Even apart from Covid-19, which has been thoroughly discussed here, it has been a strange year. There was Brexit, as fine an example of manipulating opinion as anything Trump has done. We feared that our European customers would have to pay an import tax but now it appears not, thankfully.
One consequence is that the government, perhaps anticipating a no-deal exit, produced a new customs label which requires more information. It is so long that it may not fit on our mailing tubes along with all the other stickers that are applied.
We decided to cut back the workload. I'm 70 and not in the best of health. The business is Deb's but I help where I can. We decided the best way to keep up stock value while reducing effort is to stop restoring all the other pens and stick to Mabie Todd. We were able to make a little money and make more room available selling off our spares stock for Parker, Conway Stewart and Waterman. We would have liked to continue doing Onoto but the restoration can be uneconomically time consuming and really requires a better spares stock than we held.
Deb left Fountain Pen Geeks and I joined. I feel it is important to take part in the fountain pen boards. Vintage pens are not a static market and the boards help to gauge the movements and I might be able to help someone along the way. As an aside, at least one member here thinks I'm Deb. I assure I'm not. Long before we met it was admiration for each other's writing style, in LiveJournal in those days, that drew us together. We've worked together on the pen business, including blog writing, for so many years that we share opinions and vocabulary - perhaps even writing style.
I like being here. It was a difficult year for Fountain Pen Geeks. There was unpleasantness in the early part of the year and I put that down to the stresses and strains of the pandemic. The abrupt and mostly temporary incursion of people from FPN was unsettling. We may never know whether the troll attack was related to that. Through it all the personalities and commitment of some members shone through. It can't have been easy for them to keep contributing but I'm glad they did and do. I'm not going to list names but I think they will know who I mean. I think and hope there will be better times ahead for the board.
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