I’ve just brought a new bag.
I should explain; I ‘m only really excited by the prospect of buying bags and notebooks. After all, anything could go into them. This means that I own a lot of notebooks (they’re cheap) and some really swanky bags. I tend to pay at least £40 for a bag and look for features like being waterproof, having lots of pockets, and making me look more manly.
My last bag had all those in spades; A North Face messenger bag. Made of the same kind of material that lorry tarpaulin is made from, it’s waterproof and pretty indestructable. I know this because KLM tried to destruct it on my trip to Finland earlier this year, but left it looking cooler by virtual of battlescars. Thanks KLM!
It is a messenger bag, which means that it’s great for bombing around town in, and I’ve mainly been using it around town. However, now that my knee and the weather are better I’ve picked up a new bag for long-distance cycling, so it’s time to see what cruft is knocking around in the bottom of my bag. That is:
• One AAA battery, from when I was best man for Brian’s wedding. I had around £20 of batteries in my bag for other people’s digital cameras.
• One Staedler blue pen, which truthfully belongs to an ex-girlfriend.
• One wodge of pink post-it notes.
• One uni-ball fineliner, which I brought before getting a space pen
• My passport
• One paperclip (not red)
• A plastic bag from Micro Anvika (where?)
• A leaflet from the Newcastle Philosophy Society
• One discount voucher from KLM, who lost my bags in France
• Two unused toothbrushes and packaging
• Small crumpler bag which I use for carrying tools in, as I am a nerd and like tools
• One softback notebook, brought whilst doing a residency in Liverpool with really nice people
• A large hex nut and matching washer
• A black nylon cord
• Notes on green post-it notes about the Royal Society
• Various receipts, averaging a value of £10.38
• The bag for my sunglasses, which I thought I’d lost
I’d love to hear what others have in their bag – what tech does Alistair carry around in the bottom of his bag? What’s knocking around in trans-european Pippa’s bag? Does Yvette habitually have writing tools in hers, and does Brian have any electronics in his? Does David have some climbing equipment, or just a power bar? And is Oli carrying around some fancy cooking oil? Please post your cruft for other to see!
Comments
18 Comments so far. Leave a comment below.a nice bag
http://www.cyclechic.co.uk/shop/product_info.php?cPath=21&products_id=64
Derrick! I know that’s your friend’s site! Are you cyber-pimping again?
always have a few wires, maybe a led or two, pingpong balls, in my bag, hopefully a pen or two and a random collection of business cards (both mine and the people I talk to)
Why is the paperclip not red?
I brought bronze-coloured ones. They make me look like I know what I’m doing when I’m filing, rather than just putting random pieces of paper together with bent bits of metal.
I have too many bags and get confused about what’s in where because I chop and change them a lot. But there are some things that are in side pockets of every single one since I cannot do without them. They are: lip salve, small tube of hand cream, pen, mini police style (or posher) notebook, Airwaves chewing gum, roll of film. Phone, cash, keys always in pocket. Boring really. Not a toothbrush or red paperclip in sight. Sometimes there’s black tape tho.
Well, considering your list there Brenda, I think there might be a male/female split. Or possibly a split between people who change bags and those who don’t. Men often stick with one bag for ages (the manbag!) whereas a lady will have different bags for different occasions.
I am a bum bag man
Nothing so endearing or humane. None of them are chosen to match an outfit, it’s all about what camera I need for the job that day. Before I yanked a camera about, I had no bags apart from shopping rucksack and the bike pannier.
What’s in the bottom of your bike pannier?
Okay I’ve picked one of my ’school bags’…
One Boots Paracetomol and Codine Effervescent Tablet (Co-codamol);
Two empty cold and flu plastic/foil packets;
One packet of Wrigleys Airwaves Green Mint chewing gum with 2 pieces left;
One unused Boots own brand toothbrush in light green translucent plastic;
One black and one red Bic Medium, one red Papermate stick 2020, one HB Staedtler pencil, one Berol black fine pen;
My missing school cuboard key, desk key and a spare mobile classroom key;
£4.19 in change;
7 AA batteries and one AAA battery (probably some used and some new);
One packet of 5 note cards ‘Detail of the mosaic on the asp vault, mid 6th century Basilica di Sant’Apollinare in Classe, Ravenna’;
8 plastic translucent sweet wrapper in orange, cyan, green and yellow;
Estee Lauder Crystal Lipstick in ‘303′ crystal pink;
One hairdressing appointment card.
Inspired me to investigate my own man bag. A nice suprise to find a rather dry tangerine knocking about in the bottom. On the plus side I found a 20 spot!
Wow, thanks Elizabeth and Richard – I’m glad you managed to find cool and/or missing stuff in your bags!
Bag Archaeology! Genius.
So your discoverys Pete inspired me to empty my own bag…
It doesn’t have a brand (bought on Camden Market) – ladys shoulder bag with red and black stripey fur on the flap…
Inside were;
* A Kinder Bueno rapper
* some scrunched up tin foil
* a heart-shaped post-it note with some indecipherable writing (apart from the words “IDEA!” and “machines inc. animals…”)
* two pennys, one two pence, one five pence and one ten pence piece
* a packet of giant sparklers (that had been folded up)
* half a packet of sugar free extra mints
* a green highlighter
* a 0.05 Staedtler fine liner (thankyou! I wouldn’t have found that otherwise!)
* One black hair tie
* some scrunched tissues
* a screw
* a childs plastic donkey (or it might be a pony, its pretty generic)
I’m so jealous you found a plastic donkey/horse, Iris. Glad you had a good time rummaging!
I was inspired enough by this to excavate my own bag and list the contents. The bag is a bright ochre Mulberry hobo which has been my constant companion since Christmas 2008 and is surprisingly roomy for a ‘proper handbag’.
Contents:
Mac power cable
Canon battery charger
Canon USB cable
Canon G9
Huawei mobile connection thing (black)
postcard from Drama department at Sacred Heart Catholic High School
pack of Trident soft peppermint (open)
pack of Trident soft tropical twist (still in cellophane)
pack of Orbit Complete (4 remaining)
3 sweetie-papers
1 sony dv tape
1 panasonic dvc
Buffalo USB flash drive (purple)
four tickets from ‘First in Three 2009′
1 soiled tissue (just from cleaning my glasses I think)
1 clean tissue
James Elkins ‘Artists with PhDs’
a toothpick
muji notebook (a5, charcoal grey)
2 highlighter pens (pink and green)
2 biros
1 felt-tip (green)
1 rotring pencil
Chantecaille compact and lipstick
Burts Bees lipbalm
Stila lip glaze in Sugar Plum
Models Inc lipgloss
Svetlana Alpers ‘The Art of Describing’
cd of Marilyn Monroe’s essential recordings
set of 7 keys
Chanel nail varnish in clear (I have been looking for that!)
a bunch of pieces of paper (to do lists and notes) which do not fit inside the notebook
iPhone
and before I started typing this out
MacBook (battered)
Shocked by the contents, I have immediately decided to prune the contents with fervour (I mean, what is all that chewing gum about, and the lipglosses!). No wonder I have had a sore shoulder from lumping all that around for months.
Good grief, that’s a lot of stuff Isabella!
Having suffered from Isabella’s aforementioned sore shoulder syndrome for too long, I have been making furious efforts not to carry so much crap around with me. I’m not sure that a) it’s working too well, and b) having just had a conversation about whether or not I might be the sort of person who carries chewing gum with them, and found that despite buying it reasonably regularly and finding that I still don’t have any, I would say that my bag purge needs some refining.
The contents currently are:
1 black A6 academic diary
1 rather thick and flowery patterned notebook from TK Maxx
1 umbrella
1 bottle of water
1 wallet, with accompanying bus pass, railway card, copious receipts (I really can’t be bothered to total them up), bank cards, library card for exciting new city library etc
1 mini map of Newcastle city centre
1 stagecoach bus map, printed of the internet
1 ipod and radio attachment, hopelessly tangled up with a pair of earphones which are a bit broken
1 little digi camera in its case
1 UV lip balm in case the sun shines again
1 lip liner
1 black gel pen
1 pink gel pen
1 vaseline pocket size tin
A face powder compact
Some gavison cool tablets
An A4 pad of paper
My sketchbook
My mobile
Another gel pen
And a copy of ‘The Everyday (Documents of Contemporary Art)’
And I’m deliberately carrying about a smaller satchel, so I can’t put anything else in it.
Which means I always have another bag for my computer, power lead and mouse.
what a massive attack on handbag contents. ive got nothing as interesting as plastic toys, but i do have my ipod, mobile phone, photograph of oscar the dog, spare hair clips, ties and rubber bands, purse with money and receipts, holder for bus passes (one for Newcastle, one for london); various bivos; two lipsticks, one Mac and one sisley, one boots lipgloss and a glasses case from vision express.
When I have the dog I carry a ball and a plastic pooper bag.