John Brunner- A brag.

freak said:
Hey j-wo, i would be very careful about shouting about your great find, i have just had a bad experience with oxfam over mine, they noticed i was selling it for a lot more on ebay, despite the fact i have a 25% donation to oxfam attached to any possible sale they decided to complain to ebay about me using one of their pictures of it on my ad and had it booted off, it also looks like i have been banned from buying at their online shop as well through it ,sour grapes methinks though i dont know why because i spent a few grand there last year and donated over a thousand pounds to them and other charities from my sales ,when you consider that £2 saves a life it makes you wonder why their shop manager would turn down a possible £1000 donation and my future purchases other than out of spite,i bought it in good faith and wasnt expecting this from a charity, mad or what i think JB,s bad luck has rubbed off on me and I am beginning to think i shouldnt have bought it:-(
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Blimey, that's some tough luck, mate. Have you tried contacting them about it? Maybe you could explain to them how much you've donated in the past.
 
J-WO said:
Blimey, that's some tough luck, mate. Have you tried contacting them about it? Maybe you could explain to them how much you've donated in the past.
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i,ve tried that and they dont seem too interestd,i didnt get much response apart from them saying they were within their rights, i am peplexed as to why they would do this.
Admittedly my intentions were entirely mercenary when i bought it but even so, it has left a very bitter taste. it has put me right off my hobby, i actually started buying from oxfam with a £10 purchase, sold it for £25 and bought something else from them with it and so on,educating myself in the collectables market while i do it, i now have several quite valuable items from the original £10 i spent(all of which would have been sold and spent at oxfam) . now dont get me wrong, i am not some charity workhorse and eventually i will stop buying and sell what is left for myself but that is gonna be in about 10 years (or when i have £100 000 worth of goodies), in the meanwhilse though i am quite happy not making a penny as oxfam should be to recieve all the purchases i make. my original idea was to document my exploits and write a book about it entitled, "oxfam bought me a porsche". but now it seems to have gone a bit flat.
 
anyway, back to subject, have you thought about contacting the liverpool university library to research your machine, they have all his notes and writings, i believe he may have kept a record of which typewriters paper and ribbon he used in most of his writings, i think they may be in the process of putting the collection online.
 
i would gladly pass any info i get on my machine on to you, it may help you discover more about yours. it would be nice to be able to pin down specific books to each one. I spoke to somebody who knows Liyi brunner and knew john, i emailed him to ask if he thought mrs b would be able to help and to ask if he thought i would be invading her privacy if i wrote her a letter(as you will have seen her address is not very well blacked out by oxfam) , anyway he said that he doubted she would have the foggiest about the typewriters but he also said that she would probably not be offended .I got the impression that she likes talking about her late husband. I am really enjoying researching J.B a most fascinating man. i look forward to reading his books, i have just bought a signed copy of zanzibar though i may save his best till last . i should probably start with the steamboat race then all else will be better.also you said earlier in the thread that you bought it as a pr tool, i,m intrigued as to how you could use it in such a way, dont worry i,m not after stealing idea,s just interested . i had somebody contact me asking to rent off me, strange request i thought until he told me he did all the sci/fi conventions as a trader, i said no btw.
 
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I don't recall saying PR tool as such. To be honest, I'm not savvy enough, even if I wanted to. I just want to own the thing in a Gollum and his precioussss kind of way. Keep it in a dank cave, maybe, until Ian Holm in a wig comes and nicks it.
 
J-WO said:
I don't recall saying PR tool as such. To be honest, I'm not savvy enough, even if I wanted to. I just want to own the thing in a Gollum and his precioussss kind of way. Keep it in a dank cave, maybe, until Ian Holm in a wig comes and nicks it.
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HMMM...did somebody ring?.....:p
 
mods- could you please remove my two earlier posts slating oxfam, i have noticed a link to this thread from their own website and wouldn,t want to damage their reputation over my own petty squabbles. thanks :) gosh j-wo,s famous , top of the googles and now on oxfams website, i dont suppose you want to sell your typewriter do you hahaha
 
Given the nature of Oxfam's area of interest, I daresay that it has been the recipient of far more damaging comments than your own, freak. (And if you don't mind me saying so, from far more significant sources: national governments, for instance.)

It seems to have survived them up until now.
 
i know what you mean but i feel a bit rotten slating them now, even if it puts one person off it matters to somebody somewhere. plus i got an apology off them so it is forgotten now.
 
I wrote post #72 in the knowldege that posts are only very rarely deleted from this site.



(What I wrote is still true, though.)
 
i don,t doubt you sir. oxfam is known for ruffling political feather,s . this though is of a different nature. if i ran a charity i would be most dis-pleased at it being known that we would appear to be resentful at somebody making a profit from an item bought from my shop. when you hear some of the wonderful tales on antiques roadshow of people buying things for tuppence at a charity shop and they are worth ten grand it gives good publicity to charity shops and probably encourages people to look in them for their own bargain. my complaint , petty as it is gives a totally different view of this and as i said earlier if it discourages just one person from buying it could make a difference to somebody somewhere. £2 saves a life .
 
I promise that this will be my last post off topic**:

If someone does not want to be known for something (e.g. resentfulness), it would be best that they don't demonstrate it.

However, by apologising - something a lot of people and organisations in the public won't do (unless it's on behalf of someone else, someone who has nothing to do with them) - the folk at Oxfam have shown themselves to be both human and reasonable. (For what it's worth, Oxfam - as an organisation - has gone up in my estimation.)

Everyone makes mistakes. One's character is demonstrated by how one handles them.





** - Although it is probably serving a useful function in that it is putting off the day when The Judge or someone of a similar point of view decides to slap J-WO for name-dropping. ;):)
 
nice talking to you ursa major. have a nice day :)btw good point of view- i feel a bit more at ease on the subject now.
 
Ursa major said:
** - Although it is probably serving a useful function in that it is putting off the day when The Judge or someone of a similar point of view decides to slap J-WO for name-dropping. ;):)
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Man, that'd be a full-time occupation!

And off-thread away, fellas. Tangents are a hallmark of sophistication, IMHO.

Freak- whats this about me being on Oxfam's website? Am I on sale?:eek::D
 
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