Bag the Bag

For several years I have been on a mission to find the perfect bag.

After years of posessing various backpacks, I have become a convert to the Messenger Bag. I've probably had about 5 in the last 10 years.

The first - and the reason for my conversion from Backpack to Messenger came from Gap in Chicago. It was in faux black leather, with a zip around its base that meant it could expand to double its width. It was the perfect bag. It had the right number, size and shape of open and zippered cloth lined compartments. It travelled the world, surviving leaking containers, and even me being hit by a car, I used it for the first 6 of the last 10 years. But by the end - like me it was showing its age.

My search for the new perfect bag began.

I thought I had found it when looking in an Art Gallery shop, I found that Pantone had put out a line of products - including a Messenger Bag: wovern exterior, plastic interior and a broad Pantone Cool Grey stripe. It looked fantastic. It screamed GRAPHIC DESIGNER, it didn't have enough compartments, and the plastic lining started cracking about a week after I bought it. All surface - no content. I send an email to Pantone to that effect.

Next Prada. They did a line for men in black with red tags. It was black, it was fabric, it was compact, it wasn't cheap. But, it had a pocket for my phone, and my new Palm Pilot. After a year or so - it too started to show some wear and tear. The search began again.

Nothing I could find fitted the bill. They didn't look right, they were too expensive, they didn't have the right compartments - nothing I looked at came close to what I wanted. I became a little obsessed. I have been known to bag watch - on escalators, on public transport, in department stores. I have even gone up to people I don't know with bags that might fit the bill and asked them what brand they had.

Then it happened. On an escalator in an underground train station in Sydney. A man with a messenger bag - brown (not black) but well styled. I was about to approach, when I saw a small simple label: 'Jack Spade'. Interesting.

A week later - in David Jones, Melbourne - another sighting - brown leather this time with an even more discreet 'Jack Spade'. I was on to something - the Jack Spade website within the hour - and there it was. Possibly the perfect bag, and they ship!

Now I embrace the modern world. I am more than happy to order books from Amazon, computers online from Apple, but order a bag - without physically seeing it, online, and with a purchase condition that said I was responsible for the bag from the moment it left the warehouse? I don't think so.

Know anyone going to New York? Fortunately I did. Arrangements were made, She rang me from the shop. I questioned the sales assistant. The purchase was made, and in a week when my friend returned to Sydney - the bag would be mine.

Its a great bag. It has two zippered internal pockets. It has a pocket for my palmpilot, and my wallet, It has two side zippered pockets for my mobile and my iPod - even a button hole for the earphone cable to go though. It's (nearly) perfect, and so far - is wearing well, and its black.