Book du jour

Like last year, I got a small "academic year" diary, and again covered its nasty plastic cover with a bit of leather. Which will immediately start to look grubby - so it needed a case.

Inside the case - just so there's more than blank cardboard! - I wrote out my annoyance at finding that my fountain pen refuses to write (well, it's about 30 years old and has a rather contrary history):

wherearethepenstheindeliblepensthtwon'truboffonthefragileleatherthatbindsmybooksoemptyoftheyeartocomemust therebeareversiontotheubiquuitous(nopunintended)tothelowestcommon(ohsocommon)denominatoroftheonlypentobefoundineveryroomofthehousetheBICperuchasedina12-pacjandscateredblighely,eminentlyfindableandinevitablylose-able,itsinkhardenedwhenretrievedfromanookorcrannyunderthesofabehindthewainscotinacoatpocketamongthecutleryhiddenwiththebestpairofscissorsfallenbehindthedesk--orperhapstakenoutwiththegarbage(nottherecycling)--pensstillneedednotyetsupercededbytoughonkeypadbyavoiemailmessagepensthatpassethallunderstandingandholddrawn-outandwith-drawncontingenciesofpersonalityandvisionyetare,likeadiary,fullofvitalityneedingafuture

Hope I spelt that right. Thank goodness for word spacing, and punctuation!

One day I'll figure out the secret of getting everything accurate, but meanwhile, it works -

The masking tape? To hide the cracks in the folds!