Everyone of us has it’s own moments to seize and with todays technology we are used to share almost every memorable moment of our day with the social media community, which is perfectly fine. However, there are moments that are just for ourselves. In particular we men, have a couple of those. And we really don’t share them, even not with close friends. A short guide to some “intimate” moments and rituals.
Don’t worry, we will not go into any of the intimate moments you think. This is all about some of the rituals we love to do late in the night or early in the morning, before we start our day, since they often represent rather the crowning of a successful week or the preparation for an important day. Many men (but some say, also women) have their morning rituals like, cleaning and winding up their watch or polish their shoes. Or even better, starting the weekend on a sunny saturday morning, 6am, washing your 1955 Porsche 356 Speedster (no, don’t worry this blog is not sponsored by Porsche) as James Dean used to do, before you set out to St. Moritz for the weekend. What a moment. This magic sunrise light. Just you and yourself. Lot of time to reflect, think, inspire yourself and finally enjoy the moment.
One of these moments, for us collectors of fine writing instruments, is the moment we fill up our precious fountain pens. This moment is one of my absolute favourite ones. Personally, having a job where I rarely get dirty hands, I really appreciate the fact, that ink is one of the oldest “instruments” humanity knows but is still very relevant today. In fact, Ink was used in Ancient Egypt for writing and drawing on papyrus from at least the 26th century BC. Chinese inks may go back as far as three or maybe four millennia, to the Chinese Neolithic Period. Very impressive, if you think that nowadays we tend to digitalize everything. However, nothing written with a computer will ever have the charm and the charisma of a hand written card with the right ink and written with a proper fountain pen.
These are partly the reasons why, every time I have to refill one of my fountain pens, each one with it’s color, I literally prepare myself for this kind of ritual. Here a few hints on how to complete the operation without any major disease: prepare the ink bottle you want to use by making sure there is enough ink in it. There is nothing more disappointing than wanting to fill up your pen and the ink is finished! AARGH! If you are doing it on your desk in your office, make sure you have covered the surface with something absorbent, so that even if the ink drops, you won’t have any permanent spot on the wood (if you have a wooden desk). Then, prepare a microfibre cloth in order to dry the nib and remove the excessive ink. When you dip the nib into the ink, make sure it covers the entire nib in order to avoid air in the system. Once cleaned up, try it on a piece of paper in order to make sure that everything is alright. If after this, you feel satisfied and relaxed, like I do, well, then you are definitely into one of your rituals. Seize the moment! Or as the latins would say, Carpe Diem!
