An Obsession Part I

Rarely do I get so obsessed with something that I wonder if I’m loosing my marbles, but that’s exactly what’s been happening for the past two weeks. My obsession started because I had ankle and foot surgery about four and half weeks ago, and as part of recovery, I must remain home from work, with my foot in a surgical splint, elevated above my heart for as many hours a day as I can stomach. Seems easy right? Not so fast buckeroo. It’s as boring as hell. And with boredom, you guessed it, came obsession.

What obsession you ask? I’ve finally indulged my love of journals and pens, and done so for more than a week. So I must be obsessed, right? I already had two fountain pens, one an antique Parker and the other a Lamy CP1 with an extra fine point, but I’d never been able to maintain a journal for more than a few days. I’d start, and then stop, which is pretty typical from what I’ve read on the internet. But now, I’m whole hog into it. I’m writing two pages daily, by hand no less, on thoughts about life, my job, frustrations with life, my ankle and foot that continue to throb, and anything that comes to mind, including ideas for short stories, and an itinerary for an eleven day trip to Bruges and Amsterdam in the fall. Hum, hopefully I’ll be able to walk decently because it involves a ton of walking.

The two journals I’ve been using are an Allen’s journal by a Scotish bible printer (not a religious thing) and a Levenger’s Stanley journal.

The Allen’s journal is by far my favorite of the two journals. I love the 4mm thin ruled paper, which is red under gold edging, and extremely well bound with a built-in bookmark. I’ve never found a journal that was less than 6mm ruled, so this was a real find. The newer versions have a gray line instead and the rule has been increased to 5mm, but it remains a great option for those who like ultra thin ruled paper and whose writing or script is small. The paper is incredibly thin, which I like. Despite that, your will not experience feathering or bleed through when writing with a fountain pen in this journal, a real testament to the production quality of the paper and the product overall. There are 256 pages in this and because the paper is so thin, the book is just under a half inch thick. Mine has a black goatskin leather, which is very supple. Some of their journals use other types of leather like calfskin, but they are just as beautiful. Allen’s journals come in other colors as well, like red, green, brown and tan. My cover has “Journal” printed in gold leaf lettering. Note: newer versions of these journals omit the cover gold leafing and the paper is slightly heaver. I prefer the older style, but I’m ultimately fine with these changes. The journal comes in two sizes:  6 1/8″ X 4 1/2″, a passport size, and a larger 8 3/16″ X 5 3/8″. The smaller size is, as of this writing, £30.00. The large is not currently in stock so I can’t quote you a price. Allen’s ships to the United States as well. I love this journal. In fact I love it so much I’ve been known to kiss the cover. Yeah, I know, weird, but true.

If you are looking for a good journal, try out Allen’s in England at https://www.bibles-direct.co.uk and click on the “Journals” item in the page navigation on the left. While they are a bible printer you won’t get strange emails trying to sell you bibles. The one draw back so far with this journal is that they print them at the same time they print up new batches of bibles. As a result, they’ve been out of the larger size for about six months. I’m hoping, and I check back often, that they print some up soon.

Enjoy!