In the typewriter community, the “holy grail” differs from person to person, but for me it was a 1930s Royal P equipped with a rare typeface called Vogue. Very, very rarely they’ll pop up from people who don’t know how significant that is, and that’s the only way to get one at a reasonable price - because those who do know what it is will ask thousands of dollars for it.
Eventually I found one for a comparatively cheap price (sub 1k), and the only reason someone else didn’t snap it up before I saw it was because the guy refused to ship it. Local pickup only. So I took the chance to drive the 10 hours round trip to snag it, and it sits proudly as the crown jewel of my collection:
A coworker of mine is from Louisiana. We’re in Washington state, and he told me that all the people here bitching about wind turbines and environmental regulations don’t know how good they have it. He’s from a town on the gulf which is basically one giant oil refinery. The stink and chemical pollution is unbelievable. He showed me the “Welcome to Whatever-ville” sign in his hometown, and it’s literally attached to a gantry that carries several chemical pipes over the road.
I’ve been learning Dutch, since the Netherlands seems like a nice place to go if I ever have to flee the US. Thinking about joining some Dutch communities here so I can get more “natural” language exposure.