
 |
John Butcher |
Just once in a while a little something comes our way to brighten
our lives and we just can't refuse it. John Butcher is a long
standing supporter of fileybay and when we asked him about his
journalistic and broadcasting career, we just had to publish his response
in full.
John is a presenter on Kingstown Radio (1350 AM) and has a
lifetimes experience of travelling in exotic parts which is reflected in
his superbly produced programme - Time and Tide. He is
featured on
the
Listening Zone
where you may purchase his new CD and find out more about him. We
have reviewed the CD and it is worth every penny, So take it away John:
Hello, I’m John
Butcher. Welcome to Time and Tide.
I’ve bought
myself a Manbag. Just a simple black job with zips and pockets. Elegant,
stylish, practical. The reason is that I got so fed up with having to
stuff my pockets with so much stuff. Mobile, keys, money, credit cards,
tissues, pens, chewing gum, letters, notebook, ipod, you get the
picture. Now I can just open the flap and throw it all in. I don’t know
why I didn’t do this years ago. What I hadn’t realised though, was that
owning a bag opens a whole new world. The bag takes on a life of it’s
own.
Women have
known this since they first started carrying bags of course, which seems
to have been in ancient Egypt. Hieroglyphs show pouches carried around
the waist. From there, handbags evolved into all sorts of shapes and
sizes, and gave birth to an entire branch of culture. There’s a lot more
to a bag than just something to carry things in. What should it be made
of, when will I use it, how big should it be, how much can I afford,
does it go with my new frock, what does it say about me?
Ah, that’s the
big one. It’s said that a woman’s handbag can tell you a lot about her
personality. If you like handbags in cheerful colours, it indicates that
you’re out-going and sociable, whereas if you choose a handbag in black
or brown it means you’re either shy, or a snob. Stating the bleedin’
obvious, then.
Some handbag
psychology isn’t so straightforward though. A handbag carried under the
shoulder is supposed to show that you’re sophisticated, one with lots of
buckles and pockets tells everyone that you’re easy, while bags that are
big and bulky show that you’re low-maintenance. That means that I must
mix with a pretty rough crowd, because most of the women I know cart
everything but the kitchen sink around with them.
Load of tosh in
my opinion. But one thing I hadn’t bothered to consider when I bought my
manbag, was security. If you have your bag stolen you could have just
lost your whole life. There are plenty of low-lifes out there itching to
get their grubby mitts on your credit cards, your passport, your mobile,
your front door keys. Bang – bank account emptied, house burgled,
identity stolen. Don’t keep it all together. And never leave your bag
unattended. Bag thieves target pubs and clubs looking for easy pickings.
Wrap the strap around a table or chair leg if you have to – there have
been stories of bags waltzing across floors on their own on the end of a
hook and line.
A manbag is
designed to be worn diagonally across the body. This isn’t going to stop
someone slicing through the strap with a Stanley knife, but you can buy
straps which are threaded with steel wire. Another clever idea I’ve seen
to deter thieves are transparent bags; not only handy for passing
through airport security with the minimum of fuss, but for showing the
canister of indelible red dye which any potential mugger is going to get
as an extra gift as soon as he tries to open his swag. Bags fitted with
fingerprint scanners or voice-activated locks are available, and if you
want to get really hard
evidence on your assailant you can buy handbags ready-fitted with
cameras and microphones. Yours for around £300.
As you see
then, you can expect to find almost anything in a handbag or manbag. Men
and women, we’re both the same in that respect. But where we
do
diverge, is on the matter of style. “Darling, I’m just going to pop in
here, look after my bag will you”, and she leaves him holding some
dainty, sparkly number decorated with cute fluffy toys. This is when
most men will suffer a major sense of humour failure, so perhaps we
should work on persuading the fairer sex to opt for something more
sensible when we’re out shopping together, a bag us
men
wouldn’t mind being seen with. Perhaps something in the shape of a rugby
ball, or a computer keyboard, wouldn’t look quite so girly. Just a
thought.
Finally,
some handbag trivia. In 2000, a black leather handbag that once belonged
to Margaret Thatcher was sold for a hundred-thousand pounds at a charity
auction in aid of breast cancer. One owned by ex-Mrs Jagger, Jerry Hall,
fetched 700, while a bag donated by Cherie Blair struggled to reach a
miserable £350.

|