Author name: memm

Pelikan Hub Bremen 2024 Preview

2 Comments / Pelikan / / , ,

After Hamelin’s acquisition of Pelikan last year, there have been some changes, including the announced closure of Pelikan’s sales and distribution locations in Hannover and near Berlin.

We’ll have to wait and see how Pelikan’s long term future will look like, but in the near future, we certainly have the Pelikan Hub to look forward to. I was lucky enough to be able to act as the Hub Master for Bremen again. As I am more familiar with Bremen by now, I found a more central location for the Pelikan Hub: Vegefarm, a Taiwanese, vegan restaurant that has kindly agreed to let us hold the Pelikan Hub there this year.

Looking forward to seeing all Bremen participants there on 27 September and also wishing participants of the other Hub locations a great time.

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The upcycled Noris in Germany

3 Comments / Pencils, Staedtler / / , , , ,
The old and new Noris together

After being able to observe the shift from the traditional, wood-cased Noris to the new upcycled wood Noris in the UK last year (see The new, upcycled Noris) I was able to experience the same transition in Germany now.

What I saw is, of course, only a small snapshot of the two countries as I observed the transition in a city in North West England last year and now in a city in North West Germany. Other parts of the two countries might have experienced the change at different times.

In March 2024, about a year after the switch in the UK, supermarkets here still had the wood-cased version. Here is an example from Kaufland in Ritterhude.

The wood-cased Noris

By now, only the upcycled Noris is available. I assume the old ones sold out and stock just got replaced with the new version. I am not able to find the wood-cased Noris in any other supermarket in and around Bremen anymore, but some pockets with old stock might still be available, especially in shops with low turnover.

The upcycled Noris

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Pencil prank & Pelikan

2 Comments / Pelikan, Seen in the wild / / , ,

I couldn’t help but notice the pencil on the cover of the latest Beano issue. Well, I say the latest issue, when actually it was four issues ago because my son’s subscription is slow to arrive here on the continent. At least you can still subscribe to The Beano here. The Phoenix stopped their subscription to EU countries altogether because of issues with delayed and missing deliveries and they don’t offer a digital subscription either.

In case you’re wondering what the pencil prank is, have a look here:

On a different note: registration for the Pelikan Hub 2024 is open. You can register here: https://www.pelikan-hubs.com/

I hope to be able to run a Pelikan Hub again. As I am more familiar with my ‘new’ city, I have a better idea for the location this year.

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