Here are some links to the like-minded…
- The Ultimate Guidebook for Chinese Pens (via Frank Underwater)
- Exactly what it says on the tin. Frank knocks it out of the park with this comprehensive guide to Chinese pen manufacturers. A must read if you are interested in Chinese pens!
- Initial Impressions: Wing Sung 618 and Wing Sung 698 Piston Fillers (via The Gentleman Stationer)
- The Gentleman Stationer finally dips a toe into the seedy underbelly economically sensible part of the fountain pen pool. Come on in, the water’s fine! 😛
- Fountain Pen Revolution Himalaya | Fountain Pen Review (via Pen Habit)
- Swirly plastic pens from India, with modern “flex”.
- Buying a New Pen: Some Decision-Making Tools (via Writing For Pain and Pleasure)
- Some great tips here, especially if you’re thinking about buying a pen that costs more than a latté.
- Renovating A Brass Delike Alpha (via The Indian Marmalade Company)
- I’m not a fan of this Kaweco Sport clone, but I do love the DIY ethos shown here in hacking one.
- Maruman Reccer Memo Pad Review (via The Pen Addict)
- This looks like a nice pocket notebook with excellent paper.
- Berlin Notebook assaulted! (via Fountain Pen Inks & Bleach)
- I’ve heard good things about these inexpensive, but fountain pen-friendly pocket notebooks, and it looks like they can handle almost anything you throw at them.
- Krishna The Earth (via Wondernaut)
- A non-IG ink with IG-like properties. Curious stuff!
The Economical Penster 
Back in the 80s, when I was a bodyguard for an agency that served some of the “diplomatic community” in London, many of our clients used to use a hotel restaurant that had a standing thirty pound sterling fee per person. So, if your latte cost two pounds, your bill was thirty-two pounds. We worked it out one day, for the six of us to have a coffee in that place, it was going to cost almost two-hundred sterling. Glad somebody else always picked up the tab.
LikeLiked by 2 people
You sound like someone I need to have a drink with sometime.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yes! Anytime, but not in that hotel bar… if you thought the coffee was expensive, you don’t even want to look at the bar.
LikeLike
In fact, I’ve just checked the web site of that hotel some 30 years on, and according to the bar menu, they do a scotch whisky (not even the whole bottle mind you), for two-thousand, seven hundred and fifty pounds sterling. That’s about $5,500 US dollars (take a look at the link below, page 31 of the PDF). They may not have a standing fee any more, but something tells me they probably don’t need one.
Like I said, I never had to pick up the tab anyway.
Click to access claridges-bar-drinks-menu.pdf
LikeLike
Dear EP, I wonder if there are any stationery stores in the Cold European City where you find yourself. (I always love the links, but I am also curious.) Yers, Indy Clause
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have found a few little shops selling notebooks and ballpoints, but nothing too special. There is supposed to be at least one stationery/art supply but I haven’t had a chance to visit it yet. On the plus side, there’s a bookstore on nearly every corner. I even found one that wouldn’t be out of place in PDX. 😅
LikeLike
That’s pretty awesome. Out here in rural-ish New England, many of the bookstores (did I say bookstores plural, yes I did!) carry pens and notebooks. Not a huge selection, but just enough to make it tempting for the newly converted.
LikeLike