The Closet

I have a bit of a Pen fetish. I just had to come out of the closet and tell you all. To be quite honest there is a colour ink for every fountain pen and a pen for every day. I own a Montblanc 149 Piston Fill Fountain Pen and 149 Desk Stand coming in at around £600 as well as a Montblanc Monte Rosa, a Concorde VIP Fountain Pen, a variety of rubber sack and other filling system pens. I even have a Sonnecken and on more than one occasion; I have gifted an expensive pen to one of my many friends to mark a special occasion. The last time was to my Professor, he had a German Piston Filler fountain pen from the 1930's to mark the occasion of my Graduation. The pen was German and from the 1930's to link in with my academic hero who those of you who have read the blog will know is Norbert Elias. The Great 20th Century German who published his main Civilizing Process work in the 1930's. That pen was wrapped up to look like a cigar, the downside being that the pen had leaked in the weeks that I had kept it in the boot of my car while waiting to catch the Prof. Hey ho, there's a lesson there. Don't fill a pen with ink and then leave it in a hot boot during the Summer. The leaking ink probably diminished the present a tad at the point of giving, but the pen soon cleaned up. Other gifts have included an early version Monte Rosa to a colleague and a Green Sheaffer pen and case to Michael when he was leaving Aberystwyth. I chose that coloured pen for Michael as I thought that the colour was a typical African colour and what I would expect a future President of Ghana to use when he is signing something on the World stage. I am now in the market for a Pelikan Pen, probably an M1000 if I can afford it and an M800 if not. My preferred choice is a Green pen, but I would cope with the Blue or the Red. You have to mention these things on-line just in case Father Christmas is having a bit of a nose at the Blog. At circa £300 new and maybe more for a Vintage one; I was foolish enough to think that I was going to pick up the Pelikan or a Montblanc 146 while I was in Ghana. Not a chance, Africa really wasn't like anything that I had prepared myself for. And for that reason the trip was probably far better than I could have ever imagined as well.

But back to the pens; I would like an earlier Montblanc 149 Piston Filler with Brass fittings and two silver bands around the cap. That would come in at £1,000 plus. Unless I get lucky. The best price that I have ever seen was three of them sold in a single LOT for $1,000 in an auction last year. I spotted them after they were sold, which for me was bad news, but for the successful bidder was very good news indeed. So for now, a Pelikan M1000 will have to suffice. I have already bought the ink for my intended new fountain pen purchase; Pelikan Violet. You see, as I mentioned earlier, there really is a different coloured ink for every pen, and a pen for every day.

Google Analytics Update

I have analysed Google Analytics and there have been 46 unique visitors to the Blog with 5 readers yesterday on Friday the 3rd October 2008. Readers come from a total of 6 countries from across the World from as far afield as Canada, Hong Kong and Vietnam. As well as readers back in the United Kingdom, and Ghana and the USA. 19 Cities are represented with the people of Birmingham United Kingdom and readers from London heading the list with 46 visits each [it’s a coincidence that this is also the value of unique visitors]. I cannot determine exactly where the 46 unique visitors are from, but in all 5 Continent sub regions are represented: Northern Europe, North America, West Africa, East Asia and South-Eastern Asia. In the readership table by City, Birmingham and London are in the joint lead with Cardiff following closely behind on 23 visits. The remaining Cities are:

Redmond 12
Chicago 8
Accra 7
Manchester 5
Smethwick 5
Tsuen Wan 3
Seattle 3

Some of those on 1 visit include: Toronto, Teddington, Aberystwyth, Sudbury, Watford, The Great Lakes, Newport, and Hanoi

It’s a pity that I don’t yet have a way of interacting with the readership. Maybe that is something that I can develop in the future, especially when I can analyse the locations and other detail concerning the repeat visitors. Meanwhile; thank you for taking the time to read the Blog and sincerely I hope that some of the content is useful, amusing, interesting, or in some other way of value to you.