Most Valuable Purchase (And a Faux Statue)

This (about the size of a tennis ball) becomes...

...this (about 1 1/2 x 2 feet) which looks like this...



...when it has my raincoat inside. And there is still room for Dom's coat and more!


The above pictured item is turning out to be the most valuable purchase I made for this trip. This ripstop nylon bag folds up in itself to the size of a pair of socks and weighs practically nothing. It fits in the bottom of my purse and has come in handy for a number of things. I use it when I go to the grocery store. A number of times it has carried our coats once the day warmed up. When we took our books to the park we carried them in this bag. I love the fact that it is so compact but so sturdy once it is unfolded. And, unlike other versions of this sort of thing I have bought in the past, it folds up easily and into the same original size. When I bought it I really wondered how much I would really use it. When I don’t need it I don’t know I have it but when I do need it out it comes.


I was reminded of my brother Michael today. We were on the bus heading home after our daily excursion when we passed the Coliseum. There were scads of tourists around and we stopped right in front of the Metro (subway) station. On a wall across the street were a number of those faux statues one sees throughout Europe and even in major U.S. cities. They are the people dressed up as the Statue of Liberty or a Mummy or some famous person. They stand still as a statue and for some reason people give them money. On the wall not far from a shiny gold Mummy was a young man striking a bizarre pose (arms raised, one leg in the air). It was an obvious mock of the faux statues but he seemed totally delighted with himself. Both Dom and I saw him from the bus and burst out laughing. We agreed that if we had been on foot we would have dropped a few coins in front of him just to pay homage to his sense of humor.

This reminded me of my brother because the young man looked like someone who might be backpacking his way through Europe. Michael took a gap year between high school and college. After he finished ski racing for the season he spent the spring working for a house painter. Then he and a friend did the backpacking thing. They did Europe on about $10 a day (plus a Eurail Pass) when even the cheapos were spending $20 a day. The stories he had when he returned were just hysterical and I am sure I have never heard the best of their adventures. My memory of these events might be a little sketchy after about thirty years. However, I am sure that standing on a wall as a “faux” faux statue would have been just his sort of thing. I only wish I could have gotten a picture.