Originally posted by Cuthbert
1) I assume it's very warm in Texas in this part of the year....
2) I have a 61, nice pen when it works, and I'm looking for a nice 51, the problem is that ink is getting hard to find....like film. We share many interest however.
3) My holidays will be home sleeping, I just realised I'm overspending on gear, I bought a Nikon F2A, Canon F-1n, F-1N, Spotties but especially a lot of cool lenses, including two Noktons (a 50mm f1.5 for Leicas and a 58mm f1.4 for Nikon, the Pentax version is impossible to find), yes all cool stuff but perhaps I should take a break a look for better subjects to take pics at.
1) "Warm" isn't quite the word I'd use. More like
hot! Damn hot! 95F today (35C for you metric-minded folks). Feels like 101F with the humidity figured in. I was out in it on my bike earlier, just in time for the clouds to unzip on me. I was drenched, but at least a little cooler. 15 minutes later, the sun was out again, and steam was rising off the streets. Ah Houston -- Cairo West, I call it because the two cities share the same latitude.
2) The 61's a very good pen, but its capillary filler system can be a problem if it isn't used consistently. I hear they can be a bear to clean. Here's a page I found that has some notes on cleaning a 61:
penspotters at rickconner.net
Probably why the 51 is still more highly regarded, although they were of equivalent quality, and it certainly doesn't have that 51 mystique. Me, I don't go in for mystique all that much. Actually, a "student" version of the 51, the 21, is a pen I like quite a bit. Dunno why. It's simple, but reliable, and that means a lot to me. I just remembered, I have another contemporary pen -- a two-pen set, actually. It's a Parker "International" Duofold set -- fountain pen and roller ball pen in lapis. I bought the set out of a pawn shop for about 1/5 of the new price. Perfect shape, I don't think it was ever used. And I don't use it either. It's a nice enough writer -- better than the Mont Blanc, actually -- but that's it. It keeps my Mont Blanc company in a desk drawer.
Here in Houston, I can usually find plain old black Parker Ink at a big box office supply like Office Depot. But for a nice variety of ink, we have a genuine stationers -- not many stationery stores left these days -- that carries a very large variety of inks, as well as a nice variety of fountain pens. Turns out the owner is a fountain pen nut. I guess that helps. But anyway, if there is a stationers somewhere close to you, you might try there.
3) Heh, it seems to me like England would be full of interesting photographic subjects. Maybe you're trying too hard? Although I do like your automotive shots. Me, I'd be on my bike, riding through the hinterlands, shooting pix of old castles, taking in the quaint little villages I see on BBC America. And of course, one day I hope to make the pilgrimage to the birthplace of my surname: Kirkudbright, Scotland. A cheery little community, from the photos I've seen, at the tip of Bathinghouse Bay, up in the Dumfries and Galloway region of Scotland.
You know, I can't think of which car it is that has the drop down doors like that. It isn't the BMW M1 is it? I can't tell which car it is in your shot.