Rome diary: The chainmail purse

The modest exterior of my new travel purse hides a big surprise for thieves. 

According to its information tags, the purse is so tough that knives would have a hard time cutting through it. Which raises the question: what if the alternative is slashing the human who carries it?

It’s not a purse, no, it’s a “lockable stainless steel cage,” says the tag describing my new travel accessory. “Like chainmail for your bag,” it says, with a little sketch of a vase-shaped sack with lines portraying, I suppose, the stainless steel wires that will foil knife-wielding thieves hoping to slash and grab.

That’s not all. It has zippers that clip into locks, a steel-wire reinforced “slashguard strap” covered with a special tough fabric, and puncture-resistant double zippers. You can even lock it to your chair at a restaurant. And in case the bad guys don’t come with knives, it has blocking material to shield passports and credit cards against RFID skimming.

Preparing for a trip to Rome after decades as a homebody, I may have been carried away by the precautionary goods offered at my local travel store. An RFID-blocking neck pouch to hide valuables under my clothes – why not? And just to be really, really sure, perhaps a little pinkish-satin pocket to clip to my bra!

I expect I will feel quite foolish about this eventually. The thing about not travelling for a long time is that  you forget that wherever you go is just a place where other people live. I’m pretty sure Roman women choosing their summer purses right now aren’t thinking chainmail and lockable steel cages.

One tough purse isn't enough: I also bought a neck pouch and a pocket to attach to my bra. Just in case!

 

Travel stores are big on RFID blocking material to prevent people from skimming passport and credit card information.

John bought me this backpack as a gift long before the Rome trip was on the horizon. But I will use it on the trip along with the purse, as it is also meant for travel.

Yup, it too has internal pockets with that RFID blocking material.

Spring is somewhere

Our spring in Vancouver has been cool and wet, but at least it's spring.  It seems the message hasn't gotten through to parts of the rest of Canada, though. My sister Betty, who lives outside Montreal, says she's still deep in winter on this Easter weekend, and she has had enough. My Alberta relatives are in the midst of a particularly frigid blast, with daytime temperatures hovering below zero, and night-time temperatures plunging to minus 20.

Vancouver pays big-time in housing costs for its earlier springs  -- so I'm not gloating -- but here are a few weekend photos that might bring hope to those still trudging through snowbanks on April 1:

Pink blossoms against a blue sky. How spring-like is that?

My little showing of primulas, hyacinths, daffodils and hellebores. I used to restrict my front-yard beds to blue and white, but I'm finding bright colours a cheerful addition. 

The hellebore flourishes in this spot, but I have others scattered around that have only put out a few blooms this year.

Cherry blossoms in a park near my place. In the distance, you can kind of see the mountains.

Through the hedges from my front steps you can see a red camellia bush that is having the best spring ever.

A close-up of a camellia blossom. 

The two magnolias over my front walk are just getting started. 

A closer look at the star magnolia.

Daffodils by the rock border in  my back garden.

A flowering current is doing well down the hill from me. 

Another view of the front-garden bed at my place.

The winter pansies have recovered from the heavy snow that flattened them for awhile in the winter, and are blooming happily.

Home-grown daffodils!