Next Tuesday Ill be on my way to the Isle of Man for the T.T. If Im offered the chance to ride the course on a motorcycle (and feel the stone walls snatch at my leathers on the left-right-left into Ramsey) I will, otherwise itll be on a pushbike. Afterwards I hope to visit the town of Otley in the Yorkshire Dales. My Wharfedale flatbed press was built in Otley and the river Wharfe runs through the town. Otley was originally a viking market town and in the industrial revolution was famous for building printing presss. We had a Diadem Otley press back in the day - we used to call it the motley otley - we didnt know its origins - it was just a press - I printed my first book Scotch and Dry Dreams on it. The book promptly disappeared into the ether although my old boss and mentor, Wayne Auckram, gave me a copy in 09. Hed encouraged me to print it. A good man was Wayne - I used to hold a vacuum cleaner motor under the flywheel with my foot to run it. The Diadem is now in the Printing Museum in Wellington. Incidentally a Diadem is a headdress worn by Roman emperors and Cleopatra amongst others - although why a printing press was named after it is anyones guess! My ARAB presses come from Halifax which Im told is not so far away from Otley. So the area is quite important if you like cast iron and steam engines, which I do.The streets in Oamaru are named after English rivers and Wharfe street is within biking distance from my shop. Just another reason why Oamaru is cool. I mean who wants to live in JohnKey Avenue!
Posted on: Wed, 21 May 2014 01:10:18 +0000
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