Tales From The Town #176: Pennies, Pounds

1. The Pound Machine

The pound machine at the arcade was definitely the best machine Daniel had ever met.

You put a pound in.

You got a pound out.

But expanded from one coin to fifty. Enough to fill an entire yoghurt pot and still have some left to put in every pocket you had.

It was like magic. It suggested a world of fractal expansion, where if you had enough machines you could increase your fortune forever until it was big enough to fill up more than just one yoghurt pot but maybe even as many as four yoghurt pots. And you couldn’t even hold four yoghurt pots. Not ever. Not unless you had four arms!

2. The Penny Machine

The penny machine at the supermarket was definitely the worst machine Daniel had ever met.

You put your pennies in.

And out came a pound.

Or worse, a five pound note. That wasn’t even a coin, let alone thousands of coins, all of them different in their own little ways.

It was like antimagic. The magnificent hugeness of the world reduced down to something small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. And even then you wouldn’t want it in the palm of your hand, because they insisted on being made of paper that was surprisingly horrible to hold. It was like they wanted you to throw it away. Blurgh.

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Notes:

1. Written on June 9th, 2024

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Brids, Sfish, And Other Amals

A simple toy that creates hybrid animals by swapping their heads and bodies around, Brids, Sfish, and Other Amals was made using twine, with public domain nature illustrations largely collected from the wonderful old book illustrations website.

You can use it here and/or here if you want, and make various creatures like those below.

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Notes:

1. I made this between late August and early October, 2023
2. It was originally intended to be actual printed cards, for my nieces/nephews
3. But the logistics of actually printing cards put paid to that idea
4. I’m afraid

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Support An Accumulation Of Things

If you like the things you've read here please consider subscribing to my patreon or my ko-fi.

Patreon subscribers get not just early access to content and also the occasional gift, but also my eternal gratitude. Which I'm not sure is very useful, but is certainly very real.

(Ko-fi contributors probably only get the gratitude I'm afraid, but please get in touch if you want more).

Thank you!


A Ghost In A Washing Machine

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Notes:

1. Made on April 13th, 2022

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Support An Accumulation Of Things

If you like the things you've read here please consider subscribing to my patreon or my ko-fi.

Patreon subscribers get not just early access to content and also the occasional gift, but also my eternal gratitude. Which I'm not sure is very useful, but is certainly very real.

(Ko-fi contributors probably only get the gratitude I'm afraid, but please get in touch if you want more).

Thank you!