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Wednesday, January 19, 2011

The pen

It’s ten years now I’ve had this pen.
A long time for a pen, for me. I bought it for a grand occasion: a permanent job, the one I still hold.
I love writing with fountain pens, love the glide of the way a good one writes. Love the way you can buy inks in a dozen colors, and how changing colors in the middle of a letter takes half a page or more to be just the new color. I change colors just for this effect, sometimes.
That was when I used to actually write letters and my journal by hand, before the days of blogging. I’m cheating even now. The pen is sitting next to my computer. My fingers are on the keyboard.
The pen spent a year or more (the time since I bought my netbook, light enough to travel with, and started leaving the journals blank at home) in a drawer, in the depths of a backpack. The ink would get dry and crusted in the nib between uses, and I’d have to wash it and wash it before it would work again. It was sad there in the drawer. A beautiful lapis blue pen, with gold ends. Heavy, serious. Delicious in the hand.Today it’s found a new use, which means it never travels at all any more. It lives in my office desk drawer now, and comes out to sign reports. 2185 last year. Somehow it should have something more fun to do.

8 comments:

Niamh B said...

maybe birthday cards?!
Yes technology can make us lose a fair bit of colour from life though can't it? same with kindles v's books, emails v's letters (in terms of paper choice) - the world is getting bland!

jabblog said...

Greetings cards would be good - a (usually) happy task to keep a faithful pen contented.

steven said...

the flyleafs of books. your books! steven

Eryl said...

At least it still has a function, I can't remember the last time I used my fountain pen. I still write a lot of stuff by hand, my journal is still an actual book, but prefer very fine drawing pens in multiple colours.

Totalfeckineejit said...

Kinda sad, but to keep a pen for TEN YEARS is extraordinary! If I have one a week without losing , I'm doing well!
Neat idea putting bus prompts in the sidebar. Nice ones too. Will link tomorrow. Thanks NanU!

Bagman and Butler said...

I used to love getting just the right pen as well. Computers have spoiled my handwriting so it is illegible now.

2,185 reports! That's like one every 45 minutes or so!

NanU said...

It's a darned nice pen, Tfe. Like a piece of jewelry that I don't attach to myself.
The sidebar bus prompt was prompted by my posting the prompt on Monday and nobody noticing (at least, no comments). That post is now buried and nobody will find it.

Heather said...

That's rather sad. I used a fountain pen a long time ago and no longer have one, but do still write a few letters by hand. Bring back the fountain pen!!