Holidays Over

Ah well, holiday time is over and I’m back to work.

Now I’m not that obsessed that I go looking for pencil things whilst I’m on holiday, but when they jump out and hit me in the face, I do take some notice. So here’s a few from my holiday.

I resisted this retailers sign.

A young relative was showing me their list of school supplies for the coming school year, and it included “2 x HB pencils – must be HB, and must not have erasers on the end. Please buy good quality pencils as cheap leads break easily”. Well fair enough about the “good quality” bit, but I’m surprised that erasers on the end are prohibited. Maybe reminiscent of something I once read about poking your eye out while erasing some writing?!?

This is the biggest pencil I’ve seen in a very long time. Propped up against the wardrobe doors, it’s well over a metre long. Actually it’s a "money box" – there’s a coin slot just under the ferrule, and the fine print implies if you fill it with dollar coins you will have over a thousand dollars.
The only pencil related present I got was a copy of “The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain”, to help advance my sketching endeavours. Thanks very much to those readers who suggested it. I’ve only got a little way into yet, but I’m sure it’s going to be really good. However the first exercise in left/right brain stuff gave me a thumping headache, the worst I’ve had in years. It lasted halfway through the following day. I totally reject my wife’s scurrilous aspersion that the bottle of sauvignon blanc had anything to do with it. Totally unrelated - I had the headache long before I opened that bottle.

“The Headache” – my copy of “Igor Stravinsky” by Picaso.