October 9, 2015
Dear Everyone:
Pop quiz: How many
suitcases
have you owned over the years?
I’m guessing, lots.
My first “suitcase”, which I got for my college trip to
Morocco in 1971,
was really a military-style
duffel bag.
Weight was a factor and a cloth bag was lighter, not to mention
cheaper. And it certainly
didn’t contain anything breakable.
Over the years, of course, I’ve acquired any number of suitcases, some
“nesting” sets, some more “durable” than others.
(Remember the
TV commercial that showed a gorilla jumping up and
down on the suitcase to “prove” how much it could stand?)
Some “small” enough to fit in the
overhead bin on an aircraft,
others “big” enough to hold everything but the proverbial kitchen sink.
And they, including the cloth duffel bag, were almost always heavy.
Nothing gains weight faster than a suitcase as it is being
filled.
Then along came wheels. You
could extend a handle, tilt the bag, and roll it along on those
ever-so-helpful wheels. Of
course, when you stopped rolling and set the thing down it usually would
fall forward, especially if you used the “expanding feature” that let
you make it even bigger than it was ever designed to be.
But then, the handle would come off, the zipper would break, a careless
baggage handler would drop a two-ton whatever on it and bend the
extending handle so it wouldn’t extend, or collapse.
It was a given that something would happen to it, no matter how
fond you might be of it.
So when “Alice” came to visit last week, her suitcase “bit the dust”
when the extending handle snapped.
And “Alice” went out to buy yet another new one.
The one she chose had four wheels instead of two.
I first saw this new feature when “Jeannie” got one to carry all of her
equipment to and from work.
Four wheels, casters really, that turned in any direction.
Plus the case stood on all fours, with less tendency to fall on
its face at the slightest provocation.
When “Alice” got one, too, I decided that I needed a new suitcase
before leaving for
Washington, D.C., which was last week.
So I went to one of the discount stores and found a nice one made by the
same manufacturer as the one I already had.
Only this one had four wheels instead of two.
Plus it was black-or-dark-gray instead of fire-engine-red.
Another problem with suitcases is that they generally all look alike.
With hundreds of large bags rolling around the airport
baggage
claim area, it’s difficult to see which one is yours.
Hence gaudy colors like the bright red.
But then everyone got red cases and that didn’t help anymore.
Our mother marked her suitcase with reflective tape spelling out
her initials: “MW”.
It worked even when the bag was upside down.
Until the tape peeled off, of course.
People are forever trying to find ways to make their bag more
recognizable. Bright name
tags, sometimes with little flashing lights.
Colored scarves and/or ribbons.
Big, bright artificial flowers.
(The baggage handlers seem to be particularly fond of these as
they tend to be ripped off very quickly.)
I went to the Big Hardware Warehouse Store and looked in the
key-duplicating section. It
had lots of distinctive key-rings.
I found several with those flexible coiled rings that let you
slip the keys around your wrist.
They had them in multiple colors, so I got green, blue and
purple. Total expenditure:
$3.19. Hooked them
all around a name tag that I had already attached to the new bag.
When I got to Washington, I made a short stop before heading to the
baggage claim area. Also,
the flight got in after 10:30 PM.
Consequently, by the time I went looking for my bag, it was only
one of two that had not already been claimed and, therefore was not
difficult to find.
During the Conference, I wandered through the Expo Center, looking at
all the vendors hawking their wares and services.
One of them was giving away little
rubber duckies.
I snatched one as quickly as possible.
(I don’t even remember what the vendor was trying to sell.)
I promptly nicknamed the duck “Gaylord” since I was staying at
the
Gaylord National Harbor Resort Hotel and Convention Center.
I have one of those “all-in-one-tools” that I keep in my purse.
(Of course, I have to put it in the check-through bag when flying
because it includes knives, a tiny saw, and other sharp instruments.)
Once back in my hotel room, I used the awl to punch a couple of
holes through “Gaylord’s” little rubber tail.
Then I took a luggage tag that came from one of my favorite
consulting firms and threaded the line through the holes, using the
needle-nose pliers.
And presto! My anonymous
black-or-dark-gray suitcase was now sporting a yellow rubber ducky on
the handle.
The morning after the Conference ended, I took the hotel shuttle back to
the airport. When the driver
asked me, “Which bag is yours, Ma’am?” I replied, “The one with the
yellow rubber ducky.” He
found it instantly.
Many, many hours later, at the
San Francisco International Airport, as
dozens of identical suitcases passed by on their way around and around
and around… My suitcase
landed face down, with the handle mushed against the edge of the
carousel. Nevertheless, I
spotted “Gaylord” and got the bag on the first rotation.
I don’t know how long this suitcase will survive, or how long “Gaylord”
will be able to hang on, but for now it looks like smooth sailing.
And as for the fire-engine-red bag that this one replaced, it’s
still fully functional so I’ll donate it to one of the thrift shops.
Someone will want it, even without a yellow rubber ducky.
Love, as always,
Pete
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