Reports of the death of the typewriter have been greatly exaggerated

Some of you may have read or heard over the news wires that the "last" existing manufacturer of mechanical typewriters - India's Godrej & Boyce - has stopped producing its typewriter and has only a few hundred left in stock.

End of an era as last mechanical typewriters are sold

But fear not, my fellow vintage fans, because it is not true!  Well, the bit about Godrej & Boyce stopping production is, unfortunately, but not the bit about their being the last manufacturer of mechanical typewriters.  No, I have it on good authority that there are at least 3 companies still producing mechanical typewriters, all of them based in the Far East but using the familiar QWERTY layout and available for export.  Three cheers for Marshall Ind. and Chee-May (Goh's) of Taiwan for their MT-99 and Kota models, and the Shanghai Weilv Co. of China who still manufacture licensed versions of an old Olivetti design under the name (ironically for us Brits) of Rover(!).

The Shanghai Weilv Rover 8000

That's not to mention the fact that their are also several companies continuing to make electric typewriters (which are not quite the same, I grant you, but still not far off!) so there is more than a little life left in the device yet!  And of course being a good, old-fashioned piece of sturdy technology the mechanical typewriter is built like nothing else.  My 56-year-old Imperial feels like it could withstand a nuclear blast - at which point we'd need mechanical typewriters again because all the electronics would have stopped working! ;-)

Yes, it's in a disgraceful condition but it's nearly 60 years old.  Plus... it still works.  Good for another 60 years too, I'll warrant.

So typewriters both new and old look to be around for a long time to come, proof that even the all-embracing computer cannot kill a simple, enduring design (and indeed, through the QWERTY keyboard if nothing else, PCs owe a lot to the humble typewriter).  As long as there are companies willing to produce typewriters and their associate parts (that reminds me - anyone know where I can get some ribbons?) and people to use them, appreciate them and keep them working then the typewriter will live on!

Another round: Shanghai reopens 110ft bar fabled for colonial decadence

Another round: Shanghai reopens 110ft bar fabled for colonial decadence

Welcome news here of the renovation of an historic piece of colonial nightlife - the Long Bar, once part of the Shanghai Club but soon to become part of a new Waldorf-Astoria hotel on the Bund (Shanghai's waterfront district).

The epitome of pre-war style and elegance, like so many things the Long Bar was a victim of the Second World War and it is only now that it has been restored to its former glory having suffered many ignominies over the last 70 years - not least having to share space with a KFC!

Thanks to the thorough work undertaken by local craftsmen the Long Bar has once again become the jewel in the crown of the new hotel and the surrounding area. Special mention should go to the Shanghai government officials who quite rightly insisted that the décor and material should be an exact match to the original bar. All in all it sounds like a delightful venue; one could easily imagine Noel Coward at the bar making witty remarks!