjoyment, I would have wanted the pink plastic one. Even though it was horrendously difficult to type on.  A few years later, it was indeed forgotten - and I sold it to my mum's friend for her daughter.  They were hard to come by at that stage and I made a profit on the original price, and probably went out and spent it all on Sweet Valley High books, or was I a little past them by then.  What a productive youth.   

N is also for Nice.  Again harking back to the same time period, I had a rather strict teacher who outlawed the use of the word 'nice'.  "Nice,' she told us, "says nothing at all.  The trip was fun, or the cake was delicious, or the weather was glorious."  With a glint in her eye she declared that nice was a "lazy" word.  A lesson that I've ever forgotten, and she not only broadened our vocabularies but imbued a subtle literary snobberty that has remained.  A bad thing?  Certainly not!

Comments

[ruth singer]

I know just what you mean - I was given my dad's old typewriter when I was about 10 and I loved it! Taught myself to type pretty fast and here I am tapping away some 20-ish years later thanks to that old Olivetti!

[Flibbertygibbet]

When I was doing my undergrad degree, our tutor told us that while a degree was fine and good, it would be more useful (to get a job in film/TV) if we could drive and type. Affronted as we were at the time, he wasn't wrong.