I suspect this won’t be available past this week, but I wanted to mention a BBC Radio 4 program called The Stationery Cupboard. It’s about why people have such a deep attachment to stationery and office supplies. I thought my fellow paper fetishists would enjoy listening to it as much as I have. It’s a half hour long. [Update: as of May, it’s still available.]
How reassuring. I get quite upset, despite there being if anything an oversupply in this house, when I cannot find MY pen. And it seems I am not alone.
I found it reassuring as well that my own deep attachments to office supplies are apparently quite common.
It was great wasn’t it…glad there are people like me!hax Lynda
Glad you liked it too. Do you listen to Desert Island Disks? Now I’ll be paying attention each time someone requests stationery supplies for the luxury item…
And let’s not forget the old-fashioned hardware store! As a little kid I was torn between shiny screws and tiny locks for small boxes, cupboards and the smell of boxes of pencils and those brass split pins (which I used in the “secret notebooks” I made.)
All time favourite? A good fountain pen. Then, of course, one needs quality ink. And paper. And…
Now look what you’ve done!
Heh heh…always glad to help.
I’ve always loved to browse hardware too. It annoys me no end, though, that as soon as I walk into a hardware store around here I can’t be left alone for 5 minutes without yet another male employee insisting on “helping” me. Obviously, a female walking around in such a place must be hopelessly lost.
Oh! I know! don’t talk to me about men in hardware stores. One came up to me and said patronisingly, “You look lost.” I replied, “No, not lost, just thinking” and he took offense and became rather aggressive!
As for stationary, d’you know until I met my husband, I thought I was the only one who loved such places! Then I discovered his mother was the same, and now I know lots of people who can’t walk past even a humble newsagent. What a relief to meet my “tribe” as “they” say!
Isn’t it amazing how male employees treat female customers in those places? Ugh. “Aggressive”? I won’t psychoanalyze…
I genuinely mean it when I say here that I love the smell and the texture and everything about paper. I can get lost just looking at notepads and paperclips. It has surprised me, too, to discover how common a fetish it is. I think there’s just something about getting a new pen or piece of paper or notebook… To me, it’s like buying hope and possibilities. I think someone in the program even said something like that. Yes… our tribe!
maravilloso ,el mundo del papel.Y en especial el de los libros.
Mágicos objetos creados por el hombre a trabes de todos los tiempos .
Mis saludos , desde el Circo de papel.
El Bolsón-Patagonia-Argentina.
Saludos Juan y gracias por su comentario. ¡El mundo del papel es verdaderamente maravilloso!