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Hello everybody, I am a new member of the forum!

Hello there I've been keeping an eye on FPN for a couple of years now, mostly for the excellent and truly useful reviews of both pens and inks - thank you so much for all your hard efforts/sharing of expertise etc. (a special mention to Sandy1 here.... awsome work!) and so I decided to finally join the community. YaY First fountain pen was given to me, when I were just a lad, by my lovely Canadian aunty Pat, a Platignum ???, nothing fancy, but seeded the concept. Big bros used FPs at school: Parker 45s or similar. When I was at uni in the 1980's (BSc Industrial Design - i.e Product Design) I bought my first FP: Parker 45 Harlequin shield - still working fine, though I've had to refurbish the nib, grip section and replace the converter. Beautiful pen. I Liked it so much that I bought another on a college trip to London. I've only used it sparingly since, as it is my "spare" Harlequin. I added a few Vectors and a frontier and a couple more 45's Flighters etc. after them, but my fav Parker is an older version of the Sonnet Brushed Steel GT, fitted with an 18ct nib. The "bug" was caught. Next I thought I would give Pelikan a try, with a Celebry P560 - also in steel. Lovely pen too. Smooth nib. It was great until the front section became "wobbly", quick email to Pelikan for a replacement part, but no longer available, so replaced it last year with an aluminium Pelikan Pura Silver. Awsome pen! Other members of my flock are; an M605 Blue - the smoothest nib I have and a truly well engineered/finished pen, an M200 grey demonstrator, an M200 green marble (fitted with an amazing, instant start, 14ct nib) and a couple of clear demonstrator Pelikano P480s. Then, Lamy's turn. Wow!! I LOVE Lamy I'm trying to collect one of each of their FP line-up. So far; Lamy 2000 (THE BEST PEN on the planet!! Closest to pen perfection, IMHO), a Diolog 3 silver (Lamy gold nibs are terrific!), Studios x4 (Palladium, Black x 2, and Steel version), CP1 (another fantastic pen), Pur Older Striped version, Linea x2 (Herring Bone and Stripes), Logo x2 (Brushed and Matt Steel), Safari, Joy 1.5mm and a cute ABC. (I also have most of the ball pens and a few rollerballs, multi-pens and mechanical pencils from Lamy too.) Staying German: A Rotring Initial in blue, an excellent, smooth nibbed Cleo Skribent Chiffre Matt Grey, stylish Faber-Castell Ambition Black, a Faber-Castell Loom Piano Black, Kaweco Sport Classic x3 and the wonderful, (practical, light and just so tiny) Kaweco Liliput Black. Brilliant for my wallet, so always on my person. I wanted to try a TWSBI, so I opted for the interesting filling method and fabulously well engineered Vac700 Clear. I got given a Sheaffer Agio Gold as a preset. Very decent too. I've a collection of cheaper school pens too; Faber-Castell, Lamy ABC, Pelikano P480 and a few other assorted Pelikanos, Berol Handwriting (old version and new) Waterman Kultur- ALL of them, super pens for the money!! And finally (are you still there?....) the beautiful to use/look at, stunningly well made and superbly smooth nibbed Caran d'Ache Ecridor Cubrik. Filled with Caran d'Ache " Colours of the Earth," it is just irresistable. To add interest and to fill each pen with a different colour, this year I have been discovering the delights of many Diamine inks too. I think that's about it really. I frequently buy pens as presents (to pass on the delights of using well made/designed products). I have been known to buy the fountain pen and it's own bottle of Registrar's ink to fill it with, for wedding couples' "Big Day",so that they can keep the pen they sign the register with. (Not all Registrars let them though ) Thank you for reading. Oh, I would love to get a Yard o Led Retro Grand and a Caran d'Ache Ivanhoe at some point. We'll see. Regards B2