Ephemeral Spring

by Amanda Fleet

I was in Orkney a couple of weeks ago and I wasn't entirely sure if Spring had arrived there yet! It was decidedly chilly (and windy!) - far too cold to be out and about without a hat, gloves and warm coat.

And then... out walking, we found five tiny Primula scotica plants, just poking their heads out to prove that Spring had indeed arrived.

picture of Primula scotica - a tiny, purple primrose with a yellow centre - nestled in wild grass

For those of you not lucky to live in the very few places that Primula scotica grows (Orkney and the northern coast of Scotland and nowhere else), you could console yourselves with the very fine Augurs of Spring notebooks by Calepino, which also are redolent of Spring flowers. You may have to hurry though, as stocks are low.

The 9 x 14cm notebooks come in a pack of three, with 48 pages of recycled dot grid 90gsm paper. It's the covers that will make you think of Spring with the artwork resembling cherry blossom petals.

The covers are made of a sturdy card - robust enough to survive being rattled around in a bag or jammed in a pocket - and definitely attractive enough to have on show on your desk, or in a meeting, or scribbling notes in a café.

As Scrib has already mentioned, they don't especially play well with a very wet or broad nibbed fountain pen, but everything else is just fine.

But you'll have to hurry if you want to get your hands on this limited edition beauty. Stock levels are low and I don't know if Nero will be getting any more.

Calepino Augurs of Spring set of 3 notebooks