Halfway through September, so I can’t really claim this entry covers planning for the month. Half a plan, then, starting with the blue-grey elephant in the photo. Would that be a new A5 planner cover? Yes, well-spotted, that is exactly what it is. And is it possible that I have already moved out of the Personal Holborn, even though I intended to stay in it until the start of October? Erm, yes? It appears that when I say I have a plan, I mean I have some loose web of possibilities which are prone to readjust themselves according to any mild breeze which happens by.
The new cover is the “A5 weekly planner organiser” in recycled leather from Undercover UK. I found it as I was browsing Etsy and my eye was caught by the basic design with its elastic closure which I thought might deliver a slightly more compact alternative to the Filofax Original. I’ll admit the splendid range of 24 colours and the £25.00 price point helped matters along. I was happy to take a punt on this and placed an order for a cover in the shade “Still Waters”. The company seems to give various different details about their 6-ring binder. For example, the posting I read gave the inner ring diameter as 2cm – which is 20mm – which also pointed to it being a compact binder. In fact, the inner ring diameter is the standard 25mm which is perfectly okay by me, I just didn’t want to go for anything with 30mm rings. The binder is smaller in width than the Original and, if you use standard A5 dividers, the tabs will stick out of the side. I have simply cut off the tabs, reasoning that I found found tabless dividers perfectly usable in the William Hannah disc notebook. In lots of ways, this cover feels like a halfway house between the minimalist William Hannah notebooks and the larger Filofax offerings. It is providing the hit of blue I’ve been yearning for and that’s enough for now.
I’m using the William Hannah week on one page diary through September and finding I can’t wait for October when I will be able to luxuriate in the 2-page Filofax spread. Where the A5 format excels is in providing me just one binder that works as a notebook as well as a diary. I couldn’t make it work in the Personal size Filofax because it didn’t feel natural to write anything more than brief notes on the narrow paper which meant I was still reverting to an A5 option when I anticipated wanting to write at length. I have a sneaking suspicion that bound books make more sense than rings or strings or discs, but I constantly shy away from that thought. The diary I most enjoy looking back at is the Mark + Fold bound, vertical layout one I used in 2018. It’s not that 2018 was a particularly brilliant or happy year, so that suggests the format simply worked.
All nostalgia aside, I have settled on the A5 ring format for the next 12 months. Now I’m moving on to an existential crisis about my fountain pens. I’m so excited about the Autumn Pen Show – in four weeks time I’ll be getting ready to leave my hotel and travel into Hammersmith. I have a list of pens I’m eager to see and, if I can, to hold and try out. In preparation for that, I’m looking at my existing pens and coming to terms with the fact that there are ones I use and ones I never reach for. Time to do something about that.
Pam Alison Knits 
7 responses to “September 2024 – Half a plan”
[…] September 2024 – Half a plan – Pam Alison Knits […]
Looks a good find for a 6 ring binder. It says the recycled leather offcuts are combined wsith rubber. How does that feel compared to say a nice personal Holborn leather filofax (that is what I use when not WFH or out of the house)?
A5 FInsbury is my desk filofax and at £20 used from vinted there is a lot to love. Bulk is not however so something lie the original or heritage might work instead as an A5 travel binder. I don’t really like the original but this under cover one looks like a very basic binder like original but more so with the closure band like a saffiano I think in pleather type of faux leather. I think I might like a band closure for travelling organiser, like an A5 travellers notebook with rings.
Anyway the rubber component in manufacture worries me as to the feel (and potentially no leather smell but more rubbery. What is it really like?
Hello, thanks for the comment. To address the feel and smell, it definitely isn’t comparable with proper leather such as a Holborn or Original, or something like a wonderful William Hannah leather. Neither is it like the plastic/vinyl of, say the Metropol or the Clipbooks. And it definitely doesn’t smell of rubber – my friends at work considered it to have a leather smell (my sense of smell is rubbish at the best of times so you can’t rely on anything I might suggest). I can’t honestly say it feels like anything else. It’s smooth on the coloured surface, slightly peachskin on the inner surface, lies flat without being floppy, but the rubber (presumably) gives it a slightly springy feel that you don’t get with true leather. For £25 I don’t think you can go wrong, but it wouldn’t be for you if you like old, worn-in leathers like you’d get with a Filofax Winchester or York.
Pam I’ve been thinking about your very lovely filofax custom made diary awaiting on Oct 1st. I think you have started something. Starting the year on 1st Oct is gradually making a lot of sense to me. My early months of 2025 are filling up and it just makes sense to have a planner which spans the year. I’m wishing I had a similar custom made ready.
You really ought to shun those distracting thoughts about bound planners. I may be veey wrong but I feel sure you are a rings girl at heart if you don’t mind me saying.
Am also looking forward to the London Pen Show. Very exciting. Good wishes for the pen search don’t let it be an existential crisis.
tim
Hi, Tim. Very wise words. I think the ring binders feed the “faffing about” element I enjoy in my passtimes which is lacking with bound books. You can constantly be twiddling about with the pages in your ring binder or you can take an established set of inserts that you know works and very easily ring the changes with a different cover. The Filofax weekly pages kick in next week and October feels like the right time for a reset.
Your right about the faffing, thats half the fun. But I’ve done it. I’ve ordered my personalised filofax A5 diary and it’s in the post. It will start in Nov 1st and like yours it is cotton cream – thinking its better paper and ink.
I’m already considering about what pen should accompany this and what colour ink? Given you have already started I wonder if you have ideas to give away. You are so good at putting colours together.
Ah, good move – I’m sure you’ll like the diary. As to the pen, I just love my late 1980s Montblanc Slimline as a planner/diary pen. The slim profile means it fits in most pen loops and the nib is very fine, but by no means dry. Mainly, though, Montblanc and Filofax is about as yuppie as you can possibly get and that amuses me no end! I had a bad experience with the converter which was included when my brother passed this pen on to me, so I just use cartridges and tend to stick with the Montblanc brand for no very good reason. At the moment I’m using their Amethyst Purple which is absolutely fine, but I preferred the Midnight Blue I was using originally in this pen. It may just be an autumn vibe, but I wonder whether a nice burgundy ink would work well with the brown printing. I’m often disappointed with burgundies as they read too brown to me, but sometimes I happen upon a magical combination which pleases me. As always, I have a nice bright red to pick out important things – my weekly countdown to retirement (I’ve been counting down for a couple of years now and it doesn’t seem to be any closer!), horoscope symbols, that kind of thing. That said, I do like the combination of burgundy and a nice honey gold (I have Diamine Honey Burst which is the perfect colour) so that could be an option. Alternatively I can think of a couple of inks from Graf von Faber-Castell that would work. For a matchy-matchy vibe, their Hazelnut Brown would be perfect, perhaps paired with Burned Orange. Or they have an Olive Green which could be very interesting on cream paper – now that might look very nice paired with the honey gold. Hope this gives you some ideas – it’s always good to have a jumping-off point. One thing I have come to realise over the years is that I don’t like to go crazy with lots of different colours in my diary pages. Consistency works for me. It could be consistently using a flourescent green – it doesn’t have to be boring, but it pleases me when it feels cohesive.