Wednesday 1 July 2015

Slimline scarlet Adelphi

I saw a scarlet slimline Adelphi on eBay and had a ponder. Would it work for me?

Colour pop? Check.
Personal-size paper? Check.
Small rings? Check.
Card-slots? Check.
Other pockets? Check.

And so I bought it...

I've been trialling it for a few days and am happy so far. Let me walk you through it.

Cover:
The outer has a quilted effect embossed into the leather. I didn't like this when it came out (and was never interested in owning an Adelphi, partly because of the quilted effect) but I actually really like it now. I think it looks more interesting than the plain covers - more classy maybe? Anyway, there is a smooth edge (front only) and then the quilted-effect area. It's more scarlet than my picture shows.

Front cover

Inside left:
On the inside left, there is a covered pocket with 6 credit-card slots with a full-height pocket behind. I had intended to keep coins in the pocket as well as cash plus a few other bits and pieces, but I prefer to see my coins so I know if I have enough or if I need to break a note, so they have stayed in the zipped pencil case that is punched and on the rings at the back of the binder. It takes up a bit of real estate on the rings, but I prefer it. The popper on the pocket holds everything securely contained.
The next two pictures show the colour much better.

Inside: Covered pocket. You can see the zipped pencil case
peeping out at the back
Pocket opened. 6 credit card slots plus a full height pocket behind
The card slots are the simple cut type, rather than ones with a turned edge. I prefer the turned-edge versions and these were a bit of a wriggle to get the cards in but they might not have been used much by the previous owner.

Rings:
There are oval rings with a 13mm diameter in the widest plane (left to right). I couldn't cope with 11mm rings and 15mm are easier, but the 13mm are okay.

Inside right:
There is a full height slip pocket in the back cover.


The pen loop:
Well. It has a diameter of about 3mm! I think (think...) it is designed so that just a pen clip fits in it - the loop is 1/4 down the cover rather than mid-way. And tiny. I can just get the clip of my Zebra Sharbo diary pen/pencil duo in there.


What I have got in it:
Sometimes it's hard to judge how much stuff you can fit on rings so let me try and give you an idea of what fits easily in there for me. At the moment I have:
  • paper money plus air mail labels, 3 books of stamps and 3 small cards in the front pocket
  • 6 cards in the card slots
  • card divider labelled 'notes' (acting as a sheet protector and hiding the sheets behind)
  • 4 sheets of standard Filofax (FF) paper for notes
  • 1 sheet of pink FF paper with monthly goals on
  • 6 months (Jul-Dec 2015) Tomoe River WO2P diary (27 sheets)
  • 3 sheets of quadrille paper tracking various things
  • 8 sheets of (random) information
  • 15 sheets of addresses
  • A FF card holder with 6 cards in it
  • The zipped pencil case for coins
  • [nothing in the back cover as yet]
I've been using it for a few days and so far, I'm really liking it. The colour pop is great and it's small and light but yet holds everything I need at the moment. The pen loop is a bit irritating but I'm getting used to hanging my pen clip on it and trusting that it will stay where it's put. It doesn't have quite all the pockets that the compact Holborn has, but it has the colour pop I seem to need!

[p.s. thank you for all the kind thoughts and good wishes after my surgery. All went well and I might even manage to get back to running soon!]

2 comments:

  1. Well, there's something I didn't know before - that the weave on the Adelphi was only a pattern? Interesting, as I'd always thought it was a proper basketweave like the old-style Filofax Henley, which I couldn't stand. Like you, I never took to the pattern but its interesting that now you have one, its grown on you! I don't think it would ever grow on me. Do you find any problems writing on either side of the paper, due to the leather pockets on the inside flaps?

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    1. Hi Paul,
      I've not found any problems writing on either side of the pages - I have a pencil case of coins in the back and the flap thing at the front so you might think it's like writing on corrugated iron, but it's okay! If anything, the flap bit can be smoother than the lumpy coinage! I always put my diary in the middle to alleviate some of the bumpiness but in the compact, I don't have much diary of past time (just the current month) and lumpiness not been an issue. The bigger problem (and it's not major!) is that as you write towards the centre of the page, the binder folds up a bit - but it's more that the other side starts to lift while the side you're leaning on stays down (does that make sense??).
      I really don't like the basket-weave filofaxes either. The pattern on the Adelphi is just embossed/marked into the leather. It really has grown on me! I was using it today and got some admiring glances from the woman at the till so I'm not the only one. :-)

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