Month: March 2025

Travelling with ink: the Maldives, March 2025.

~ rupertarzeian ~ 7 Comments

Our latest holiday destination was well-chosen by my wife, from her bucket list. We were both hoping for a peaceful break with little to do, other than snorkel by coral reefs. Faced with this prospect, I set about picking fountain pens to bring for some holiday journaling.

As usual, I briefly contemplated bringing just one pen to use exclusively, but caved in and eventually went with five. These included three recent acquisitions from the London Spring Pen Show – a Parker 17 Lady, a Parker Duofold button-filler and the TWSBI Eco T Saffron with EF nib. The other two were a Wing Sung 699 vac filler, which I have been enjoying since the start of the year and finally the red Caran d’Ache 849 bought in Bruges last November.

Vintage Parker button filler and a 17 Lady.

I should say now, that this will not be a post about all the best places to see fountain pens throughout the Maldives. We stayed on only one of the 1,190 islands. Aside from the Dive shop, the island had only one other shop, for gifts and souvenirs. The region is thus more an opportunity for pen using, than pen shopping.

However the trip was not entirely without something for the stationery fan with gear acquisition syndrome. If I had been careless enough to leave home without any fountain pens at all, then help was at hand in the duty free shopping mall at London Heathrow Terminal 4: a Smythson stationery shop held a good selection of Yard-O-Led pens and pencils in Sterling Silver. Phew!

A rare sighting of some Yard-O-Led pens in London Heathrow Airport.

Also in the Terminal, is a Montblanc shop. Here I enjoyed a good browse around and a chat to the helpful assistant Lenka. A number of the fountain pens were on special offer with around one third off! But even with such a discount, a pen such as the Montblanc Meisterstuck Solitaire Blue Hour Legrand is still a hefty sum of money, especially for a spouse-accompanied impulse buy. However, I did succumb to a bottle of Montblanc “Around the World in 80 Days” special edition ink. This appeared to be an interesting grey with dark green undertones which I liked, although strangely described as Brown on the box.

Around the World in 80 Days.

I added this ink to my clear plastic bag of liquids under 100ml, to pass through security, along with my Pineider travelling inkwell of Quink Black. I emptied the vintage Parker Duofold button filler and the Parker 17 Lady, to avoid the risk of them leaking on the flight. The other inked pens remained in my carry-on backpack for the journey, with nibs uppermost and I had no trouble with any of them on the flights, out or back.

To write in, I had brought a Leuchtturm A5 journal. I see that I refilled the two vintage Parkers with my new Montblanc Around the World ink. I had brought a collapsible plastic cup (possibly a dog’s drinking bowl?) which was a useful accessory for holiday pen flushing. I used the Duofold button filler which wrote for about 10 x A5 pages on one fill. The nib is a medium to broad. I then switched to the Parker 17 with a fine or extra fine nib, which I enjoyed a lot with the Montblanc ink, since it produced a sharp pencilly grey line on my Leuchtturm paper. Next I used the Caran d’Ache for a short while before moving on to the TWSBI Eco T Saffron, with EF nib. I had paired this with New Old Stock Waterman Blue Black ink from the pen show and, with my Leuchtturm journal, I enjoyed this combo and used it for the remainder of the holiday. Even so, the capacious piston filler was still half full when I got home. It is a comfortable pen; I love the firm EF nib and the Saffron beachy vibes.

A TWSBI Eco T, Saffron, on vacation.

On the return flights there was another opportunity to be tempted by Montblanc in the duty free shop at Malé airport where I had a nice conversation with the friendly salesman, Irhan who was knowledgeable on the special editions and showed me the James Dean (in a sale) and a Chopin. He told me that they attend a course every few months to keep up to date with the pens.

As for the holiday itself, the Maldives are of course a wonderful, tropical paradise and we had a great time, swimming and snorkeling every day. Our small island resort was bounded by a coral reef and it was a joy to swim out from the beach, over the reef to the far side where it dropped off steeply to the deep blue depths. Here, a variety of colourful fish could be found, among the coral. In the course of the trip, we saw plenty of marine life, including turtles and reef sharks.

My Wife enjoying the beach view.

But the highlight of our stay was a guided snorkeling trip, by fast boat, to a patch of ocean about 25 minutes’ boat ride away, where we swam for an hour blissfully observing a group of manta rays, gliding by us in the crystal clear waters, feeding and occasionally showing off with a loop-the-loop. It was while watching these beautiful creatures, that our group was treated to the awesome sight of a Whale Shark, also feeding (but happily not on snorkelers) which was perhaps around 12 metres long. Our guides were excited as it was only their second sighting of a Whale Shark this season. We did not have an underwater camera but some friends in our group had one and later shared some of their photos with us.

Manta Ray in the Maldives

If we were to go again, I would like to bring a Go-Pro for some underwater stills and video. When we transferred flights at Abu Dhabi, I found several electronic shops in the airport selling these. But to buy one then seemed like locking the stable door after the horse has bolted. But, with thanks to a German couple whom we met on our trip, I can share a few photos of what we all saw.

Manta Ray



A Whale Shark, feeding.
Another gratuitous Whale Shark shot!
The rested spouse.

One Week 100 People 2025: Days 1 to 3.

~ rupertarzeian ~ 4 Comments

I learned of this challenge from Writing at Large. The idea is to complete 100 sketches of people in a week,  from 3 to 7 March inclusive. The challenge runs every year in the first week of March.

Although I am not usually one for these online challenges, I was intrigued enough by this one, to have a go. I thought the practice would be beneficial, which it has been.

I gathered that there were few rules on how to go about this. You can use any sketching media. Then post your work using the hashtag #OneWeek100People.

Even the target of completing 100 pictures in 5 days is not essential. That is just as well, as I find myself woefully behind with just 12 pictures in three days.

Also my pictures have all been copied from photos, rather than drawn from life, as an urban sketcher would.

Having since looked at other people’s work, I now see that  my sketches are far too fussy, when I should have worked loosely and quickly.

But here are my attempts so far. All were drawn with a vintage Parker 17 Lady fountain pen with Parker Quink black ink in a Rymans A5 sketch book, with no prior pencil work. Going straight to ink builds confidence! I quickly learned that trying to produce pictures that are recognisably human is challenge enough: to get a likeness is a whole lot harder.

In blogs which promote fountain pens, I think it is good to inspire the use of these wonderful instruments, and not only their acquisition.

London Spring Pen Show 2025: my haul.

~ rupertarzeian ~ 7 Comments

Well, this is embarrassing. I had pencilled in a post for this week, intending to call it a pen show recap, as “my haul” would not work on a “no-buy”. But as it turns out, the “no-buy” promptly went out of the window as soon I got through the gates. Another generous interpretation from one of my pen club friends, is that purchases during a pen show do not count in a no-buy.

Anyhow, I had a brilliant day at the show as always, running into many friends. As most of our pen club (The London Fountaineers) had arranged to meet up nearby at Latymers for a pub lunch during the show, I decided to go for the 9.00am early bird admission, to compensate for the lunchtime erosion of shopping time. This worked out perfectly and it was lovely to sit down and catch up with friends over a delicious Thai meal and share what each of us had found.

Pen club lunch at Latymers.

Over the course of the day, I acquired nine pens. I know that this sounds like a lot but none of them was terribly expensive and many folk spent more than my total on a single pen.

The only pen that I had specifically hunted for, was a Parker Duofold Senior, in blue. I found that the typical prices of these old Duofolds rise as you progress through the seven different sizes. The “Senior” (with a #35 nib), is the second largest of these and I paid £80.00 for a very nice example. The largest one was called the Maxima (#50 nib).

Parker Duofold Senior (#35 nib)

One of my earliest finds was a “Ty-phoo Tea” pen, a lovely old (1930’s?) lever filler, in black etched with a wave pattern, flat ended and clipless and a small, 14k gold nib. This would have been acquired as an offer in return for coupons from packets of tea. It is said to be “British Made” although the maker is not specified. I have since read on FPN that there were several such models made for Ty-phoo Tea over the years, likely to have been supplied by Swan, Wyvern or Conway Stewart. With a sudden brainwave, I have paired it with Jacques Herbin Lie de Thé.

Typhoo-Tea pen with aptly chosen ink

I picked up a TWSBI “Eco T” in Saffron with a lovely EF nib. Admittedly, I thought that I was buying a standard Eco, but later discovered it to be an Eco T, which has three, softly rounded facets on the grip section and a triangular cap and piston knob – a model that I had not been aware of, but still a pleasing buy with summery vibes.

A TWSBI ECO T, Saffron with EF nib.

I had a successful run of buying three vintage Parkers, all in glossy black with gold trim, each from different vendors. First, a Duofold button filler (1940’s?), the first button filler I have owned, from Heritage Collectables. Next a Duofold Junior, with a Fine nib which, amazingly, was in near mint condition with original chalk marks and an aero filler which appeared never to have been inked. This was from Justin Janse van Vuuren. Finally, a gorgeously cute irresistible Parker 17 Lady (Fine), which posts beautifully to become a really delightful pocket pen, sold by Carneil Pens. I have been using this for sketching, with Parker Quink Black.

Three vintage Parkers.

I also bought my first Parker 25! I had never much liked the oddly industrial brushed steel tapered barrel and so had refrained from buying one when they were part of Parker’s range. But having learned that they were designed by Sir Kenneth Grange, also responsible for designing the Inter-City 125 train, I felt it was high time I tried one. There were several to chose from at the show and so I could examine their nibs with a loupe. In the hand, the pen is more comfortable than it looks and the cap posts beautifully, flush with the barrel, whereupon the tapering barrel makes sense.

Parker 25.

Otherwise, my pen-buying flurry included a Pelikan Jazz and a Sailor High Ace neo, each offered at just £5.00 from Cult Pens. I also stocked up on ink, finding bottles of new old stock Waterman Florida Blue and Waterman Blue Black, plus a luxurious box of 6 Pilot Iroshizuko kon-peki cartridges and a couple of boxes of the Kaweco Royal Blue cartridges.

Another suitcase, another haul.

The day was punctuated by lots of lovely conversations with friendly dealers including Jeremy Collingbridge, John Hall, Kirit Dal, Ray Walters, John Foye, Sarj Minas, Kasia Stier, Justin Janse van Vuuren, my good friend Jon of Pensharing and many others. On the train home, I also tried to list all the friends I had seen and this came to more than 20.

Kasia Stier of PenSpa.

For anyone serious about being on a no-buy, the London Pen Show is not the place to go. As a recent retiree, I discovered that I am still at heart, a child who wants a new toy a little too often. But I am thrilled with my acquisitions which I am sure will punch well above their weight in providing joy for years to come. Thanks, as always, to all the organisers, dealers and the fountain pen community. See you all next time!

The author (left) with some pen friends.