I have so much to be thankful for, when I think about my dear mom, Madonna. In addition to all of the love that I received from her, she also helped me to form an appreciation for shopping at thrift stores. Mom, along with two of her sisters, volunteered every week at a thrift store. Not only did our family get bargains on second hand clothing, mom also got a staff discount. A discount on discounted items. What a great deal.
Yesterday, I was reminded of this, because of a visit to a thrift store a few blocks from where I am currently house sitting. This is the same store that I visited many years ago, and where I found my wonderfully comfortable hiking boots, a photo of which is featured in post #378. If memory serves, I think that I paid only $16 for them. No staff discount mind you, but a far sight cheaper than buying the same boots brand new. It seemed like a good time to go there again, and just browse and see what was on offer. It's not a big store, so it didn't take too long to have a look around, and finding nothing of interest, I headed for the exit. And it was there, that I found an item that I had been contemplating buying recently, so when I saw it, I couldn't believe my luck. After all, I was only moments away from walking out the door, but something made me turn, and look down and see it.
Here it is.
This piece of travel luggage was exactly what I had been looking for, and there it was, just waiting to be purchased. What I had been looking for was a piece of luggage that I could either wear as a backpack, carry like a suitcase, or roll along the ground. This piece has all three options. Some recent browsing online in order to get an idea of what was available and at what cost, helped me to work out what would be the best model of luggage to look for. After a closer inspection to verify that all of the zippers were functional, I strolled over to the young man at the check-out counter with my upcoming purchase. I suppose it pays, to be served by a young cashier, because when I returned home, I took a look at the receipt, and lo and behold, he'd given me a senior's discount. It certainly wasn't something that I had asked for, but I guess there must be some advantages to having a greying beard. Madonna would certainly have approved of my bargain purchase.
My old Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) pack, shown below alongside my "new" pack, is no longer of any use to me. It has served me well since purchasing it way back in 1987, when I was preparing to ride my bicycle down the west coast from Vancouver to Los Angeles. This same pack has accompanied me to Australia on numerous occasions, been once around the entire world in 1996, and it has even been all the way across the Indian Ocean on a sailboat, from Durban, South Africa to Freemantle, Australia.
But now it's time to say goodbye, and donate it to someone who needs it more than I do. Oddly enough, this house-sit where I am currently residing, is the same place over the past few years, in which I donated my last two bicycles. When I say donate, it was just a matter of intentionally leaving them outside and unlocked, and poof, they seem to disappear in a hurry. Perhaps leaving the pack unattended will have the same effect. Either that, or I will find someone who needs it, and hand it to them in person, before I depart this location. It might provide a small amount of joy to a stranger. I am reminded of the joy on a young boy's face in Kashmir, when I gave him my harmonica as a gift. Somewhere I still have a photo of the event, and the look on his face is something to behold. That was 39 years ago.
Like some other posts of recent times, I had a totally different subject which I was going to write about, and then my new piece of luggage came along. I thought that it was worth a few words, and so now they are written down. Perhaps next week I'll write about what I was going to write about today. We'll see.
maximizing my moments,
Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer
This just in. I have no idea why I happened to look at the Yukon News, newspaper this evening, but having done so, I came across this article. I had the "pleasure" of receiving my own Sourtoe Cocktail certificate when I lived in the Yukon, so I can totally relate to this article.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/captain-dick-stevenson-sourtoe-obituary-1.5359630
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