Last December I turned 30 (I know, I'll be drawing my pension any day now). Adam had been asking me what I wanted and I went back and forth and hummed and hawed and generally didn't make a decision. I thought a watch might be nice, since I need one for work, but since I don't actually get that excited by watches, it seemed a little silly to spend lots of money on one. (Adam, incidentally, turned 30 a month after me, and knew exactly what he wanted. It's some electronicthingamajig. Speaker thing. Wireless. Frightfully clever. I have managed to switch it on once or twice).
Finally, the clever chap hit upon something that I've wanted for years, but never really felt I 'should' buy. A nice fountain pen. After much much research to find the perfect style/colour./weight/grip, this one came over from the States (I don't like pens with black stripes or silver metalwork on. This eliminates an awful lot of pens, hence the well-travelled pen). It's a Pelikan Souveran 800, and I love it very very much. I actually already had a fountain pen prior to this (a Cross one, given as a press gift to my journalist father about 15 years ago and pilfered by me last time he had a clear out), but this new fellow is in a whole different league. I have completely abandoned my much loved Evernote app in favour of paper lists since being given it, and am experimenting with different coloured inks. Currently it's forest green, which I'm quite liking, but I'm going to try purple next. Writing with fun coloured ink with such a sophisticated pen makes me very happy.
It's slightly bigger than my old Cross pen (the Souveran comes in a few sizes, from the seriously compact 400 up to the monster 1000), and to me is just beautifully designed without being OTT like some pens I could mention (although that one does come in at the bargain price of £2,700. Ahem).
The accompanying leaflet for my pen had an illustration of the Pelikan logos since 1878. I love how since 1926 the poor bird's family has been reducing in line with population trends.
