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| My original Microtee T-square bought in 1985 |
You've no doubt read me wittering on before about the passage of time and how the quickness of it surprises me. 32 years ago, I sat in a Portsmouth cafe with one of my pals, Dougie, and examined a Microtee non-drawing board T-square I'd newly bought from a bookshop and stationers just around the corner. I was at the start of my freelance career and staying in Southsea (well, Fratton in fact), and Dougie had accompanied me for the first week of my few months' stay to try and take his mind off the then-recent break up of his first marriage.
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| My 'new' Microtee T-square bought in 2017 |
The Microtee slid down the side of a sheet of paper, helping the user draw parallel guidelines without the need for a drawing board and T-square, and was quite a neat idea, although I never fully exploited its potential and merely used it as a standard ruler. I suppose I was more interested in the novelty of the design than its actual usefulness. I still have it to this day, although it's showing its age after 32 years. One look at it and I'm back in that Portsmouth cafe in 1985. (I recently acquired a slightly 'fresher' one from eBay, as my original one has a couple of hairline cracks that could curtail its lifespan if I'm not moderately careful with it.)
Anyway, seeing as how I'm thinking about Southsea and Portsmouth, I decided to show some photos of myself and Dougie from our time in Pompey. And no need to worry about the bold Dougie - he 'copped off' with a gal he met while I was seeing him off at Victoria Coach Station, thereby restoring his waning confidence in his ability to pull the 'burds'. He's now been happily married (to a different lady) for the last 27 or so years, and, whenever we happen to meet up (as we did just last month), we enjoy reminiscing about our time in the home of HMS VICTORY back in the mid-'80s.
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Now, if you're anything like me and enjoy poking about in other people's photo albums, then you might find this post interesting. If not, there must be some wet paint somewhere that you can watch dry and thereby pass a bit of time. (Hey, where'd everybody go? Fair weather friends indeed!) But I digress. Did anyone else ever have a Microtee T-square and do you know if they're still made today?
And, in the unlikely event that you were wondering how we've both weathered the passing years, above is how Dougie and myself looked about a month ago.
8 comments:
Ah, yes...your "Alan Moore tribute" period. And I've never heard of a Microtee T-Square.
Hey, he was copying me, CJ, 'cos I'd had my beard for longer.
Alas no. On the other hand I was mortified to find out zipatone is out of production.
I hear the British version, Letratone (and Letraset) are also no longer around. I've yet to confirm it 'though.
I have so many memories of Letraset when I was putting together my short lived fanzine back in 1975 (2 issues) very rare as it was barely distributed (I sent it out to 11 people whose names I got off the pages of UK Marvel letter pages lol) I have seen Letraset sheets in the art shops in Glasgow so maybe it's still being produced (although it could of course just be old stock,if so expect it in "Poundland" soon)
I asked if they had any Letraset in Millers (no apostrophe apparently) a few months back, PM, and seem to remember that I was told it wasn't made any more, but it could be I'm mixing that up with what someone else told me. Anyway, whatever the reason, they didn't have any. I'd imagine that some shops still have old stock 'though.
Re the Microtee: yes I still have one, complete with its "click-in case! This one was originally given out as a marketing gift by Sauer Sundstrand. I was trying to find more info about it when I discovered your blog. The exhortation, "Keep buttons pressed while sliding T-square." made me wonder if there was a piece missing.
Regards
Brian Poole
brianjfpoole@gmail.com
As I'm sure you know by now, BP, there isn't a piece missing - the 'buttons' are the indentations on the bit that slides down the side of the paper. If pressure wasn't maintained, the Microtee would slide over the paper's edge. The one I got off eBay has its click-in case, but the one I bought in Portsmouth wasn't sold with one - it just came on a card backing with clear cellophane wrapper.
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