My worst pen nightmare

[Velma]

One of my coworkers is also a fountain pen geek; we often take lunch trips down to the Fountain Pen Hospital together, and we generally have our online pen purchases delivered here, so that we can open them and cackle together.

 

Tracey had bought one of those multi-pen cases, to keep all of her pens together. Probably a twenty-pen case, with about fifteen pens or so. On Friday night, she took it out of her bag on the express bus to write a note, but the pen she took out was smeared with ink, so she accepted a rollerball type pen that a seatmate offered...

 

(you know what's coming, don't you?)

 

..and when she got home, realized that she'd left the pen case, with ALL of her pens in it, on the bus.

 

AIEEEEEEEEEE

 

It makes me cringe just thinking about it. A decade's worth of pens lovingly collected and used -- gone, in one absent-minded moment.

 

I never carry all of my pens with me at once, and never will, now.

 

*whimper*

 

(On the other hand, I was feeling guilty about buying more pens for myself. I can now buy her a gift certificate to some pen shop, and live vicariously through her purchases. Not the most bright side of things, but something.)

[Leslie J.]

Oh no!!! I suppose there is no hope at all of seeing it returned to the transit authority lost and found? Worth a try? Feel free to laugh at my ignorance here.

 

That would be a devastating loss. It's very kind of you to think about giving her a gift certificate.

 

The most I have ever carried with me was 3 pens in a case. I guess that was what I considered "acceptable loss" depending on which 3 pens I'd carry.

 

Good luck to your friend. Tell her she has the sympathy of FPN members.

Edited July 27, 2005 by Leslie J.

[Velma]

Oh no!!! I suppose there is no hope at all of seeing it returned to the transit authority lost and found? Worth a try? Feel free to laugh at my ignorance here.

She's checked; I've suggested that she put a sign up at the bus stop, as well, with an email contact address, on the off chance that someone picked it up.

 

We live in hope.

[wimg]

Hi Velma,

 

Ay! I sure hope the finder will get it back to her somehow. More hope your and your coworker's way!

 

Warm regards, Wim

[Bryan]

Shoot, that is just awful! I can't imagine loosing my entire collection in one forgetful moment, I'd just cry!

 

I just feel so bad for her.

 

Bryan

[Guest Denis Richard]

<shivers>

[Roger]

OMG, Velma! Words fail!

[Velma]

I think I may have to give her a pen tomorrow, just to start her new collection. It hurts, thinking about her without any.

[KendallJ]

ugh. no words can express the feeling. Hope she makes it through.

[Guest Denis Richard]

We should start a solidarity pool... Does she like cheapies, or is she into the more expensive stuff ?

[Viseguy]

Ouch!!! :blink:

 

Velma, what pens did she have? Vintage or modern? Kinds of nibs? I have some pens that I almost never use that I could donate to the poor gal, just to take the edge off. I work 5 min. from FPH. No problem to meet there.

 

Ouch again!!!

[Dillo]

Hi,

 

That would have been even easier for me. I bring plenty of my collection with me.

 

Dillon

 

I hope she gets it back.

[Velma]

Ouch!!! :blink:

 

Velma, what pens did she have? Vintage or modern? Kinds of nibs? I have some pens that I almost never use that I could donate to the poor gal, just to take the edge off. I work 5 min. from FPH. No problem to meet there.

 

Ouch again!!!

That would be incredibly kind and generous of you.

 

My memory says that, apart from Sheaffer Preludes, she had Watermans, and only one vintage (the Sheaffer Craftsman I sold her), and a Parker 45 that I'd just given her. I think she's a fine and medium nib sort.

 

(I'm now envisioning an Worldwide Emergency Pen Fund, which amuses me greatly, as I've sent pens to people in the past five years, either because they've lost them, or because they've expressed interest/renewed interest in fountain pens.)

 

And Viseguy, I'd love to meet up with you some afternoon.

[RichardS]

Velma, has she thought of posting a small reward? I managed to get back a watch that was stolen from me this way ... probably from the guy who stole it in the first place The ethics are highly dubious, I know, but if the pens are precious and painstakingly collected it may be worth considering.

[KCat]

yeah, absurd as it might seem to pay someone who may have taken your things... I'd rather do that - with a "no questions asked" disclaimer if it meant returning my pens. even if was all modern stuff I would hate this sort of loss. Time and money and care goes into our pens.

[Psyktek]

Keep us posted on the "replacement pens" idea. I have at least a couple of pens that I would send if needed.

What an awful thing to have happen!

[Gerry]

Yes, Velma, please do. I'm also interested in contributing.

 

Gerry

[grasshopper]

This all sounds too familiar to me, as it is something that could easily happen to me. It just serves as a reminder, to me anyway, not to leave home with all my pens in 1 basket.

 

I would like to contribute, but currently I have no pens that I can give yet - still trying to get to know each one of them. In time though, I will definitely know.

 

In the meantime, Velma, please pass my sympathies (assuming the worst happens i.e. that the pens are irretrievable) to your friend, as I can clearly imagine her heartbreak.

[Velma]

Thank you all for your generosity. She's taken a few days off (I'm pretty sure they were scheduled vacation, and not mourning her pens), so I'll be checking in with her on Monday about the specific pens she lost. (She'd been mourning her chameleon gold Prelude, that had gone missing at church, for a month before this happened.)

 

In a funny way, this has reminded me that my instincts have been right. Whenever I bought or was given a pen that didn't quite suit me, I put it aside, feeling that sooner or later, there'd come a time when it would find a better owner. And I've given away Preludes, and Heroes, and Parkers, over the past few years, to people who's loved them in the right way.

 

I know this is incredibly painful for Tracey, but I feel joy -- both in knowing that there are so many generous and sympathetic people in the world, and in that my own patterns fall into that generous aspect of the universe.

[Velma]

One possibly cheerful note: another friend points out that the lost and found items on various bus and train services are often only handed in to the Central Lost and Found once a week. So there's a chance that it just hadn't been handed in yet.

 

** crossing fingers**

 

(Man, it's hard to type with crossed fingers.)