Surplus, not used
The whole family went out for a drive today. Pretty rare occasion. Even had to put another seat back in the van, to show how seldom we’re all in the same vehicle these days. We were on the road to a birthday celebration; my father-in-law is up to the four score point. Doesn’t happen that often. We even managed to find some special balloons, after a bit of research.
The road down through the hills was colourful, but the comment that we were a week late for the leaf show struck me, since only a few weeks back we were a week early for the spectacle. Is there a calendar that I should be consulting?
One of my favourite stores is along the way. We do well to visit once a year, but it still manages to cause a buying frenzy among the guys. A surplus store. What used to be called “Army-Navy” but now is much more upscale. There are fewer and fewer articles that inspire scenarios for a home war movie, but lots (in lots) of clothing bearing such designer markings as Swiss, Italian, British and Canadian armed forces.
I can remember certain of these stores that used to have real prizes from the military world – one, near Moncton, had an actual anti-aircraft battery ready to be attached to the back of your truck and dragged home. I had fantasies of the Eastern Provincial pilots radio comms, recommending deviation from the approach path due to flak. I didn’t get that gem, but my first buoyancy vest for SCUBA was crafted from two “Mae Wests” and a careful application of some black rubbery cement. Saved our lives, once. There were some old radios that came home, too. Tube filled ones; none of this transistor garbage.
Today, my sons wanted helmets, and used shells from some huge machinegun, complete with the feed chains, and some webbing. I was able to demonstrate how ridiculous the idea of a soldier in Quake having unlimited ammo would have to be, based on sheer weight. Plus, some of those appealing green clothes were downright itchy. We were conservative, using our purchasing power to stock up on mittens, tuques, long underwear and stockings, but an Italian greatcoat would have made a real fashion statement at work.
So there you have it. We’ve got some military surplus, not used, clothing and I found a neat little olive drab tie-on pocket thingie for the GPS. At 99 cents, I couldn’t resist.
