My First Fountain Pen Since Childhood

The past few weeks I'd been talking to a friend of mine about fountain pens. As an enthusiast himself, he was somewhat aghast that I didn't own a fountain pen, and hadn't even used one since I was very young. So he set about correcting that omission, by helping me look for a used one on eBay. He'd recommended the Parker 51, seemingly recognised by many as one of the best fountain pens ever made, especially for the money. He found one in "battleship grey" for $50 USD, and very kindly polished and cleaned it for me. Well, yesterday I was fortunate enough to receive a package from him, containing not only the pen itself, but a couple of letters, and a small painting he'd made for my long-suffering wife. ✕ ✕ (It's amusing to me that neither photo captures the pen's grey colour successfully.) It surprised me how light and comfortable the pen feels in the hand, and I appreciate how it looks used if you examine it up close; the remnants of a past life of writing, I like to imagine. All that…