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And who could blame them? 🤷‍♂️ In my experience though, this has been true for the prices that get charged for most things here since long before the nasty ‘B’-word happened. E.g. in the days before the www, Brits who travelled to north America often reported back that the US price tags for e.g. Levi’s jeans would bear the same number after their ‘$’ sign that the tags in UK shops bore after the ‘£’ sign. And this was back in the days when £1 was nominally ‘worth’ between $1.65 & $2. It was common for people going on holiday to e.g. NYC to travel outwards with at least one suitcase that was only half-full, so that on the return trip to the UK their cases had enough room to hold all the new clothes that they would buy able to buy far more cheaply in the US. The UK does have lots of good things going for it, but it is a Silly place.

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Clip on pen cap has become slack and wont spring back. Can this be repaired? Any help/advice much appreciated

Yes, there is also a 100y LE green ink. However, not my cup of tea ,-)

A couple of Shawn Newton pens...with Esterbrook nibs.

The Getty-Dubay writing system in the book you have ordered is a version of ‘Italic’ script. It is based on the hand that was developed by a Papal scribe for use in the Vatican Chancellery during the Italian Renaissance, as a script that would be quick and easy for officials to write, and still be easily-legible. Both of which factors are important when creating official records by hand. Various versions of Italic script have been developed, by various people. The main distinguishing feature of Italic scripts (apart from a slight slant) is that they don’t feature the loops and flourishes that are components of many ‘Cursive’ scripts. There are other Italic scripts available. Here are two threads about them that I have participated in, and which contain links to information about/downloadable font sets of the scripts in question. First, a thread that discusses the handwriting models created by the Ministry of Education of the government if France: The French Ministry of Education allows one to download the fonts for both of its handwriting models in versions that are ‘loopy cursive’, and in versions that are loop-free italic. The fonts include versions that print out background lines, so one can create one’s own practice sheets on one’s computer, and then print those out. There’s a link to PDF that shows all the styles of each model. Personally, I like the ‘italique’ version of ‘Écriture B’. Secondly, a thread about the cursive italic style that was developed for use in the schools in Sweden in the 1970s: There are also other threads about Italic scripts on this board of FPN, some of which may be more-informative than those two, or offer other writing models that you may prefer. I advise you to see if you can hunt any down with the ‘Search’ function at the top of this page Slàinte, M.

That's probably revenge for Brexit

I imagine the real prices that actually count for anybody are those listed in the site which appear after you choose the currency or country in question offered up top at the right.

Lately I've been doing small "bets" for mostly under $50 interesting pens, to avoid ending up paying almost 30% in taxes and import duties; most but not all work, like this, my first Parker 51 that superficially looks in good nick. It's a Vacumatic, unfortunately it doesn't draw ink; I've already identified a seller with an entire filling system and some wrenches to disassemble it, it might take me a few months to save for that, those wrenches are not cheap.

I find I write much better with a Fine or EF or even finer nib and a little feedback; pens like the Lamy 2000 are too smooth for me. I don't pay a lot of attention to the attributes of ink, mostly because I don't branch out and experiment very much. I have around 140 bottles or samples of ink, lots of different colors, but they are all dye-based, with limited shading, almost none with sheening, and no sparkly stuff. Some are wetter than others, but I'm not sure how much difference that makes to my writing. I just know that with some pens writing is a great experience, with others it's a struggle, and the majority of pens are somewhere in between.

Included a gold (not sure whether it’s real gold) CC. There were also 2 black cartridges. I plugged in one and using it , very smooth writing. Now to improve my handwriting!

Thank you for sharing this @SLinkster

I’ve tried varying the location/currency on the Montblanc website I used an online currency converter to compare the listed price for each currency/territory that I checked against the price listed for GBP/UK. None of the currencies/locations that I have tried lists a price that is as-high as the one for the UK 🙄

Thanks I'll check them out.

And the Vector I got on eBay has just arrived. Although I MAY need to have a chat with the USPS, because I had signed up for tracking the package and didn't get any intermediate notices. The only way I knew it had come was because I was just checking email for something else.... Except that it's a ballpoint.... Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

I don't know anything about "italic writing". I will look it up and try it. Is there a course book/folder for it like the "Sulls" American Cursive? Do you have to use a stub nib? I write small so wouldn't that tend to blurr everything up, all the letters, each letter? Thanks for you kind help. k

Thanks for the tip. Tried it long ago. My entire arm and hand and fingers do not work well. So, oh well.

It's been a while and I'm trying to get back into using my FPs. I've been inspired to by my cardiologist who is into FPs (He has other admirable and inspiring qualities as well - I think he even frequents FPN too.) Would that I knew him outside of a professional relationship... But I digress. Anyway, I've dug out some pens and I'm trying to get back at it. Aside from reaffirming my revulsion with IPG nibs, I just realized just how differently I write with different pens, and it's not at all good. I never noticed that before. I write best with a Pelikan M200 with a "Binderized" needle point with a nicely shading homebrew I call "Biber's Bistre" (it's a corrupted Diamine Golden Brown). Much to my disappointment my handwriting turns to (bleep) with the Lamy 2000 and a Parker 51. Go figure. I'm chalking it up to the slightly wider girth of the pens, as I can get what I feel is an acceptable line, with a bit more character, by slightly rotating the nibs when I write. Maybe it's all in my head, writing better with a preferred/favored nib/ink combination. Anyone else experience this?

Many, many thanks! This also worked for me. Also in my case there was a clear click. Thanks to you I now use it with an 1.1 stub (Jowo). I still need to optimise flow, etc., but the beginning is there!

My favorite pen, the Parker 51, is a perfect fit in the hand, as a couple people have mentioned. In addition, how about a Sheaffer PFM? The PFM is a light-weight pen, since it was designed and produced when fountain pens were intended for all-day writing. Later fountain pens are heavier. If you want a heavier pen like the PFN, Sheaffer made pens like the Legacy or Heritage, metal oens with the same size and shape as the PFM and with the same sort of inlaid nib that the PFM had. Last I looked, the new Sheaffer company was still selling them. Ah. Can't find it on the new Sheaffer site, but it would look like this pen on EBay. I'm posting for a picture only, and not pushing this or any other example. https://www.ebay.com/itm/226100005452?itmmeta=01HW675SWFT4F088GMC2TBJ6KE&hash=item34a49c4a4c:g:020AAOSwAoRmIX0u&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA4L2FvYxTSRGiDarQUnt4nzzRhnmEkzVrU9%2Bt0uPf3apy8vB1Otg6REWWzCC1aJUqhqsqi4QwKAeH8%2BE%2FTymxCdLX2Zc4vHuVKinCwbl6JhYaDk%2FezeZC%2BxmGDcHIHk8OlyP5s37g1tkjfsin8jn8eKlStnXEWqD%2Bo3CtQ9DE4g%2FORcJYkepSC56J5VAC27wQHOYhA6FzaQ8ixnQYIUT2wUhOvrw1y8Km%2F%2ByQ4O1uL2%2FM2YhsNNOElL8DvJJz3uHTgIaxbi7FrRBnpZ4qJmUBxUyh9W2hs97Ujr81v60SA1sE|tkp%3ABk9SR6iel8fhYw

I don't have the ink, and InkSwatch don't have it either, but you could use their color picker to find things that are close....