I am a Greek DevOps Engineer ranting about everything, from email to sports; to living in Athens, Greece.
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2 thoughts on “Fountain pens, ink and paper”
Between vinyl records, film-based photography, fontain pens and manual typewriters (and probably some others I forgot), there are various movements that appreciate “analog” technologies again. What I like about all these is the change of pace and introspection that goes with them. Having to stop and turn a record every 20 minutes gives listening to music a different feel, as does writing with a fountain pen. (Have you been to the tiny cafe “Petite Fleur” in Kolonaki? They have a record player, when they’re too busy to flip the record, there will be a spell of silence from the speakers.
The syndrome of having to collect all kind of stuff is on another level too though, lots of people just buy things. I try to counter that by using only what I already have :-)
Petite Fleur is less than 3 minutes in walking distance from $WORKPLACE :)
I am not into collecting fountain pens. In fact, with the exception maybe of a Parker 51, I do not think that one should invest more than €100 for daily use. Over the last 25 years I have used 3 Parkers and a Daniel Hechter. It is only recently though that I moved into bottled ink, a move that opens a new door to writing stuff down. But then again this may just be another case of stuff white people like :)
Now, who’s gonna buy me a Parker 51 for Christmas?
Managing organized complexity 
Between vinyl records, film-based photography, fontain pens and manual typewriters (and probably some others I forgot), there are various movements that appreciate “analog” technologies again. What I like about all these is the change of pace and introspection that goes with them. Having to stop and turn a record every 20 minutes gives listening to music a different feel, as does writing with a fountain pen. (Have you been to the tiny cafe “Petite Fleur” in Kolonaki? They have a record player, when they’re too busy to flip the record, there will be a spell of silence from the speakers.
The syndrome of having to collect all kind of stuff is on another level too though, lots of people just buy things. I try to counter that by using only what I already have :-)
Petite Fleur is less than 3 minutes in walking distance from $WORKPLACE :)
I am not into collecting fountain pens. In fact, with the exception maybe of a Parker 51, I do not think that one should invest more than €100 for daily use. Over the last 25 years I have used 3 Parkers and a Daniel Hechter. It is only recently though that I moved into bottled ink, a move that opens a new door to writing stuff down. But then again this may just be another case of stuff white people like :)
Now, who’s gonna buy me a Parker 51 for Christmas?