Pens

I wouldn't describe myself as obsessive or, really, even as a collector. Admittedly there was a period during my teens and early twenties when I was pretty, um, thorough in collecting all of the releases by certain bands - notably Kraftwerk, Gary Numan, and Simple Minds - but that was about it. I think the only author whose entire output I have is Iain (M) Banks and, actually, even then I did leave his book of poetry on the shelf in Waterstones. 

However, I must admit a certain... penchant for Dr Marten footwear - three pairs of shoes, five pairs of boots - and also for Lamy fountain pens. I'm not sure how many of these I have, to be honest. I have a couple of more expensive expensive ones but mostly they're between ten and fifteen quid. I have a range of colours plus this see through one, which arrived today to replace the one I lost in a coffee shop in Hale (which, I guess, is the risk you run with transparent pens).

My non-Lamy pens all feature in this photo: a Parker pen from an ex-wife; a Sheaffer from my colleagues (for my 50th birthday); and, off to the right and sharply in focus, a beautiful Conway Stewart that the Minx gave me. I think it's from the early 1960s although this is belied by the gold nib.

They're all out because none of them are writing properly at the moment and they need cleaning. This is the downside of being a pen glutton; they don't all get used often enough.

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Diet news
-3.2kg 
That's quite a lot for only four days' dieting but I suspect I was just a bit bloated after Christmas. Plus there is always some natural fluctuation, which is why the trend is more important than the actual figure. I read this article in the Guardian a while back, which is pretty interesting on this topic.