Sunny Side Up

I've had my purple backpack since before I started high school 16 years ago. I don't think there a place that I've been that that bag hasn't. Pretty tough and resilient I might say, having gone through rain, snow, flood, airport checks, airplane cargo holds, buses, boats, camping trips, junior high, high school, college, work, it never crossed my mind how long that bag would last. I can put 7+ Kg's of stuff in it and it would hold.

A few years ago people started nagging me to get a new bag because they said it was starting to look decrepit. Sure the colors may have faded, but decrepit? Worn maybe but surely not much more than that. Since it's got no padding, it's always had that crumpled look. I had the zipper strip replaced twice because it broke once and the replacement didn't exactly work properly. That's about the only repairs it's had to go through.

I paid no attention to them because as far as I'm concerned, that bag is still usable and showed no signs of wearing out but a few months ago, the liner covering the zipper strip on top broke loose as you can see in the photo. Strings of fabric were all over the place, sometimes locking up the zipper and the right slinger (or whatever it is you call the part that hangs on your shoulder) is starting to look like it's giving way.

Took me about a month to decide if I "need" to have a new bag. I don't think I do but I'm also getting tired of calls to have it replaced so I went and got one anyway. Took about three days but last Friday I got what I think was a decent replacement. Wherever I looked I couldn't find a purple bag that I like and holds about the same capacity (25 liters) as the old one so I went with a blue and white Converse bag that surely wouldn't look out of place if I was a Bulldogs (blech!) supporter*. It's about the same size but the shape and flexibility of the old one means I can completely fit the new bag inside without having to fold it.

Now I need to find a way to make it look like a something a Storm supporter would wear. That old bag won't be doing nothing though, it's just going to get less use from now on. I don't know anyone who's used a single bag longer than 16 years and we'll see if by early 2022 I'm still going to be using this new one. My biggest gripe about the new bag is that it's white. It'll look absolutely dirty in just a couple of months.


*Yes I know my blog is blue and white!!! I'm changing it soon*

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 21, 2006 at 10:30 AM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.