Accidentally left my notebook cover, containing a notepad, and my rose gold Kaweco fountain pen, on the coffee table in the 'output' area at work. Never noticed until I had arrived at my changeover point to drive my first bus, yesterday. When I got back, surprise surprise, it wasn't there. And no-one handed it in. We appear to have a thief at work 😡

What's so $%^&* annoying is that this isn't the first time it's happened. Last time, I lost a notepad cover, and a pair of excellent Rite In The Rain twist pencils, which RITR had discontinued in the interim. So, those were lost forever.

This time, it's the notebook cover that's been discontinued, a rather bleeding good and handy Maxpedition cover, a Faber-Castell Perfect Pencil, AND my Kaweco rose gold fountain pen. I can replace the fountain pen, but it's now 60 quid, not the thirty I paid for it, and I can replace the the Perfect Pencil as well: It's twelve quid through Amazon.

But I cannot replace the cover (3” x 5” Notebook Cover), which has since been discontinued by Maxpedition, dammit 😡 It had very handy velcro sections on the outside, to customise the cover. That had three morale patches on it. I have spares, but I shouldn't have or need to use them.

The reason I'd hauled out the cover? I'd left my usual fountain pen and pencil (both Kaweco) at home yesterday. It was a Monday. Figures. Thankfully, the item I pulled the notepad cover out to use, my emergancy Blaze Orange RITR ball point pen (RITR metal clicker pen, OR97), wasn't lost: I had stuck that in my vest penloop when I got distracted. That's 30 quid I don't have to find, at any rate.

I'm bloody furious for two reasons: One, that it's partly my fault they're gone (I should have put the gruddamn thing back in my vest pocket. I got distracted and forgot), and Second, that there's a $%^&@#* THIEF at work 😡

So. Lesson learned. It's not going to be expensive RITR waterproof paper in the notepad cover hereinafter, and replaceable gear. This means a bland black RITR 3" x 5" notebook cover, plain paper top-bound notepaper, and cheaper, replaceable, pens.

Most of all? I *want* that thief. I wanna do unspeakably KINETIC things to his hands involving bench vices, 20lb sledgehammers, nails, and pungee sticks. I wanna do that until the audience, Crown Prosecution Service, and the Police, scream and pass out from the horror of it all, not just the thief. I wanna go medieval and Inquisition-like on his extremities, and make Torquemada look like a merciful rank amateur.

Moreover? I'm FURIOUS he's made me this damned angry 😡

A little retail therapy...!

 I attended the London pen Show today. First one I've been to. It caters to pens, obviously, but mostly fountain pens, which I like. However, my last few haven't really done well with me; two Kawekos, a Platinum, and a Lamy Safari, and before that, in school (AHEM years ago!), a Parker 25.

The Lamy and the Platinum still work fine, I just can't get comfortable enough with them: They're too light, and there's no real feedback when I have them in the hand (I prefer a pen with a bit of heft in it). The two Kawekos jammed up all the time, which was a pity, as others have had good results with the brand. The Parker 25 was lost in the mists of time.

So, the London Pen Show.

The show was small, well attended, and for a fiver admission, well worth the visit to Hammersmith in west London on a damned chilly morning, at yougottabekiddingme o'clock in the morning?! I work LATES, for pities sake! What's the "morning" thing?! 😂

Anyway, I was up at 7 in the a.m., on a train by roughly 9 (again, in the "ayem"), and at the show by just after 10, whereupon I linked up with my brother-in-law, neice, and some of their friends.

My niece is an admin of a UK facebook group, the "Fountain Pens UK" group; she's also VERY knowledgeable about how these pens are made, and how to repair and maintain them. She also knows a number of people in the trade, and put me onto Gravitas Pens, and their very compact 'pocket' model, in this case, a brass body with a medium nib.

I tested one at the table Gravitas had at the show, and WOW, did it feel NICE in the hand. It also writes cleanly, with a decent flow of ink to the nib, giving clear, consistent lines. I was impressed - so I bought one (you KNEW that was coming, didn't you? 😉).

Also, have a look at that photo, at the cap at the bottom of the shot. Notice the logo Gravitas uses: It's VERY much like the old British Army "Crow's Foot" (a.k.a. the "British Broad Arrow Mark"), that used to be plastered/stamped/printed on pretty-much every bit of Army kit in inventory until well into the 1980s 😂

I also picked up some ink, and a few notebooks for the pen (well, you KNOW it's rude not to, and all that 😉😂

Anyhow, I now have a decent fountain pen, which didn't cost a mint, and got home happy, satisfied, and yawning like a very tired thing (late shift worker, remember?).

All in all, not a bad way to spend a lazy Sunday 😀