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<blockquote data-quote="Marguerite" data-source="post: 188459" data-attributes="member: 1991"><p>Esther, I remember the inkwells too. And before the inkwells (in Kindergarten and Year 1) we had to use very thick, very black, "BBBB" pencils which were so soft they sent large smudges across the page (especially for lefthanders like me). I was lucky that I fell into that small gap of time when they had decided to not interfere with lefthanders. Mind you, there were some half-hearted attempts to persuade me to write with my right hand, but I was too stubborn.</p><p></p><p>Did you ever make matchstick darts with four matches bound together, a pen nib stuck at the front with the match heads, and two triangular flights stuck at the back between the four match-ends? You could flick them with an elastic band and the pen nib would stick in the blackboard.</p><p></p><p>I think these days using one of these would earn a suspension...</p><p></p><p>And I'm even younger than you!</p><p></p><p>We didn't just use blotting paper - we used old banksia flowers. If you pull off the petals and the crumbly bits around the step of the flower UNDER where the petals were, you get a velvety brown layer around the stick which was perfect for wiping big blobs off the pen nib. We could pick a fresh flower at recess or lunch if we'd already made a mess of one. Banksia flowers are like weeds in the Aussie bush, the old spent flowers stay on the bush or on the ground under the bush, for the whole year round. It takes only a few minutes to make a new pen wiper.</p><p></p><p>But this is something my kids have never needed, so they never knew about it. No inkwells these days!</p><p></p><p>Esther, please write down all these memories for those lovely grandchildren of yours. The things we took so much for granted, considered so commonplace as children - these are the first things to be lost as information to the next generation.</p><p></p><p>Marg</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Marguerite, post: 188459, member: 1991"] Esther, I remember the inkwells too. And before the inkwells (in Kindergarten and Year 1) we had to use very thick, very black, "BBBB" pencils which were so soft they sent large smudges across the page (especially for lefthanders like me). I was lucky that I fell into that small gap of time when they had decided to not interfere with lefthanders. Mind you, there were some half-hearted attempts to persuade me to write with my right hand, but I was too stubborn. Did you ever make matchstick darts with four matches bound together, a pen nib stuck at the front with the match heads, and two triangular flights stuck at the back between the four match-ends? You could flick them with an elastic band and the pen nib would stick in the blackboard. I think these days using one of these would earn a suspension... And I'm even younger than you! We didn't just use blotting paper - we used old banksia flowers. If you pull off the petals and the crumbly bits around the step of the flower UNDER where the petals were, you get a velvety brown layer around the stick which was perfect for wiping big blobs off the pen nib. We could pick a fresh flower at recess or lunch if we'd already made a mess of one. Banksia flowers are like weeds in the Aussie bush, the old spent flowers stay on the bush or on the ground under the bush, for the whole year round. It takes only a few minutes to make a new pen wiper. But this is something my kids have never needed, so they never knew about it. No inkwells these days! Esther, please write down all these memories for those lovely grandchildren of yours. The things we took so much for granted, considered so commonplace as children - these are the first things to be lost as information to the next generation. Marg [/QUOTE]
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