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Doing the hokey cokey

It’s been ten days since my last “proper” post (I reviewed the Pilot Murex, in case you missed it).

What can I say? I’ve been busy with family and work.

But oh, what change. (The title of the post is inspired by the “in, out” of my collection…)

No mystery here

I bid a fond adieu to the Conid Regular and Visconti Opera Master, and immediately welcomed a Montblanc Agatha Christie into my life. On paper, it’s an old and ludicrously overpriced 146. But it’s a little bit special.

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New pen day.

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And that’s far from everything. Oh no.

Oldwin, new in

I have impulsively ordered another Oldwin, hoping for a better customer experience than last time. This one is a Classic (bullet ended) in a Visconti Burlwood Celluloid, which I just couldn’t resist. I’ll let you know when it shows up.

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Maybe I’ll end up with a duo?!

I’ve somehow also ordered an Aurora Duo-Cart — I guess I couldn’t wait for the review sample from Kenro. My Nettuno has rapidly become one of my favourite pens, and I’m keen to see whether this “budget” steel-nibbed pen lives up to the same standards.

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Ink-oming

After my huge ink sell-off, I’m wasting no time in restocking. I couldn’t resist three of the shade-monsters from Troublemaker inks, although I hear the shipping is insanely slow, so you might hear about these again around Christmas time.

In pursuit of the wettest blue ink out there, I ordered Herbin’s Bleu des Profondeurs (credit to this lovely review on FPN), and at the same time picked up a full-size bottle of Bleu Pervenche, one of my favourite light blues. And it would have been a waste not to at last grab Robert Oster Caffe Crema, wouldn’t it? And I’ve always fanced trying Sailor Irori. Oh, and maybe a bottle of the Pelikan Duo highlighter ink (thanks Gary for the tip). And of course a pen to put it in — so a TWSBI Eco transparent orange added to the cart too. Oh, and I’ve been meaning to review more budget pens, so a Kaco Retro added to the order. It’s a cute hooded-nib thing, should be a good comparison for the Aurora Duo-Cart.

It’s an expensive hobby being a pen reviewer, isn’t it? (Did I mention you can donate to support the blog?!)

We meet in Fleet

I don’t know why I constantly expose myself to temptation. This weekend just gone saw our regular Fleet pen meet, where I had the chance to handle some truly unusual pens. Two enormous 3D-printed pens by William Shakour, with #8 Ti nibs and piston fillers; the Ryan Krusak fountain pen day pen; the new Scribo 3 in blue, and a custom pen with aged copper cap. Very cool.

Apollo

I’m a huge space geek, so for me the recent Apollo commemorations have been filling up a lot of my brain space. As well as seeing the fabulous Apollo 11 film in the cinema — special note to its wonderful period-correct electronica soundtrack by Matt Morton — I’ve welcomed the expanded and remastered edition of Eno’s classic Apollo album on vinyl, the soundtrack to the film For All Mankind. So I’ve been spinning that a fair bit. And I’m reading Michael Collins’s “Carrying the Fire”, which I can highly reecommend.

So with all this in mind, it’s no wonder that I’ve had my head turned by the Montegrappa rocket pens, and even by Penultimate Dave’s trio of Apollo, Gemini and Mercury Retro 51 rollerballs. None of these pens are to my taste, but still I pondered…

So: radio silence on the blog, but a lot going on. And that’s just on the pen side of things. In just a few weeks I’ll be welcoming daughter number two to my household, so there’s a line of couriers at my door arriving with carseats, cribs and other bits and bobs on a daily basis.

It should go without saying, but you can probably expect a reduced number of articles in the next few months!

2 Comments

  1. Effandpee

    Many Congrats!! Hope everything goes well over the next few weeks!

  2. rupertarzeian

    Wonderful news on all fronts. I look forward to hearing about the new arrivals in due course!

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