School days

Fountain pen and purple ink

A few years into primary school came the big promotion from pencil to fountain pen. You filled it from the bottle, held the nib at just the right angle, and practised thick and thin strokes line by line in a squared notebook.

Purple ink was the colour of school days: on your fingers, on your white collar, spilled inside your school bag. Every pencil case held a sheet of blotting paper to dab the ink dry, or the whole page smudged when you turned it.

Do you remember? Were you ever praised for neat handwriting, or made to write it all again?

💬 Everyone's memories

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