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Sadly, I can remember a time before ball point pens were generally available in shops, in the UK. A time when people could write properly - and this includes my dislike of my own handwriting when using a ballpoint.
It was funny really. At the age of 11 me and my classmates were still using wooden stickpens with replaceable nibs, which we dipped into little ceramic inkwells recessed into our desks. So my fingertips were always blue, from idly running my finger around and around the upper edge of the inkwell. (I do think that that training considerably improved my skill at foreplay some years later, but I digress...)
Then at secondary school my parents bought me a real fountain pen. The insides of my fingers were blue from clenching the pen too close to the nib, but after a couple of years I sorted it out so I held the pen properly, so my fingers faded...
Then "biros" became all the rage - yep, they were even considered a bit trendy for a while.
And my fingers became speckled with little dots of blue sludge that didn't wash off, it only smeared. Early cheap ballpoints truly sucked, they blotted worse than fountain pens.
I think the highlight was during my maths exam in my final year at school. I was concentrating hard thinking of the answer to a trigonometry questing, unthinkingly sucking the end of my pen. Yep, you guessed it - I suddenly swallowed the little blue cap, and received a small glop of gritty blue grease, and had to be escorted to the loo to clean my mouth up a bit.
I now use silly water soluble whiteboard markers here in China, which we have to clean away using a damp cloth. And yes, my hands are blue again...
It was funny really. At the age of 11 me and my classmates were still using wooden stickpens with replaceable nibs, which we dipped into little ceramic inkwells recessed into our desks. So my fingertips were always blue, from idly running my finger around and around the upper edge of the inkwell. (I do think that that training considerably improved my skill at foreplay some years later, but I digress...)
Then at secondary school my parents bought me a real fountain pen. The insides of my fingers were blue from clenching the pen too close to the nib, but after a couple of years I sorted it out so I held the pen properly, so my fingers faded...
Then "biros" became all the rage - yep, they were even considered a bit trendy for a while.
And my fingers became speckled with little dots of blue sludge that didn't wash off, it only smeared. Early cheap ballpoints truly sucked, they blotted worse than fountain pens.
I think the highlight was during my maths exam in my final year at school. I was concentrating hard thinking of the answer to a trigonometry questing, unthinkingly sucking the end of my pen. Yep, you guessed it - I suddenly swallowed the little blue cap, and received a small glop of gritty blue grease, and had to be escorted to the loo to clean my mouth up a bit.
I now use silly water soluble whiteboard markers here in China, which we have to clean away using a damp cloth. And yes, my hands are blue again...
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