Some people, it seems, don't share my enthusiasm for one of my Droitwich tat auction treasures. I have shown it proudly to people (you know who you are) and been met with frank bafflement. But I am not deterred. It might look at first glance like a standard plastic holdall from the seventies/early eighties, in a particularly virulent shade of algae-green; spacious, hardly used and in good condition, but not something to get terribly excited about... But closer examination reveals it to be, in fact, a rare historical artefact; a PVC time capsule (and not only because it came complete with a pair of slightly worn but newly washed woollen socks).
It is not just any old 1980s algae-green plastic holdall; it is a British Waterways 1980s algae-green plastic holdall, and I for one shall carry it with immense pride and affection, feeling the hand of history upon my shoulder (or perhaps the bag of history in my hand, which doesn't have quite the same ring to it). O, you sneering cynics, how you will yearn, in the bleak years to come, for an outdated, unfashionable, inefficient but solid and reliable, 20th century artefact to carry your boating hopes and dreams. We shall not see its like again.
Some people, it seems, don't share my enthusiasm for one of my Droitwich tat auction treasures. I have shown it proudly to people (you know who you are) and been met with frank bafflement. But I am not deterred. It might look at first glance like a standard plastic holdall from the seventies/early eighties, in a particularly virulent shade of algae-green; spacious, hardly used and in good condition, but not something to get terribly excited about... But closer examination reveals it to be, in fact, a rare historical artefact; a PVC time capsule (and not only because it came complete with a pair of slightly worn but newly washed woollen socks).
It is not just any old 1980s algae-green plastic holdall; it is a British Waterways 1980s algae-green plastic holdall, and I for one shall carry it with immense pride and affection, feeling the hand of history upon my shoulder (or perhaps the bag of history in my hand, which doesn't have quite the same ring to it). O, you sneering cynics, how you will yearn, in the bleak years to come, for an outdated, unfashionable, inefficient but solid and reliable, 20th century artefact to carry your boating hopes and dreams. We shall not see its like again.
Your attitude about this holdall continues to surprise me!
ReplyDeleteSurely you should be overjoyed that others did not show anything like the same enthusiasm for it, as you obviously have.
It is because things are as they are, that you were able to pick up what you clearly see as a "significant" item, without getting into a major bidding war with other people who were equally enthused.
Just settle back, and think what a bargain you have, despite us "uninitiated" not yes haven woken up to the significance of its true place in Waterways history!
There was considerable interest from a certain Stone family, but as they'd already got the BW waterproofs, perhaps they were a little less desperate...
ReplyDeleteApparantly, these bags are quite rare and were only issued to the BW Directors in order to carry home their bonus payments. This director seems to have spent his on meaningless socks.
ReplyDelete(sorry)
Paul (Capricorn)