first, absence. second, panic. then, the worst: that moment when you're in between guessing and knowing. you're rifling through your bag, pockets, jacket, hoping that that is still there, somewhere...and finally, the sinking realization slowly envelopes you. you had it just a moment ago, and now it's gone.
luckily in my case, it was just my set of house keys and attached key pouch, along with an assortment of useful attachments (mini LED flashlight, some secondary ID, a restaurant discount card). nothing too sensitive or identifying or irreplaceable was taken. thankfully, my wallet with everything else that is valuable and less easily replaceable was safely zipped inside my bag. however, i happened to be on my way to the airport when this all went down. not a great start to travel.
when i got back from my trip, getting a new set of house keys was the easiest part. the real mission was to find the just-the-right-size mini leather pouch to hold all my non-essential cards. i looked around in shops everywhere for a replacement, but Shanghai being Shanghai, the options ranged from Hello Kitty to Louis Vuitton, with a pit stop somewhere in the middle with twice-as-expensive-as-in-the-US Marc by Marc Jacobs. gah! in desperation, i even looked at Coach, which had some halfway decent options, but in the end i just could not bring myself to do it.
then, i happened to be browsing online this week when i found it again:
my old one was a bright orange version of this, and they had sold out of it for so long that i couldn't find it anywhere. i have been looking for a brightly colored leather zip pouch with a chain keyring. not a key pouch, mind you, which is just...a case for your keys (seems somewhat redundant to me). so many of the ones i looked at were too big, had keyrings on the inside, were hideous, etc. (this is one of those terribly mundane daily essentials that you never want to spend any time shopping for.)
i keep coming back to this RM one because it's functional, comes in a punchy color (easy to spot in the depths of whatever bag i'm carrying), is made out of nice sturdy leather, and is reasonably priced. it also doubles as a mini wallet for nights out.
mini mission accomplished! now on to replacing the other odds and ends when i'm within proximity to Amazon's shipping area again.
have you ever lost or had an essential stolen from you? did you ever find a replacement?
Oh no! So sorry to hear about you being pickpocketed. That really sucks, but thankfully everything was (relatively) easily replaceable. This reminds me that I should really keep my wallet in the zipper compartment of my bag.
ReplyDeleteYour new pouch is really cute! Have you seen the new Baggu pouches and keyfobs? I love the colors they're coming in.
I totally got a chuckle out of that Coach comment. I would not be able to bring myself to do it either.
oh yeah the baggu ones are cute, but too small for what i need. my cdg wallet has a coin compartment already, so i'd need a space for extra cards mostly.
DeleteAgh, that sucks. Glad they didn't get anything super important though! I actually just bought one of the Rebecca Minkoff pouches (the lizard MAB) which I think is a little bigger than the one you got but I haven't figured out what to do with it yet...
ReplyDeletexo, alison*elle
cool - so you got the clutch? i do like some of RM's designs - a lot of it is a bit too trendy/young for me but the good ones are great for the design, durability and price.
DeleteSorry to hear you were pickpocketed! I chuckled at the Coach comment too, I know exactly what you mean.
ReplyDeleteI have the same problem with the perfect wallet. I finally found the perfect design a couple of years ago, but it was a cheap one that's starting to fall apart now. I'm looking for a higher end one now in a similar design to replace it, but no luck as of yet!
have you considered Comme des Garcons wallets? here's a post on mine - i've had it for almost 5 years now and it still looks brand new.
Deletehttp://www.lesantimodernes.com/2012/03/classic-10-accessories-edition.html
Oh, I am sorry to hear that. May you have wonderful luck finding even better replacements!
ReplyDeleteHow awful - even when it's not something hugely critical or important, it's still a sickening feeling. I lost my swipe-card to get into my institute yesterday for, like, a matter of seconds (I retraced my steps once I realised I had lost it and it was seriously only about 10 metres behind me) and even something as relatively trivial as that was enough to make me feel a bit sick.
ReplyDeleteI've never been pick-pocketed, which is kind of amazing/surprising - I live in a city where pickpocketing is very rare, but I've travelled to so many cities where pickpocketing is much more common (e.g. Paris) and I haven't been particularly vigilant or careful because it's just something I don't usually have to do in everyday life. So I guess I've been lucky. (Also I guess things are in my favour since I rarely carry things in my pockets and everything's usually in my bag, and I'm rather tall and my bag is very deep, so I guess that makes for a pretty difficult angle for pickpockets, even in a crowded place with lots of jostling going on!)
I'm looking for a small zip pouch for extra cards too (mainly my loyalty cards for various stores that I don't visit frequently enough to warrant having the cards permanently in my wallet). Haven't found an ideal one yet, although I'm considering a little Pierre Hardy cosmetics case because I really like the Pierre Hardy signature cube print. Waiting to see if the end-of-season sales make its price a bit more palatable...
ah, i love the PH cube print too - though for a zip pouch like this i tend to be kind of cheap :)
DeleteI'm sorry you got pickpocked, but I'm glad you'll be able to replace all you lost!
ReplyDeleteSo, I feel a bit out of the loop here...what's wrong with Coach?
thanks Gabrielle! :) i usually am very good about keeping everything zipped up, lesson learned!
Deletei am a big vintage Coach fan but am not so much into their transformation since the 2000s...
oh no! that sucks. explain your reference to ET? though in general, one can never be too discerning on the quality of things these days! :)
ReplyDeleteI've never been pick-pocketed, but losing something is always a huge bummer. I've been in the market for a wallet since I don't have one. I'm thinking about getting the CDG pouch so I can just move things from bag to bag when I need to and use it as a clutch for evening. I think a bright colored bag is so important for when you carry big purses. I am always having to flounder through gigantic purses for money/cards/etc!
ReplyDeletethat's what i do; it really helps keep all the moving parts together. and you know how i feel about my CdG wallet :)
DeleteI'm so sorry. I know how that feels. Twice, I caught someone trying to pick-pocket me. I was in a state of shock. I'm glad to hear that nothing lost was irreplaceable!
ReplyDeleteSo sorry to hear about the theft!
ReplyDeleteThe tonal use of color in this photo is amazing....
minima/maxima, a blog about minimalist style
Sorry to hear about your loss. I always stay in a particular apartment in Paris and friends visit. My one girlfriend was with me and we were on our way t see a friend of her brother who had opened a stationery, newspaper store. We changed metros, and when we got on the second, a girl was standing next to my friend and suddenly she bolted off the train. While in the little shop we were visiting, my friend reached for her wallet.Gone! She was shaken. When we got back to the apartment, she emailed all her cards to tell them and I got money for her using my bank card. Long story short, she took out a bright red wallet with everything important we tend to carry in a wallet as well as cash. NEVER take out your wallet, especially if it is bright in color at the metro! Reach in and get your ticket/money and pull that out.
ReplyDelete