Really enjoyed this flashback from you, especially the whole "backstory" behind it. Funny how times progress, this was one of my grail pens for the longest time, when they came out we'd recently had our kids (expensive little bugs as we found out..) and I couldn't really justify getting one at the time. Oddly though, later when disposable cash $$ were more available I couldn't find one... so naturally I got into Maki-e pens (as you do), which are a whole new world of expenditure, and also a cautionary tale as I started out with a Pilot Maki-e Matsu for about $100 bought used, now I'm happily buying Namiki's + Nakaya's for orders of magnitude more. I finally had a chance to get a London Fog last year, but when I saw it the pattern was just not for me, now I guess I'm happy to have this as the "one that got away" but I'll love seeing yours as it's a superb example of what they can be.
