Category: Bags

British Post Office Tool Case No. 3

Let me introduce you to the British Post Office Tool Case No. 3.

These tool cases have been around I’m told for over 50 years, I have two of them, one of them is about 40 years old, the other celebrates its 30th birthday this year! Whilst I didn’t work for the ‘Post Office’ or British Telecom as it would now be or BT for short, I did work for a government organisation with close ties to the GPO, PO, BT etc.

So here are the two cases I have.

The older one is the one on the left and it’s had a hard life! The only main differences between them is the ID pocket on the outside of the older one and the saddles on the handle strap are sewn to the case on the older one, where as they are riveted on the ‘newer’ one on the right.

Looking at the older one now in some more detail.

As you can see the leather is very soft and supple on this one. It’s currently empty waiting for me to renew the zip on it. A job I did about 28 years ago as well as redoing some of the stitching. The leather hasn’t had any special treatment since it was issued to me.

So opened out you can see the running loops running across the case for tools to slot in to, these can be varied in size and they tend to stay at the same tension all the time, no elastic is used, just leather.

The big pocket on the left is for small items and it is held shut with big press studs.

And moving on to the ‘newer’ one.

As you can see from the stitching the design is the same with only a few minor differences. Not quite a supple as the older one, but it is gradually getting there I guess, may be another 20 years and it will be as good.  It still has the original zip on this one, but the tag fell off some years ago and a cable tie has been serving that duty since!

And here is it fully populated with tools, some of the tools are the same age as the older case, still giving good service, no need to replace them. The side cutters are new though, these do become blunt or damaged with use. It didn’t come with all of the tools you see, I added to it over the years, hence doubling up on the loops!

And again inside the pocket are some additional hand tools, bits and bobs etc.

 

The remarkable thing about these tool cases is that you can still buy them, not cheap I give you that, but as you can see they will last a life time! They are available from this company Canford in UK sizing details are in their own PDF file.

Cabin Zero Bags and Packing Cubes

I have been living here in rural France for coming up to six years now. I frequently travel back to UK and other European cities by air or train and occasionally by car.

Travelling can be a joy if you have the right luggage. You don’t have those moments at the airport wondering if your bag is going to fit within the restrictions imposed by the budget air carriers or that you will not have any spare capacity for a little bit of shopping from where ever you are travelling to. You also want something that is hard wearing and comfortable to carry, those gates at the airport can be some distance from the train station and I’ve not mastered using a skate board quite yet!

My Cabin Zero bags satisfy all of these requirements and more. I’ve had the two bags now for some time (the blue one below and a grey one), on some trips I’ve used both bags, it has been easier to use two of these bags than one larger suitcase. Traversing the Paris Metro can be a nightmare with a wheeled suitcase, there are lots of steps and rough surfaces in places. Also the Cabin Zero bags fit in to the overhead rack of the TGV trains easily. No contest really.

Naturally I only use one of them on airline flights, but the Cabin Zero bag was designed around the size limitations for such flights. I’ve developed a packing list that lets me have everything I need for a weekend away and as a bonus it all fits neatly in to the Cabin Zero backpack.

Cabin Zero bags come in two different styles and a large range of colours, it’s best to see the current range on their website than for me to try and describe it. Here is the description from the website:

The ‘Classic’ ultra-light cabin and travel bag in features a large 44 litre capacity, side compression straps, top and side handles, a front zipped pocket with inside zipped and mesh pockets.

Additional standard features include:

  • Built in Global Luggage Tracker, powered by Okoban
  • Lockable Zippers on main compartment (lock not included)
  • 10 years warranty (upgradable to 25 years free of charge if you ‘like’ us on FaceBook)
  • Thick padded shoulder straps
  • Fully Lined

Volume: 44L 
Weight: 760 grams (approx)
Dimensions: Fits 55 x 40 x 20 cm
Composition, Outer: Waterproof polyester, Lining: Polyester

Cabin Zero Ultra Light Cabin Bag Cabin Zero Bag reverse side

One issue I had the first time I used my Cabin Zero backpack was trying to keep the contents in order. Making the journey through security easier and without the contents spilling out everywhere. I solved the problem with some cheap packing cubes (small nylon zip bags) these help me organise the contents in to logical order and things stay where they should when you carry the bag and when you have to open it and retrieve things.

The ones I originally bought in London where ‘ok’, but I wasn’t 100% happy with them. I commented on the Cabin Zero Facebook page that I thought the whole experience and utility of using the bag would be improved with the addition of some packing cubes to the range of accessories. They acknowledged my message and thanked me for the idea and they said they were working on exactly what I had suggested.

It is always nice dealing with companies that listen to their customers and then exceed their expectations when they deliver a new product. Cabin Zero offered to send me a set of their new packing cubes as a thank you for being a loyal customer, naturally I said yes and I looked forward to receiving them in the post.

I received a set of three Cabin Zero Classic Packing Cubes promptly in the post and unpacked them and inspected them. Compared to the ones I bought from a store in Oxford Street store in London, they are a huge improvement on the ones I have been using. They are made from top quality materials and the icing on the cake is that they are fitted with YKK zips, this brand of zips are also used on the Cabin Zero backpacks as well and they are extremely tough and well made. They are acknowledged as being the best zips made. Therefore they should last for years of service.

The Cabin Zero packing cubes currently come in two sizes of Medium (25 x 17.5 x 8cm) and Large (25x35x8cm)   They are made with a nylon outer and polyester interior lining. Each bag has a carrying handle so you could use it easily on its own outside of your bag.

Medium Packing Cube

Large Packing Cube

In common with the Cabin Zero cabin size bags the packing cubes are also equipped with a luggage tracking tag, which lets you register your bags and packing cubes with Okoban which operate a notification service should your luggage go missing somewhere on your travels anywhere in the world.

The packing cubes are a very practical size, not too big and their dimensions mean they fit in to the overall dimensions of the Cabin Zero back packs perfectly, a set of three (2 medium and 1 large) also don’t take up all of the capacity in your bag, there is still plenty of room for a jacket, laptop and other things like your toiletries, or another set of packing cubes even.

Filled Packing Cubes

Filled bag Large packing cube below the medium size

I’m very pleased with this addition to the Cabin Zero range and I can’t wait to use them on my next trip, sadly that isn’t until early May… but my wife has been eyeing them up and she has offered to ‘test’ them out for me in a couple of weeks time. She is a published author and has already tried the packing cubes out for size for her books, it looks like I will have order her a set as well.

Thank you to Cabin Zero for supplying the samples.