Even when I've just got a couple of bucks in my pocket (which is more often than not) I stop by my local thrift store. Today was a good score, but not atypical of results.
First, I picked up an old GI duffel bag, canvas, not nylon, with the single strap not the twin pack straps, for $2.99. Got a modern one in nylon, just like the photo above for the same price last week. (I gave that one to Pete).
Duffels are extremely useful for carting objects around and nobody takes much notice. I invite reader feedback on the largest, most unusual or most deadly thing they have ever concealed in a duffel bag.
Today, I also scored a copy of Pat Frank's Alas Babylon, the Perennial Classics trade paperback edition of 1999 for $.99. I'll end up finding a good home for that as well, probably with the teenage kid of a friend.
Finally, there are always those items that get mis-marked. Once, I picked up a PASGT K-Pot size small in the bike helmets for 1.99 because some new employee looked at it, saw "helmet," checked against the list and didn't know the difference. Today's bonanza is a pair of Japanese made Hurricane 7x35 binoculars. Given the individually focused eyepieces, the brown leather strap and leather case, I'd guess that they were made in the 50s or 60s. (Can't find an image on the web to correspond to these fine little glasses.) The markings say "Hurricane Coated Optics No. 56299 M" & "7x35 Field view at 1000YDS: 320FT" and on the front "Made in Japan."
The case was marked $.59! The binoculars were separate, unmarked. I took them up front and asked. "Well," said the manager, "the binoculars go with the case. Somebody mis-marked them, but today is your lucky day." So, I walked out of there with a set of fine, almost new tactical glasses for, tax and all, SIXTY-FIVE CENTS. So, I got a multi-use duffel bag, a great book and a set of excellent quality binoculars for a little over $5.00 including the tax.
If you're not checking out your local thrift store on a regular basis, you're missing the militia quartermaster's best bet.
LATER: I cleaned the binoculars' lenses and just tried them out in my neighborhood. They seem extremely crisp and clear, almost as good as my 1943 Navy 7x50 "night glasses." (And one heck of a lot smaller and lighter.) Looks like I can retire my Navy's.
12 comments:
I've carried a complete HF radio system (radio, power supply, antenna, tuner, HT's, and misc parts) around for years using a duffle.
Not 'dangerous' or that unusual, but it worked well for me.
Does an audiobook of Alas Babylon exists?
Duffel Cargo: Suits of armor, swords. Small children (with the bag open, before anyone goes nuts; they thought it was cooler than piggyback). Shotgun and rifle (when moving into a hoplophobic apartment complex).
Husqvarna 181 chainsaw with 36" bar (disassembled), chains, ax, wedges, boots, and hard hat. Had a friend in Austin that I was going to visit who mentioned she needed some trees cut. The gal at the baggage check in counter just looked at the bag with the cable lock through the eyelets and said, "Thats just sporting goods, right?" I said "Yes, yes it is". This was August 2001.
besides the usual goodies you can find, other things of great value can be had at the expense of teenagers working off that community service (Salvation Army was where I did mine... waaaay back in the yonder days of mischief); Silver spoons, silver plates, silver candle holders, mostly solid, can be had after major delivery days, or when n00bs take the place of cats who've just left.
Keep an eye out. Spoons, especially, will be behind a glass door/case most times. Most are plated. Take care in noting 1: the date and country of manufacture, and 2: whether or not it is plated (it will say 99% of the time)
BTW: most spoons/silverware that go unnoticed are regular cookware, tarnished (Eww, tarnish!), but otherwise unmolested, and hanging out in the regular silverware bin.
When I was in college back in the 80's, I carried my Remington 1100 broken down inside the bag to and from my dorm room. There was a rule about no guns on campus, but since most of us were small town and country boys, and were sure to be hunting on the weekends, nobody really gave it much thought as long as you were discreet about it.
STill have my original copy of "Alas Babylon". It was an especially interesting read for me back then because I lived about 25 miles from MacDill AFB
Nerf Vulcan is the scariest, at this point anyway.
Also keep an eye on the pawn shops. Not necessarily militia related, but they frequently have pretty good deals on various stuff.
I am with you Mike, on the thrift stores. I buy a lot of stuff from all the local thrift stores, including bags, BDUs, camping gear, one helmet (steel pot), useful titles of books, wool blankets, pouches, etc. etc. Always a great price, and the money goes to a good cause. That which I need stays home, the rest gets given to others that could use it.
My uncles buddy was caught on the troopship home from Europe after the end of WWII with a live 88mm antitank round in his dufflebag.
did you really mean "atypical" or did you mean "typical?"
The deadliest thing I ever carried in my USAF issued duffel. A copy of Unintended Consequences.
Post a Comment