Travelling light, and stylishly so too...

On my visit to the London Graphic Centre in Covent Garden before Christmas I spotted some unusual looking bags, made from recycled tarpaulins, displayed in the shape of a Christmas Tree. My interest was piqued and I decided to look into them further and discovered a fascinating story of how two brothers were looking for a robust and waterproof bag to hold their creative work and hit on the idea to reuse tarpaulins from trucks. 

There are now over forty different models, with each bag unique and incredibly strong. With an overnight trip to Kufstein on the horizon and Christmas ahead of me, my own idea started to form and so during our Christmas shopping we ended up back at the London Graphic Centre. In my mind I thought I'd leave with a yellow or green bag, but it turned out I was wrong. 

We left with this red and blue F251 Kowalski. 

Not yellow. Or green. At all.

In the shop, this was the one that spoke to me.

My biggest concern was if it was practical for a short break.

And having travelled light on my recent trip to Kufstein and Munich, it was. 

It was also much admired, and drew comments on just how light I was travelling. But with careful outfit planning, I had plenty of options.

I packed a pair of trousers, pyjamas, two long sleeved T-shirts, a vest top and cardigan, toiletries, my bag of liquids to get through airport security and a big wooly scarf to help combat the expected negative temperatures. I didn't pack a pair of shoes, because I didn't think I'd need them for two nights away, especially if it was that cold and with the information that heels weren't permitted in the fortress at Kufstein where we were dining.

I didn't realise it but packing our panniers back in the summer was good practice!

It's quite a clever design, apart from the tarpaulin I mean. Pushing the shoulder straps to the side frees the top opening, and then it does look a lot more like a (stylish) cycling pannier. On the Freitag website they say the bag is "automatically weatherproof and closed when on your back" and they're not wrong.

Inside there's a couple of smaller side pockets which came in handy for my passport and smaller items. It's a bit dark in there, but you get the gist.

And it's strong. I pushed it to the limits, adding more papers and paraphernalia for the return journey, like always seems to be the way. But it's tarpaulin, from trucks, it's made for hard work. 

But I bet no one expected them to be recycled into something so stylish in their next life. There's plenty more colourways on the Freitag site, and a short video showing how the design works.

I think this has to be one of my most stylish Christmas presents ever, and over the coming year (and beyond) I'm hoping to put it to good use. 

Gorgeous isn't it?

Post Comment Love 3-5 February 2017

Hello there and welcome to another Friday and another #PoCoLo - I'm not quite sure how we're already at February, but it's quite exciting I think. It means that Spring can't be that far away, but I suspect we'll have some more weather before we get to Spring blooms. If you were here last week, thank you it was great to see you and if you're new this week - welcome, it's great to have you along.

This week I've been snowed under at work, and it's been one of those rewardingly challenging weeks. It means time has been precious, as ever, and when I've got home each night I've just needed to sit and unwind a bit before getting on with my evening. Sometimes life is like that, well it is for me, but I'm curious to know if you also need a bit of calm at times, and how you find that. 

I took the photo I'm sharing this week close to Tower Bridge, as I was in town for a work event. Usually I spend the week almost on the river in Greenwich and it made a nice change to see a different part of the river. Although the journey there on the bus and then the tube wasn't a patch on my usual walk to work.

Blogger Showcase: Guilianna from Guilianna Marie

This week you can read Guilianna's full answers to the Blogger Showcase over on Morgan's blog, but before you go here's a snippet about her and her blog Guilianna Marie. Guilianna is a senior in high school and her favourite thing - or one of them - about blogging is having the ability to inspire someone, and she's a tea and biscuits kind of girl who's very easy to talk to.

Do pop over and find out more about Guilianna and connect with her on her social accounts:

Twitter  -   Instagram  -  Pinterest  -  Snapchat: @guiliannamarie

An InLinkz Link-up

A year in Greenwich Park: January

Well January was a funny old month weather wise wasn't it? And I think I captured most of it on various days. It started with heavy frosts and blue skies, and gorgeous light. Over the month I've settled on a more regular route, discovered new parts of the park and bumped into people I know at times and so had company on my journeys. So six months into this series and I'm still making new discoveries, that's something I never expected, but it shows how things can be the same and yet change.

My most regular route takes me parallel to Maze Hill and I've been intrigued by these properties whose back gate opens onto the park. How special is that?

And as well as the view, I'm also rather taken by the brick wall.  Imagine having this view though.

Onto the new discovery. In the bottom right hand corner one day I stumbled across this rather fancy gate, which I later discovered leads to the Queen's Orchard. It's shut for the winter - I know, boo! - but given the date in the ironwork, and it's name I'm taking it as a Golden Jubilee tribute. Which means that the last time I was in the section of the park, it wasn't there. 

I can't wait for it to open in the Spring and have a nose around, and learn more about it.

I mentioned before about the light this month, it's been amazing that I've made it to work on time as I keep finding new vistas to snap. The one below is a reminder of just how close to the City you are.

THAT'S THE SHARD IN THE DISTANCE

I also spotted some welcome colour - the yellow of the flowering witch hazel, a funny looking plant and one most of us are more used to seeing in a bottle or a gel.

Another boundary wall of the park has also held my interest this month. It wends and waves its way along Maze Hill. I've taken many pictures of how un-straight it is, and where it's been repaired and this is the best of the lot.

Ah. And then there was the snow. Or the excuse of the snow. For the first time in a long while the threat of snow didn't bother me. With a walk to work, and the chance to take some snowy pictures, I was almost quite looking forward to it. Hurrying home in the flurry of wet snow on the Thursday night, I did the sensible thing and got my sensible boots out of the car in readiness for use the next morning.

The only thing was, it didn't materialise. 

This was the snow.

PEERING OVER THE RAILINGS AT THE FLOWER GARDEN

I couldn't believe this former hater of the white stuff was disappointed. But these frozen puddles almost made up for it.

Like mini ice rinks - untested by me though - they're something I've not seen before, although I did see some unfrozen versions back in November.

And if the weather hadn't already given me enough, then came the fog.

And eery walks through the park when you really couldn't see much in front of you. And when all of a sudden a neon-clad runner would appear out of nowhere. At times I'm not sure who was more shocked.  Later in the month the frosts returned and gave this bush a covering. It made me smile and almost looks like its gone grey overnight.

There's been another new development too, scaffolding on the Royal Observatory, which you can spot in the distance between these trees.

So with all these new routes I've missed seeing some of my regular dog walkers, but I've bumped into people I know and at times have had company on my walk through the park, or stopped for a chat. It really is quite a social place, even for its commuters.  And as I said at the start, quite a month, who'd have thought that for January!