I was, for many years, completely unadventurous about ink. I had a couple of different blue inks and a bottle of red that I never used. I had a yearning for the blue-black I’d had years ago but had used up. I didn’t follow the discussions about ink on pen boards. It was what I wrote with or write-tested restored pens with.

I had a notion that it might be nice to try vintage inks. I bought several, most of them usable. There was a blue-black among them. I was content.

Then people began suggesting that I should try various inks. Someone very kindly sent me sample bottles of colourful inks. I bought small bottles of various inks: green, brown, violet, rust and deep purple. I filled half a dozen pens with those bright colours and wrote with them until the pens were empty. I began to yearn for rich blue and blue-black. I filled my pens with Super Quink and Diamine blue-black. Those colours really seem best for me. I’m not really a green, violet or russet person. It was like I had a little spell of infidelity, having shameful adventures with other inks. I’m sorry, blue-black and I promise I’ll never do it again.

Please forgive me.