Pen Mawashi and Shakespeare & Co

I watch a lot of television when I am all alone at home. On Sunday I was alone and so I plonked myself in front of the television and surfed the channels. I had a pleasant surprise when I came across two items related to two of my favorite pastimes- pens and books.

Pen Mawashi
On one channel I came across a segment about a pen spinning craze that is sweeping Japan. It is called ‘Pen Mawashi’. I watched amazed as guys spun pens on their fingers effortlessly. They were spinning the pens quite fast and not once did the pen fall from anyone’s fingers. It was amazing watching the guys spin the pens. There are people teaching it to others for a fee it seems. It is one thing that someone who loves pens cannot dream of doing. Of course, one cannot imagine spinning fountain pens. One can do it only with ball-point pens.

Shakespeare & Co in Paris.
I was watching my favorite channel- Travel & Living, and there was a program on Paris. In the program was Shakespeare & Co, which I had read somewhere, is a famous second hand book store. I learnt that the store is in Paris, the only second hand book-store and the biggest too, in Paris, selling second hand English books. It seemed quite big with stacks of books occupying all available space.

I was surprised when the lady at the counter informed that her father had put beds in the store for unpublished writers to sleep in. There was one lady from Ireland who was staying there when the episode was shot. The idea of spending a few days and nights in a bookstore surrounded by thousands of books sounds very interesting. If ever I go to Paris I am going to check this store out!