June 16th, 2009 / 8:24 pm
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Used Bookstore Finds: ‘The Director of the Meteorological Branch is please [sic] to supply…’

weather

A few weeks ago, my friend Mike Scalise sent me a bundle of old guides of all sorts from the dollar bin at Riverby Books in Washington DC. I found the following letter in Weather Ways, a weather guide for pilots published by the Meteorological Branch, Department of Transport, Canada in 1957.

dsc00871

I like reading this letter a lot. Reading it makes me feel very calm. I like to think about this letter and the people involved in the events of the letter.

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14 Comments

  1. ryan

      “The Director of the Meteorological Branch is please to supply”

  2. ryan

      “The Director of the Meteorological Branch is please to supply”

  3. André

      That letter makes me feel calm too. I think it’s the typeface and crest/crown in the header. I don’t know why, but it makes me think that people believed in things then.

      The letter was written by a man in a navy suit with short hair and thick glasses worn without irony. He was “pleased”, but not “happy”, possibly because he realised that “euphoric happiness” is unattainable. His office was predominately wood. At parties he and his wife threw, he brought all of the men down to the basement and showed them his collection of antique bush maps. The other men were appropriately interested. At night, he never doubted anything.

  4. André

      That letter makes me feel calm too. I think it’s the typeface and crest/crown in the header. I don’t know why, but it makes me think that people believed in things then.

      The letter was written by a man in a navy suit with short hair and thick glasses worn without irony. He was “pleased”, but not “happy”, possibly because he realised that “euphoric happiness” is unattainable. His office was predominately wood. At parties he and his wife threw, he brought all of the men down to the basement and showed them his collection of antique bush maps. The other men were appropriately interested. At night, he never doubted anything.

  5. Ryan Call

      yes the typface and crown letterhead is a big part of it. agree

  6. Ryan Call

      yes the typface and crown letterhead is a big part of it. agree

  7. ryan manning

      Weather wars, sometimes called TV radar wars or Doppler wars, are a kind of sensationalist journalism primarily concerning weather news.

  8. ryan manning

      Weather wars, sometimes called TV radar wars or Doppler wars, are a kind of sensationalist journalism primarily concerning weather news.

  9. Brad Green

      You have the longest thumb I think I’ve ever seen.

  10. Brad Green

      You have the longest thumb I think I’ve ever seen.

  11. Ryan Call

      i just realized that it looks broken in that picture.

  12. Ryan Call

      i just realized that it looks broken in that picture.

  13. Nathan (Nate) Tyree

      This letter terrifies me in ways I cannot qualify or quantify.

  14. Nathan (Nate) Tyree

      This letter terrifies me in ways I cannot qualify or quantify.