On Mon, 10 Sep 2007, David F wrote:

On 5 Sep, 11:00, Tom Anderson wrote:

And another thing! Those little wheelie briefcases - BAN THEM! For
suitcases, fair enough, it's a sensible way to move them, but i see an
sizeable number of people, mostly but not exclusively women, with
really quite small bags on wheels which they drag behind them. We're
talking something the size of a suitcase or a small handbag, smaller
than my rucksack, which could quite easily be carried.

I don't like them much, either ... but in my job I end up moving around
London quite a lot on any given day with a rucksack which contains a
laptop and often quite a lot of documentation. I find the rucksack fine
- in fact I use a particularly small rucksack to enforce myself into
only taking essentials and keep the weight down but sometimes have to
take a big one when that's not practical. Some of the girls in the
office find that they get a sore back if they carry around a rucksack
for too long, so they use a wheely - for the more slight girls, it's a
must. A 50kg girl can't be expected to lug around 10-15% of her
bodyweight on her back around the City for extended periods.

Cobblers, if i may say so. I have small female friends - a few quite a bit
smaller than 50 kg, i suspect - and none of them need wheelies. I suspect
a combination of laziness and status symbology is at work.

And in the long run it's better than lots of expensive visits to the
physio.

We're talking about a backpack, not a hod!

If you picked up the wheely and strapped it to her back, she'd probably
fall over. That probably means she needs the wheely.

No, it means the wheely weighs as much as the things in it, and isn't
shaped for carrying on the back. Although i suspect we weren't really
talking literally here!

But anyway, i'm not saying ban wheelies (okay, i did say exactly that, but
YKWIM) - i'm saying ban the wheeling of wheelies in crowded places, like
tube stations. They have little handles on, right? So when you're
somwewhere packed, do the decent thing and carry it.

tom

--
Also, a 'dark future where there is only war!' ... have you seen the
news lately? -- applez