Pens and Stuff

A few years ago I gifted my sister with a really nice ball point pen. I had one at work that I loved and decided to buy a bunch to give to family for Christmas. Since they had a company logo on them and they were sold from the company store they were quite reasonable for the quality. Well the pen has finally gone dry and needed to be refilled. When called and asked what kind of refill was needed I responded promptly "Parker T-ball Jotter". When my sister told me she was standing in front of a refill display at Staples and there was nothing labeled T-ball Jotter. I had to dash over to Amazon so I could tell her what the modern equivalent would be.

I should pause here to let you know that I worked in a stationary store for a couple of years after high school. I love walking through stationary stores the way some people like walking through hardware stores or book shops.

Well the search for refills prompted me to look at Amazon for similar things that were a part of my youth. Things like fountain pens and stationary. Fountain pens were not hard to find but I was amazed that there is such a thing as disposable fountain pens and that a good Waterman Pen could cost $100. A nice Parker was anywhere form $24 to $100 and a bottle of ink is shown as costing $10.

Using a fountain pen was mandatory while I was in 7th and 8th grade and I spent many a day with ink stained fingers and clothes. Ink cost less than a dollar a bottle and it would last for months. The only colors the nuns would allow were blue or blue/black. Peacock blue ink was much too showy for the Sisters of Saint Joseph back in the day. I was not allowed the use of a ball point pen for schoolwork until I started high school in the fall of '62.

So, once I finished shaking my head in disbelief at writing instruments I thought I'd look for letter writing stationary. I can't remember the last time I wrote an honest to goodness real letter. I still have half used boxes of stationary that I was saving for special occasions that are probably 30 years old.

When I was in my 20's I wrote letters to friends and relatives 2 or more times a week. My brother was in the Navy and away from home and I had friends who moved away from Philadelphia. Long distance calls were not an option because of the expense so letter writing was the thing to do. I would get onionskin paper for air-mail because it would cost less to send. I went through tablets of paper and boxes of envelopes for a few years.

Emails, facebook and blogs have replaced putting pen to paper. Makes you wonder how we will be communicating 20 years from now.

Ah well, I've rambled enough for now.

Take care all.