Bags, bags, bags

I have to confess to coveting a Mulberry handbag at one time. In my more affluent, but unhappy, days I was on the point of buying one, merely to cheer myself up and could spin a good argument to justify the purchase to myself. I didn’t buy one, because even at this stage I recognised that, despite their excellent quality and craftsmanship, Mulberry handbags simply weren’t technical. It was around this time that I discovered Kipling bags. Made in Belgium, these essentially nylon bags have a plethora of pockets and compartments that met my compulsive obsessive organisation needs, plus a jaunty furry monkey keyring. On one trip to Antwerp I spent several hours (yes, hours) in the Kipling shop overwhelmed by the choice of bags for every purpose and occasion.

 

At one stage my collection of Kipling bags reached over ten bags and I had a dedicated locker for them in the camping car when we were on our European adventures. The good news is that second hand Kipling bags sell well on Ebay, so when I decided to downsize the collection I got a fairly good return on investment. Currently, the Kipling collection stands at four, plus my purse. There is a small burgundy coloured Raisin bag which was the first Kipling bag I ever bought. A large grey shoulder sack that I used to use for work, this is now in the ‘black capsule’, a large brown shoulder or across the body bag, with numerous zipped pockets, small pockets and compartments that makes it a great bag for travelling back and forth to the UK. Then there is a brown and grey striped small messenger type bag with a worn-out Velcro fastener that should probably go to the recycling bin.

Somewhere along the line I acquired a tan leather Radley bag. It’s only been used a couple of times, with the Aquascutum coat, and linen trousers in the summer. I bought it off Ebay and have to admit that when it arrived I’d under-estimated the size (it’s too small) and the lack of a safe, zipped compartment bothers me. Despite the cute dog – I think that was the reason I bought it – this is destined for recycling too.

At the moment, I don’t use any of these bags, because I have discovered the rucksack as an everyday bag. In our early camping car travels we both had a small Eagle Creek ten litre daypack, mine was blue and OH’s red – or was it the other way round? These bags are still going strong, they can be machine washed, have no signs of wear, but unfortunately both seem to have been acquired by the Other Half. I re-discovered the rucksack on the first day of a trip to the UK to attend a funeral. I had only taken the grey Kipling sack as my ‘handbag’, but on the first morning when we left the hotel to walk the dog around the local park I quickly realised that the bag was going to drive me mad – or damage my shoulder. It was impossible to keep the thing on my shoulder whilst holding the dog lead and annoying to walk around with a bag in one hand and a dog lead in the other. Fortunately, the local outdoor shop had a sale on, so I was able to pick up a half-price twelve litre daypack that has been in use ever since. It’s a great rucksack, although the colour doesn’t fit the way the capsules are heading.

I’m going to add bags into my Project 333 capsules soon. Once I’ve recycled the Kipling messenger and the Radley bag, the bag total should be down to a manageable four – or five if I succumb to the urge to acquire a blue bag, but that’s another story.