14-4-23

About 25 years ago my father gave me this pen. It was already old when I got it. I don't know much about it. I don't think he wrote much with it. After some time the bladder in it split and it wouldn't draw ink anymore. I sent it back to Parker and they simply said they couldn't fix it and they gave me a brand new pen as a replacement along with the original. It sat in a drawer for years, moved with me to Vancouver, back to Toronto, Calgary and then back to Vancouver. It didn't work but I couldn't consider throwing it out.

Some time ago I found myself in a pen shop buying a pen for a friend and they were very helpful and friendly so I asked if they knew of anyone that fixed old pens. They sent me to the other pen shop in town, there's only the two really, and they cleaned it (and didn't charge me for doing so, great guys) and told me all I needed was a new converter, a piece that converts the pen from a cartridge ink pen to a draw ink pen. This is what the bladder did, draw ink. Because they weren't a Parker dealer they sent me back to the first shop where for eleven dollars I had a new converter, and for another eleven dollars I had a quality well of ink. And 25 years later a fully functional pen.

I'm still confused why Parker said it couldn't be fixed and gave me a new pen instead of a new ink draw. Surely a converter would have been cheaper than a whole new pen. Both shops said, "That's a nice pen. The old ones were really well made and write nicely." I've put ink in it and would have to agree, it does write very nicely.

It's been a long time. I guess I have some letters to write.