The Saga of the Umbrella
Nov. 16th, 2008 07:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
indigo_rose99Last December in a Gap store in Texas, I saw the cutest umbrella. Colorful stripes, it called to me. I thought, "I'm going to Scotland in January. It is very rainy in Scotland. I'm sure I'll need an umbrella." For $6 it was mine.
In Scotland, the umbrella died a horrible, painful death from repeatedly being turned inside out. I left it a mangled heap in the trashcan in my Scotland hotel.
Duluth Trading company sells a unflippable trave umbrella in a boring black for more than $6. My husband gave me one for Valentine's Day. He worries about me walking in the rain.
The new umbrella got opened once at home and has spent the months since then gathering dust on my bedroom floor. Until now. When packing for this trip, I decided to check luggage (which translates to "I had more luggage space for fripperies like umbrellas") because I would be staying over a weekend. The umbrella made the cut.
Today in Ireland I had two goals when I set out from my hotel: (1) Walk at least 10,000 steps. (2) Buy soap. I didn't bring enough soap and the hotel chemical stuff smells nasty.
My hotel is about 1.5 miles from town center (~3000 steps, I discovered when I arrived). I was disgruntled to learn that I while I thought 10:30am on a Sunday morning would provide plenty of things to see and do, clearly the Irish disagreed. I wandered the streets (an additional 4000 steps) until everything opened at noon. In the midst of my wandering, the steady misting of rain turned a bit more heavy. Feeling smug, I pulled out my trusty umbrella and....
The damn thing would not open. The metal handle would not pull out to its full length. The plastic would open over my head, but I had to keep a hand on the push thingy to keep it from closing again. I stood in the thickening rain feeling like I was failing my intelligence roll. I stopped a total stranger on the street (who had an open umbrella over her head, and thus could not be such an idiot as me) and... she couldn't open my umbrella, either. Ok, not just me. Good to know.
So I went by the street vendors and picked up a cookie, soap, and falafel. Then I did a slow wander through Brown Thomas (3 story department store). Lovely clothes in dark purple, dark turquoise and dark green. I heavily drooled. Happily, everything I wanted was 290Euros (~$370) so there was NO CHANCE of me buying a thing. I certainly do not need a dress that expensive.
When I exited Brown Thomas the rain was walkable. I went back to the street vendors and bought a bottle of juice and a crepe. Buckwheat crepe with mushrooms and artichokes and a spicy sauce... Yuuuuum... I ate while I walked back to my hotel. By the time I finished my crepe, the rain was getting serious. My travel jacket is water resistant, but it is not water proof. And my scarf was just wet. So I held up the partially open umbrella over my head.
Which, if you have tried to hold something over your head for long periods of time, can really be wearing. I got about 5 minutes out of each hand before I would have to switch.
I stopped to drop my crepe trash in a trashcan and went in an alcohol store. Koperberg pear cider... Yuuum... Curse you,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
thereisnomagic , for addicting me to this stuff! In the store, I handed the umbrella to the guy behind the counter (hey, the store was empty) and asked if HE could open it. He fiddled with it... No luck. I paid and as I left he said, "Maybe it will just open on its own as you are walking down the street." I laughed and said, "I hope so!" But, of course, no luck so far.
A few feet from the store, I tucked the cider in my over-shoulder bag, held the partially open umbrella up to cover my head (still raining), and started messing with the unresponsive button on the handle. Hey, it couldn't hurt, right? Just because the first 50 times had zero impact...
Suddenly it opened. So there I am walking down the sidewalk laughing like a hyena and waving the open umbrella triumphantly over my head.
In Scotland, the umbrella died a horrible, painful death from repeatedly being turned inside out. I left it a mangled heap in the trashcan in my Scotland hotel.
Duluth Trading company sells a unflippable trave umbrella in a boring black for more than $6. My husband gave me one for Valentine's Day. He worries about me walking in the rain.
The new umbrella got opened once at home and has spent the months since then gathering dust on my bedroom floor. Until now. When packing for this trip, I decided to check luggage (which translates to "I had more luggage space for fripperies like umbrellas") because I would be staying over a weekend. The umbrella made the cut.
Today in Ireland I had two goals when I set out from my hotel: (1) Walk at least 10,000 steps. (2) Buy soap. I didn't bring enough soap and the hotel chemical stuff smells nasty.
My hotel is about 1.5 miles from town center (~3000 steps, I discovered when I arrived). I was disgruntled to learn that I while I thought 10:30am on a Sunday morning would provide plenty of things to see and do, clearly the Irish disagreed. I wandered the streets (an additional 4000 steps) until everything opened at noon. In the midst of my wandering, the steady misting of rain turned a bit more heavy. Feeling smug, I pulled out my trusty umbrella and....
The damn thing would not open. The metal handle would not pull out to its full length. The plastic would open over my head, but I had to keep a hand on the push thingy to keep it from closing again. I stood in the thickening rain feeling like I was failing my intelligence roll. I stopped a total stranger on the street (who had an open umbrella over her head, and thus could not be such an idiot as me) and... she couldn't open my umbrella, either. Ok, not just me. Good to know.
So I went by the street vendors and picked up a cookie, soap, and falafel. Then I did a slow wander through Brown Thomas (3 story department store). Lovely clothes in dark purple, dark turquoise and dark green. I heavily drooled. Happily, everything I wanted was 290Euros (~$370) so there was NO CHANCE of me buying a thing. I certainly do not need a dress that expensive.
When I exited Brown Thomas the rain was walkable. I went back to the street vendors and bought a bottle of juice and a crepe. Buckwheat crepe with mushrooms and artichokes and a spicy sauce... Yuuuuum... I ate while I walked back to my hotel. By the time I finished my crepe, the rain was getting serious. My travel jacket is water resistant, but it is not water proof. And my scarf was just wet. So I held up the partially open umbrella over my head.
Which, if you have tried to hold something over your head for long periods of time, can really be wearing. I got about 5 minutes out of each hand before I would have to switch.
I stopped to drop my crepe trash in a trashcan and went in an alcohol store. Koperberg pear cider... Yuuum... Curse you,
thereisnomagic , for addicting me to this stuff! In the store, I handed the umbrella to the guy behind the counter (hey, the store was empty) and asked if HE could open it. He fiddled with it... No luck. I paid and as I left he said, "Maybe it will just open on its own as you are walking down the street." I laughed and said, "I hope so!" But, of course, no luck so far. A few feet from the store, I tucked the cider in my over-shoulder bag, held the partially open umbrella up to cover my head (still raining), and started messing with the unresponsive button on the handle. Hey, it couldn't hurt, right? Just because the first 50 times had zero impact...
Suddenly it opened. So there I am walking down the sidewalk laughing like a hyena and waving the open umbrella triumphantly over my head.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-11-16 02:30 pm (UTC)Also, I learned from my brother that HBO has turned a series of books by author Charlaine Harris into a television series trueblood. And as from a too shallow grave, this brought back a phantom of a memory that you once mentioned these books to me.
And finally, if you have the capability, you might try giving me a call later.
no subject
Date: 2008-11-16 03:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-16 04:34 pm (UTC)I have suffered this many times. Usually, the nicer hotels are the ones with the worst soap, too.
Surprise
Date: 2008-11-16 08:09 pm (UTC)