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I feel like such a loser… a resourceful loser, but a loser nonetheless.

October 11, 2006, 7:39 PM

For those of you wondering about the title, the strap on my camera bag broke. I got off of Breda 2007 at Pentagon City, and was heading for the escalator, and all of a sudden, my camera bag started falling. I caught it, but nonetheless had no working strap. The clip that attaches the strap to the bag on the “leading” end (i.e. the side facing ahead when I’m carrying it, as opposed to the “trailing” side facing behind) snapped off.

Now I’d had warning that the aforementioned clip was having issues. When I was getting ready to go into Union Station today, that same clip slipped off the hook. But then I just reattached it. This time, it actually snapped off, rendering it unreclippable (if that’s not a word, it is now).

So I went to the station manager and asked if he had any string. No string. I didn’t think he’d have any, but it never hurts. So I thought for a second. A rubber band might also work in the same capacity as string in this case. So I asked, “Do you have any rubber bands?” He did! He even offered to give me a few. I took two, and went to work. The station manager even held the strap in place for me while I tied. I tied a number of knots in that rubber band, securing the remnants of that end of the strap to the bag.

And it worked. I got it all tied up, and it seems to be holding. I figure that if I can make it back to Vienna on the rubber band, then I’ll be doing pretty well. Then I can hopefully get a new strap in Woodstock.

I’m sad to see the strap go, though. It was a good strap. It came with the bag, and has been with me to DC countless times, plus to Roanoke, to Richmond, to Norfolk, to Virginia Beach, to Lake Moomaw, to Covington, to Clifton Forge, to Lynchburg, to Bedford, to Natural Bridge, to Pittsburgh, and to Breezewood, as well as everywhere in between. Plus replacement straps are never as good as the originals. But everything must die one day, I suppose. And I guess today was the day for my strap to die.

Categories: DC trips