Posted by Jerry on June 18th, 2004 — Posted in Journal, Writing
My hand-turned wooden-bodied fountain pen is in the throes of giving up the ghost – the lid is now markedly cracked, and although still quite useable, I thought it was time to consider its replacement. A week or so ago, when I was in the specialist paper shop where I buy my moleskine notebooks, I noticed they were showcasing a particular fountain pen with an aluminium body – I gave it a try and thought it seemed like a good robust pen with a suitably fine nib. But not to be rushed, I demurred, thinking that i would try a few others and possibly come back to this one. Today I went into town and tried out a range of pens, including some good solid Parkers and a quite inexpensive Spanish one. But they were somehow too light or too boring in style. I glanced at the Waterman pens – knowing they would be more than I was prepared to pay, and the helpful assistant suggested I might try one. Okay, I thought, no harm in trying one.
What a lovely balance and weight. No it’s probably not rugged enough for my rough treatment, and the nib is too broad… “do you have a fine nib?” I asked. “No they all come with medium nibs, but we can send it off to have a fine nib fitted – it should take about two weeks.” That’s it then I thought. At AU$115 it was more than I would want to pay anyhow. “oh, by the way…” says the assistant sensing my hesitation… “all our pens are 25 percent off due to the Winter sale…” Well the pen did have a nice balance, and the nib did have a nice glide… but then again the enamel will probably peel off … “I think I should think about it” I said to the assistant – AU$86 was still more than the aluminium one I had looked at previously. Yup, I thought, it is more expensive – by at least the price of a magazine. And I would have to defer my pleasure for at least a fortnight.
I thanked the assistant and walked out of the store. I ate a sausage roll (I like health foods). I went into a book shop – that’s normally enough to inflict a serious wound on my wallet – saw nothing I wanted to buy. I went to several stationers and checked out pens. They sold magazines. I wouldn’t normally think twice about buying a magazine. It was a lovely red colour. The pen, not the magazines. I could get a cheap pen plus a magazine, or I could get a nicely balanced pen – a Waterman – not that brands mean much to me, and forego a magazine. My wooden pen will probably last until the next Working with Wood show – when I could get another similar one. That would probably last for a year or two – like my current one. The assistant had said something relevant here – “… and they come with a lifetime warranty…”
I walked back to the car, and dumped my other purchases – some Darrell Lea chocolates and a pair of RM Williams moleskine pants. I phoned my daughter – perhaps she had finished her shopping – oh just another half hour… okay I thought, maybe I’ll dawdle back to the store and just have another look at the pen. But if she phones me before I get there, I’ll turn around and leave it – and that will be it. That leaves it up to Fate.
I headed back slowly, had a bit of a wander into another bookshop, and finally went into … oh no this is the Other store… I decided not to buy some ink cartridges there. Retrace some steps and find the right one. “so… you can send it straight off to get a fine nib fitted?” “Yes sir, it will probably be about a fortnight – you can change it up to 28 days after purchase” she said, judging that I was generally not one to defer gratification. But i thought, for a pen that feels so right, a fortnight is not long to wait. “I’ll take it” I said, adding: “And I’ll get you to send it off for a fine nib please”. I paid the assistant and started heading back through the store. My phone rang…
Glenn Marcus writes about a visit to the Waterman pen factory
Cheers
Jerry
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Posted by Jerry on June 18th, 2004 — Posted in Writing
Do you ever run out of inspiration for things to write? I do, but I’ve found there are a myriad ways to regain it when all seems lost. Often, all it requires is a quirky take on everyday things. For instance, my partner and I once drove the lass behind the counter at our local video hire place to distraction – because quite by chance we noticed that you could make stories from juxtaposing the titles of movies – we spent perhaps an hour one particularly quiet evening rearranging all the new releases into sentences! I don’t think they ever quite got over us 🙂
Lord of the rings’ matrix: Gone in 60 seconds – the Italian job… a river runs through it!
Then you could consider what happens if you take information signs literally… Have you ever gone into a public toilet and read the driers while drying your hands? Consider the breakdance possibilities of the instruction “cup hands and roll close to the outlet” Or the truly frightening possibilities of: “Dryer stops when hands are removed…” It sounds like a really painful way to stop a drier.
“Fire hose” – another scary thought, however you look at it. I mean, whatever did poor Hose do to get fired? or ‘So THAT’s how fires get started!’ Read latin? That Exit is really out of it!
Of course there are the wonderful visual stimuli – Have you ever tried to describe what it takes to open a door? Now think film – as you reach for the door, give it some significance and zoom in… what are the fingers doing as they linger gently on the handle… and what happens to the veins on the back of the hand. How does the handle sound as it turns… does it squeak a little? or does it whisper the promise of what is on the other side…
One of the best sites for creative stimuli I’ve seen recently is the Soulfood cafe (pointed out by my partner Sharon) – a feast for the senses! and some great snippets of writing too!
Cheers
Jerry
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Posted by Jerry on June 17th, 2004 — Posted in History, Journal, Travel, Writing
Ever since I spent a bit of time poking around the UK I have been fascinated by the phenomenon of gargoyles – part rook plumbing devices, part caricature, and part irreverent iconography. The site above discusses the history of these strange carvings, and this one is of a modern maker of gargoyles I was intrigued also at the discovery that Star Wars’ Darth Vader appears as a gargoyle gracing the roof line of the cathedral in Washington DC in the USA!
Cheers
Jerry
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Posted by Jerry on June 14th, 2004 — Posted in Journal, Motorcycling
Much progress this weekend on my moped restoration project – I have now got the headlight, tail light and brake lights all working. The indicators light up, but they don’t flash. I suspect that either the globes are draining too much power, being 12 volt – and the moped uses a six volt system, or the flasher unit is broken – which could be a big problem since I don’t know of any six volt systems being run today! The only other thing not working is the horn – it still makes no sound. Not that it made much more than a dull ‘quack’ sound when it did work, but I’ll need to fix it somehow if I’m ever to get it registered.
The bike runs well and I got it up to 45kph on level bitumen today. There is a little weepage around the exhaust and around the head and base gaskets – so I may need to replace those when the time comes for a complete strip down to do the cosmetic side of the restoration.
I’m in two minds about the restoration – whether to try to get it up to showroom/museum condition or to allow the bike to show its age, while keeping it fully functional. You will have seen from my earlier photos that the bike already looks fairly good considering its length of time in storage. The key thing is to arrest any further rust, and to get the thing as mechanically sound as possible.
Motobecane 40V
If I aim for museum quality I will certainly need to replace the rear wheel – the rim was badly dented/torn by the previous owner – back in the early 1970s – and it had been hammered fairly straight (so there was never an issue of tyres being compromised) but the scars are there. At least any barriers will be over the little things – the bike is essentially complete 🙂
Cheers
Jerry
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Posted by Jerry on June 13th, 2004 — Posted in History, Technology
I recently read an old copy of New scientist from 7 November 1998 which carried a story about viking lenses. It says that the vikings made high quality quartz lenses – aspheric ones which have an elliptical, rather than spherical, shape. These were made on simple lathes and were apparently used for as fire starters or to cauterise wounds. There are examples of such lenses in museums in Munich and Sweden and no doubt elsewhere. There is a web page discussing viking lenses and research into them by Olaf Schmidt of the University of Applied Science in Aalen, Germany.
Rock Crystal Lenses from the Viking Harbor Town of Fröjel, Gotland in Sweden
I was talking to a Dane recently about this, and he told me that the vikings also used things called sun stones for navigation, and he suggested that they somehow lit up when held aloft, even on cloudy days, to enable them to locate the sun and thereby derive a position. I suggested that it might not have been far fetched if, say, some sort of crystalline stone which might act like a polarising lens. This might be able to filter diffuse light and reveal the direction of a non-polarised light source, which would have been the sun. And after a bit of a search online found that my hypothesis might be correct! Indeed Norway is one source of a naturally occurring felspar which had polarising properties – the other major source was Iceland where the vikings had continuous settlements.
Certainly the Vikings were excellent navigators and they had ships well capable of traversing open ocean, rather than just being brown water vessels, so it is quite likely that among their many navigational tools, they might have used a polarising filter.
Cheers
Jerry
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