Handbag meme

[liv]

I think the idea is something like, five things in your bag that say something about you:

• Two sets of keys, because I live half my time with my husband in Cambridge and half my time in a flat in North London near my course. My home-home keys are on a Golem keyring which my husband bought me some years ago; I was a bit nervous about deliberately bringing a Golem into the house but it turned out not to be very cursed. Flat keys don't have a proper keyring. I keep looking for one and being spoiled for choice or being too mean to spend over £5 on a keyring.
  
  
• My security pass for the campus where my rabbinical school is. I am, in fact, a student rabbi, so this one is pretty informative. The campus is very extremely gated with lots of security guards milling around; this is mainly for the protection of the multiple Jewish primary schools that share the site, but potentially we could be a target also. Most of the actual threat comes from far right 'classically' antisemitic groups, but increasingly leftwing activists seem to assume that threats against Jewish children aren't a real problem because the children might be "Zionists".
  
  
• Asthma inhalers. I've had asthma since I was 4-ish, I think probably triggered by a viral infection. (Yes, viruses sometimes had long-term consequences even before Covid.) It's not very bad, it's controlled by said medication, and I've only had one scary asthma attack since I was 12.
  
  
• 3M Aura N95 mask. I reuse the officially disposable ones until either the thin elastic straps snap, or they get visibly grey from particles in the horrible London air. There seems to be pretty good evidence that the filters last basically forever, but the seal does get worse if you keep reusing them. I could be doing better with mask quality, but I reckon my biggest risk is that I do sometimes remove my mask to eat or for public speaking, so getting a super extra awesome mask feels like diminishing returns.
  
  
• Not much else other than my phone and wallet; during the Time of Isolation I basically stopped carrying a handbag, because if I did go out it was just for my officially allowed Daily Exercise or to meet the people in my bubble. And I liked the freedom of not having a big bag on me, so when I did restart going to places, I deliberately downsized. My bag is big enough for the above essentials, but small enough that I don't carry around a bunch of crap just because I can. Sometimes it's annoying that it's too small to carry a paperback book, notebook or A4 paper folded in half, but mostly this change has improved my life

Anyway, I have somehow stumbled over the finish line at the end of term, including a 13th week of 12 for annoying bureaucratic reasons. Since we are on a semester system I am still in the semester though. I have an observed service to lead this Shabbat, and six essays due in the next few weeks, and two big scary exams mid-January. One of my classmates has banned us from talking about 'breaks' or 'rest', but it is also a month before I have to return to college and not having classes is at least a little less tiring than having them.

Comments

[redbird]

My usual bag isn't as small as yours, but I deliberately bought a daypack that's too small for multiple books, to avoid overloading myself. I've had this bag a while, and am now more likely to be carrying a kindle than even one paper book. If/when I need to replace it, I'll probably look for something smaller, because of my tendency to drop lots of small items in and forget about them.

[lovingboth]

At the end of the 1970s, when I went to London - say en route to check out Canterbury as a possible place to study - when blowing your nose after going on the tube, the results would come out black.

Banning smoking on there made a huge difference, and I also really notice the difference in terms of the congestion zone and ULEZ.

[maju]

My "handbag" is a small backpack because I like to keep my hands free. It's big enough to hold my kindle or tablet, so I'm good for reading matter if I have to wait somewhere.

[liv]

I definitely find that if I can carry lots of stuff, I will, whether I actually need the stuff or not. So I have decided to make a conscious decision whether I'm actually carrying a daypack or larger rucksack, or just the handbag with minimal essentials. Kindle is lighter than a paperback but a bit bigger in area, so I haven't quite found a carrying solution that doesn't encourage me to take a book or notepad or external battery or water bottle 'just in case'. And yes, I do also lose small objects in bigger bags; even my little handbag has separate pockets for keys and other tiny things.

[liv]

Oh, you're absolutely right that London has got much much better. I'm so grateful for the Clean Air Act and the smoking bans, and I've no doubt the LEZ helps too. Without those I would probably be actually disabled by asthma if I tried to live in the city.

[liv]

Definitely a good idea. I've experimented with daypacks that I can carry on my back, but then I find that it takes me ages to fumble for my keys and passes and phone, so I end up with stuff in my hands anyway. My handbag does have a shoulder-strap, that's a minimum for me because I don't want to hold it actually in my hands. My new system is that if I actually positively decide to carry more things than fit in a small handbag, I bring a backpack, and not a big handbag that gets tiring to lug around all day.