farmdoc's blog post number 185

Over 55 years ago, I was a skinny little kid attending Middle Park Primary School. Though I rode a tricycle – I hadn’t yet mastered balancing on a two-wheeler – my most prized possession was my pencil case. It was wooden, the lid slid on and off via a tongue-in-groove mechanism, and inside nestled my precious pencils and erasers. (This was before ballpoint pens were generally available; and before I was old enough to be trusted with a dip pen let alone a fountain pen.) I don’t know that pencil case’s fate. And I don’t remember using a pencil case again until a few years ago when I decided I needed a container to stop me losing my work pens and pencils. So I bought a red vinyl pencil case with a zip closure. On its front darling Meg adorned it with the acronym ‘RTF’ standing for ‘Roscoe the Farmer’ and/or ‘Roscoe the Firefighter’. Early last week its zip broke, and instantaneously that pencil case was no longer useful. So last Friday at Officeworks I bought a new one. Identical to its predecessor (red vinyl), it cost me 99 cents. Though I’m still a farmer and a firefighter, I’ve moved on a little in recent times – since 22 April 2008 to be exact. So the choice of lettering on my new pencil case was a no-brainer.