a tool of the trade

When a pen runs out, all of a sudden we discover that it's out of ink. A pencil, on the other hand, gives us continual visible evidence of its decreasing life span. Even had I not simply left this pencil in a pocket of a shirt which was neglected in the closet, I doubt that I would have continued using it. It had gotten to a length at which I don't really like holding a pencil.


I do recall, however, that I definitely liked writing with pencils of this sort. Years ago eraser heads that fit on pencils had to be imported, and when other people asked relatives for coffee, I asked for a number of these erasers, because a pencil without an erase wasn't really functional for me. And the addition of a clip for my pocket, though probably little more than an affectation, was something I identified then has particularly useful. It's my guess that I also had a plastic cover, probably from a used-up pen, that I also kept on the writing side of the pencil, though I didn't find one of those in my pocket.

Until it got to about this length I'm quite sure that I greatly enjoyed using this pencil.