Bag Story

About 2 weeks ago, I flew to Eilat for one day, for business. Since it was a one-[long]day trip, I just took my black office case with me, an oldish leather bag bought by my husband in the US a few years ago. Maintenance not being one of my strong points, the bag became kind of shabby. When you see something (or someone!) every day, you get used to it and your brain processes what you actually see, by adjusting it to the way it looked in the beginning. Besides, the daily changes are tiny, easy to overlook. But my fineschmecker coworker and travel partner for the day did not fall into that trap and hinted that it's time to buy a new bag.

And so the bag quest began. This time I wanted something more feminine and bright, maybe red. Looked on the net, went to some shops, saw some interesting (mostly not) models and almost gave up - forgot to mention shopping is also one of my weak points, I lose interest fairy quickly and rarely buy stuff for myself.

And so, like in all good stories, in the last shop, just before giving up, I found a non-feminine, brown Hedgren bag (never heard about this firm before), with hidden back straps for when the bag gets too heavy to hand-carry or you need free hands. It also features a padded laptop compartment, place for cellphone, pen and such, hidden handles for hand-carrying, detachable and adjustable shoulder strap, smooth zippers, and water-resistant shell. Practical, but kind of ugly.

Did it happen to you that you went shopping for an item with a predefined list of features, then saw a real one that just clicked with you and decided to take it anyway, features or not? I bet it's the same with partners...You imagine a tall handsome smooth talker with blond curly hair and blue eyes, but end up with a short, shy, squint, bald man, who is actually a good, sincere person and a good match.

After a few days in use, I started having second thoughts. Why do I need the laptop compartment, it's not like  I sit in trendy cafes and blog while sipping cappuccinos. Not to mention that my laptop stopped connecting to any wireless device, so what's the point in carrying it around anyway? After trying (and failing) to fix it myself, I was planning to have a technician look at it, but decided to show it to someone at work first. I placed it in the padded compartment, together with some accessories, but could barely lift the bag. You guessed right what happened next: the shoulder straps absolutely saved me. And the person at work, too. After 2 minutes he realized that a button accidentally pressed shut down the wireless connection.

Here's to practical choices.