Saturday

What's in my bag // The lost bag edition

Last month, I left my bag in the back of a taxi in Winchester. I've been using Primark bags my whole life and managed to keep hold of them until they die a slow, painful death and need to be buried in the wardrobe because I'm incapable of throwing anything away. The second I spend some actual money on a Michael Kors bag, of course, I manage to completely forget about it and only realise I've lost it an hour later. What's in my Michael Kors bag
After some franctic tweeting, staking out the taxi rank to see if the cab returned and tracking down the driver after asking all the other cabbies if they recognised the description of his car, only to find he didn't have the bag after all, I eventually logged into Facebook three hours later and found a message from the guy who had been picked up after me. He'd found the bag, searched Facebook for my real name only to find no profiles exist under that name, eventually discovered me by searching "Becky Bedbug", as is the name on my Costco card, and fired off a message. All before I'd even realised my bag wasn't with me. 

Anyway, this epic tale of one woman's frantic search for the return of her beloved bag got me thinking about what I actually keep in there. Although I was glad I hadn't lost anything valuable, in those bag-less hours, I was just really annoyed at having to replace so many of my daily essentials. I figured that Jack, he of bag-finding glory, could probably tell a lot about me just from what I carry out around with me day to day.
THE BAG

My beloved Mikey. I'm sure there are some designer aficionados out there sneering at how much I love my Michael Kors bag but deal with it. He may not be the most original, expensive or sophisticated handbag on the market but he's mine and I love him. I bought him from House of Fraser in December as a late Christmas/ fourth blog birthday/ congrats on 10k Twitter followers present. Because I'm the sort of person who will use any excuse for a present. 

Although it's quite a small bag, I do find it fits quite a lot inside. As it's fairly structured, I can't overload it too much or it will go a bit misshapen, so I need to make sure the contents are either small or flat. The strap is adjustable but the length I have it means I can comfortably wear it either over my shoulder or across my body. 

BEAUTY
Lush Kerbside Violet MAC Velvet Teddy
I'm not a make-up-toucher-upper kind of girl. Once my make up's on, that's it. If I happen to lose some along the course of my day, I'll just have to live with it. However, I do always have a few lipsticks on hand. The day before I lost my bag, I'd taken out the five other lip products and just left my faithful Velvet Teddy inside. I also carry this small bottle of Lush's Kerbside Violet perfume around because I tend to forget to apply fragrance in the morning. 

Review of Velvet Teddy // Review of Kerbside Violet

PPOW
Spare camera accessories
PPOW- pronounced "papow"- stands for Pink Pouch of Wonder and goes everywhere with me. I would be lost without this beauty. Inside are two spare camera batteries (usually) and a spare SD card because seriously, I am forever leaving one or both of these things at home instead of in my camera. The little pouch itself is from Accessorize and really cute, with a little Russian doll design on the front. I bought it because it matched my handbag and purse at the time but I couldn't possibly replace it. It's the perfect size! Inside are also a pair of ear plugs (I got them free at a festival and thought they might come in handy one day) and a pair of tickets- one from this trip to the Warner Bros Studio Tour and one from Universal Studios when we got married.

KEYS
Cute keyrings
I was most upset at losing my house keys. Not only was I envisioning someone using my driving license to find out my address then going into my home and stealing all my stuff (because if I own a Michael Kors bag, I must live in a mansion, surely!) but my key chains are really personal to me. The Lego Harry Potter was given to me by a girl in my class two years ago. I teach her again this year and she thinks it's amazing that I still have her gift on my keys. The Hogwarts keyring I bought from Wizarding World of Harry Potter when we got married- and it actually has my name on it, something that's impossible in England! Pudsey is there because I bloody love Pudsey and my now-very-grubby My Little Pony key cover is just the cutest thing. It also turns out I have this Cath Kidston ballerina key fob which I had no idea was even on there until I studied my keys to write this post. Why do I even have this? It looks like nothing I would ever choose to buy.

THE PURSE
What's in my purse
Thank the Lord for this purse! It is because of this that Mikey found his way back to me. I bought this purse because my bright red Ted Baker one, while lovely, didn't quite fit with my bag- both physically and aesthetically. I thought it might be a bit overkill to buy a matching Michael Kors one so when I saw this DKNY purse, which is identical to my handbag in all but brand name, I knew it was meant to be. It's more compact than my previous purse but still holds a lot of stuff. So much stuff, in fact, that I'm going to crack out the bullet points:
  • Driving license
  • Debit and credit cards
  • The MERCY that is my Costco card
  • Nando's card, even though I haven't had Nando's in about two years
  • Boots card. Obvs.
  • Tastecard. I've never used it but carry it around just in case
  • Art Pass because I'm proper sophisticated and that
  • Hampshire library card issued in 2006, not used since 2009 but it has sentimental value. Yes, I really just said that. It's true.
  • National Insurance Number because you have to carry it around with you from the second you get it at 16 until you die and nobody is quite sure why. It's just the rules.
  • Piercing loyalty card used once
  • River Cottage Canteen loyalty card never used
  • Nail salon loyalty card used three times since January. This is my third one after completing the other two and cashing in that sweet, sweet discount. I feel this says a lot about me
  • Receipt from The Breakfast Club in January which I kept because that's where I was when I found out Alan Rickman had died. As tragic as that sounds, it's 100% true. 
  • Zero cash because who needs money for parking / cash-only shops/ emergencies where your card stops working when you're at Starbucks in Membury Services (wherever the hell that is) trying to buy a vanilla and peppermint hot chocolate? Not me. 
OTHER ESSENTIALS
Cadbury's chocolate
A green pen because teaching and, of course, the obligatory Fudge and Creme Egg because nobody in the UK is ever without their emergency Fudge and Creme Egg, right? Right? You may notice there's no phone in here. That's because my phone case is approximately the size of a small dog and barely even fits in my coat pocket, let alone my bag. And this, I promise, is it! No loose receipts, no empty sweet wrappers, no dust bunnies floating around in the bottom. I'm very proud of myself for having kept something in my life clean and neat, for once.

If we were to preserve this handbag for hundreds of years and present it to history students studying the lives of 21st-century English civilisation, I think this would do a pretty good job of telling them exactly what I was like- an overly-sentimental, completely impractical blogger who can't be loyal to anything except her nails. 

PREVIOUS POSTS

I've written a whole slew of the ol' "What's in my bag" classic over the years, complete with some truly horrendous photography. Ch-check it out:

June 23rd 2012 // What's in my weekend bag (this post solves the weird Cath Kidston keyring question)
July 3rd 2012 // What's in my work bag
March 19th 2013 // What's in my work bag
April 24th 2013 // What's in my weekend bag
September 28th 2013 // What's in my purse
July 10th 2014 // What's in my festival bag
August 22nd 2014 // What's in my hand luggage
April 20th 2015 // What's in my make up bag
August 27th 2015 // What's in my summer bag

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7 comments :

  1. I'm glad you found your bag! It's dreadful when you lose things, particularly when they carry things that are both sentimental and essential to your day-to-day life!

    Jemima x
    anotherrantingreader.blogspot.co.uk

    ReplyDelete
  2. That's so lucky that guy was honest and returned it! What a great chap!

    hellomissjordan.com xx

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  3. Love your keyrings!
    And love the fact that the guy returned to you, not everyone would do that. :) xxx

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  4. I always have a couple of lipsticks on hand too just incase I need a little boosting haha. I still have my Warner Bros studio tour ticket as well, I'm going to keep it forever! I love your emergency chocolate, I should probably have some on hand too! :P

    Sally - DiagonSally

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  5. I cannot believe how lucky you were that Jack who found your bag was so honest and actually took the time to find and contact you as opposed to just handing it in. I really need to take a leaf out of your book and minimise the things I carry around with me, in my bag now is probably a whole hoard of unnecessary items, including receipts, and numerous bobby pins. Great post Becky!

    Vanessa

    vanessaswhimsicalworld.co.uk

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm glad you find your bag! It's an awful feeling when you realise you've lost it! x www.aimeeraindropwrites.co.uk x

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  7. Glad you found your bag! It's awful losing stuff, but in a way, it's a blessing in disguise--this incident proves that there are still good people in the world. x

    I lost my wallet around two years ago, and just when I thought that I would go through the motions of calling the bank to block the ATM card from my office payroll, and to ask for a reissue of my taxpayer's identification card when a guy called and said he had my wallet and he was asking for directions to my house as he would deliver it in person! It was really a pleasant surprise, and it is a reminder that we should all still have faith that goodness and kindness still exist. x

    ReplyDelete

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