Bags Bags Bags

agnès b. bag from July 2014. How nice. Happy V day, peeps!

In other news, I am heading out on an international bag hunting excursion. See you in a few weeks!

Quality construction, this. Hard plastic handles, bold type, bold colour.

This bag comes from beautiful Acadia National Park in Bar Harbor, Maine. I don't remember how I came by the bag, but I do remember swimming in Echo Lake and eating wild blueberries like they were going out of style. Good times.

A thick bag from a biscuit bakery in Brussels. They tied their boxes with string, like every bakery should.

The texture on this blue beauty is so satisfying. Somewhere between an ultra fine grit sandpaper and braille.

This treasure comes from a Japanese 7-Eleven, where I bought an excess of instant noodle bowls. I wish I still had some.

This bag survived a suitcase journey. It comes from a biodynamic wine shop in Madrid run by a lovely chap. He used to work in marketing but gave it up to live the dream. Nice one.

There is a magical cheese shop in London called Neal's Yard Dairy. They specialise in cheeses from the UK. Once, I bought a hunk of stinking bishop that made for a fragrant train journey home. I'm not sure how my fellow passengers felt about it, but I was pleased.

They use these bags at the Swiss Cottage green grocer and the fishmonger on Abbey Road. I love them not because they're 100% degradable. I love them because they have no holes, making them perfect vessels for fish dinner trash.

I may have acquired this at the Royal Academy's 2008 Russian exhibition. There were beautiful Malevich pieces there, but too many people. I waited a long time to get into the show.

From duty free at Narita Airport. It once held sake.

Ladies clothing shop beloved by the Japanese. My friend bought trousers and a dress. I let her keep the clothes so long as she gave me her bag.

Welcome to side 2, where we learn that you can get your laundry done while waiting for your holiday snaps. Photos and pants all in one. Brilliant.

Side 1 of a bag only possible in Japan. This side advertises film processing services. And yes, they do that. But they also offer another service, as indicated on side 2. Stay tuned.

This bag brings back hilarious memories of a wedding in a Philadelphia strip mall. There were gratuitous amounts of booze and food, plus a gypsy band and jewel-clad ladies. And then there was this hotel.

In times of lunch desperation, I stop at this store for an egg and cress sandwich. It's not glamourous but it does the job. I can't say I dislike the folk art-inspired bag, either.