You can tell a lot about a man from his study

This was going to be a simple confession about my addiction to pens and the joy that I have had in liberating them from stationery cupboards and conference stands around the world but when I cam to take a photograph of those on my desk in my study the realization suddenly hit me that I have several other things that I could confess to and the evidence for these is for all to see in my study.


This is part of my desk, about half of it is shown here. I bought it in Habitat some 25 years ago when the Black Ash finish was trendy and I still like it. The simple answer to "why are there 2 PC on your desk?" is "Because the third is downstairs in the living room". By coincidence they are all IBM Thinkpads. Also in the picture are three mobile phones, again for good reasons.

The discerning viewer may be able to tell that between the two PCs are 5 pen pots, all from Muji, and a desk tidy with three pen compartments. A quick count makes that over 120 pens, and that does not include those in the two pencil cases just about visible on the left edge of the picture, nor does it count those in the rest of the house where Muji pen holders are more common that light bulbs.



This view of my study is far too revealing!

The piles of comics on the floor should not be a surprise to anyone, nor should the two long boxes of comics behind them. The other boxes of comics are elsewhere in the room. In the bookcase at the back of the picture are graphic novels, e.g. Sandman, Daredevil and Dreadstar. My plan is to get some custom built shelving, probably System 180 stuff (I have a lot of this including a desk, a wardrobe and a bed), to keep all my comics in but I need to do some work to design them first.

Also in the bookcase are a few books. Most of them are old, battered and written by Leslie Charteris and featuring The Saint. Hopefully the rumors of a new TV series will come true this year.

What looks as though it might be a black bag in the middle of the picture is, in fact, fourteen black bags in the middle of the picture, and there are at least seven other bags spread around the room. My addiction to cheap bags with corporate logos on is probably even worse than that for cheap pens with corporate logos on.

I could not show you the big bookcase in the room, nor the filing cabinet in the desk, otherwise I would have to explain why I need so much A4 paper that either has a corporate logo on each page or which has been nicely bound into a book with a corporate logo on the cover.

Time to go to the pub and think about things!