I love PacSafe

It must be product endorsement week here on our blog, because after going gaga over Alice Starmore, we are now in ecstasy over PacSafe!

If you are one of the two people who have been reading this blog since the beginning (just kidding, I'm sure there are at least four or five loyal readers), you may remember that we are always accompanied by our steel wire enforced, anti-theft bags by PacSafe on our travels.  In fact, the bags are so lightweight, organized and secure, we carry one model or another with us all the time even in Toronto.

 The "guts" of my Metrosafe200

Unfortunately, I had a bit of trouble with my trusty Metrosafe200 lately.  I had bought the newest model of the bag just ten months ago, and I hadn't been using it that much - only on our trip to Buenos Aires in March of this year, and sporadically afterwards.  Three weeks ago, I retrieved the bag from my closet in preparation for our upcoming trip to Buenos Aires this month, and started carrying it around to work.  I was in for a shock - when the strap broke off!

It was the swivel anchor clip on the strap that was the problem - it rotates 360 degrees, and the rotation point had worn down.  Now, I was pretty upset - the bag was quite new and still under warranty.  I took it back to the local camping store that I bought the bag from, in accordance with the warranty instructions that came with the bag (yes, I kept that and the receipt.)

The camping store manager tried his best to convince me that I wouldn't be getting a warranty replacement.  "Oh, that one year warranty return to the store thing is only for USA" was the first thing out of his mouth.  When he realized I wasn't going to go away so easily, he went to the back for around five minutes (and I was in a hurry to go to work too!), came back out after checking Pacsafe's policy and reluctantly handed me a "Claim Check" form.

As I filled it he muttered prognostications of doom.  Even after I told him repeatedly that the bag broke because of a structural problem in the anchor clip, he pronounced: "I don't think Pacsafe will cover wear and tear" and "My parents have Pacsafe bags and they don't have problems!"  When I asked him how long it would be before I heard back, he said "Oh, at least a month or more - the Pacsafe guy only comes by once a month and he will have to take a look to see if your problem is covered!" etc. etc.

Well, I was quite irritated with that and although I was prepared to wait "one month or more" for a replacement bag that may or may not arrive, I decided last week to contact Pacsafe directly through their website to see what their position was as to the anchor clip problem. I wrote them a short message explaining the problem I had with the bag.

Pacsafe's regional manager got back to me the very next day.  She didn't even ask for receipt or photos - apparently they had received reports about a bad batch of bags so she offered to replace my bag right away.  When she learned that I was leaving for my trip next week, she even expedited the courier package for me.  My message to Pacsafe was sent last Wednesday.  My replacement bag arrived by UPS from Hong Kong - on Friday.  Hooray!

Three hours after I received the bag, I received a telephone message from the camping store.  It appeared that once the Pacsafe rep got notified of the problem from the store, he/she sent a replacement bag to the store for me on an urgent basis too.  I called the store back and gave them the surprise news - that I had already received my replacement bag just hours before direct from Pacsafe!

As you can see I am very pleased with Pacsafe's customer service - they took the problem seriously and responded quickly.  They sent me the newest improved model, with a sturdier, now lockable anchor clip and slightly redesigned compartments.  They must have been listening to their customers, because they took a pretty great travel bag - and made it even better.

With their slash-proof straps, lockable anchors and other security features, Pacsafe bags give us peace of mind when we travel.  Instead of writing morosely about opportunistic thieves pickpocketing our bags or doing slash and grabs, we could focus all our excruciating long-windedness on writing about all the great experiences we will have in Buenos Aires.

[Pacsafe didn't pay me to write this.  They just replaced my broken Pacsafe bag really really quickly.  Sometimes that's all it takes to get on my good side!]

Alice Starmore's "Fulmar"

Despite all the hustle and bustle of having Alberto and Paulina in town a week and a half ago, I still managed to find time to finish a sweater.  Here's Alice Starmore's "Fulmar" sweater from her classic "Aran Knitting" book - a project I started last July:


It's one of the most intricate Aran knitting patterns you can find anywhere on this planet.  Alice Starmore rules!  Man Yung loooooooves the sweater.  It fits great and just look at the gorgeous pattern and colour!  It took forever on tiny US#1 (I could only get gauge by going one size down from the recommended US#2) needles, but it was a very satisfying knit. The tightly spun British 5-ply wool first seemed a little rough but after a little while, I appreciated the yarn's crisp, solid texture with the sweet scent of meadow grass and lanolin.  Just in case you were wondering, "Herring Girl Pink" does not at all detract from Man Yung's ability to kickass - and I quote him in a recent exchange with one whirling-dervish, spatially and navigationally-challenged bozo in Toronto: "Bump into me again and I guarantee I will break your nose." 

I used Frangipani yarns to make the sweater - and it was a great experience.  Firstly, the customer service from Jan and Russ of Frangipani was great - and shipping was super fast from West Cornwall, UK, to Toronto, Canada.  I received the package within a week of ordering.  Secondly, the yarn was amazing quality - not a single break or knot in the middle of the yarn, from beginning to end, in any of the cones of yarn I used.  If you want to knit a traditional fisherman's gansey, Frangipani's 5-ply gansey yarn is a fabulous choice.

I ordered three cones of yarn and I still have about 2/3 a cone left over, more than enough to make this - the "Kittiwake" hat from Alice Starmore's "Aran Knitting":



Alice Starmore's "Aran Knitting" book had been out of print for a few years - but now it's been reissued in a new expanded paperback format with new photos and one new pattern.  Back in the days when the internet (and ebay) was still in its infancy, the only way I was able to get my hands on a copy of the book was by calling knitting shops all over Canada to see whether they still had a copy in stock (I found mine in Ottawa).

If you like sweaters, or are interested in celtic culture and celtic crafts, I highly recommend that you pick up a copy of the book (it's available from Amazon). 

Art

In Tango, going from Toronto to Buenos Aires is like once thinking that this is art:

... to realizing that Art is really more like this:

Of course, not every dancer from Buenos Aires is great.  Some are just terrible, and teach the dancers here in Toronto awful things - movements that are inappropriate for the dance floor and the music and that have neither grace nor dignity.  But some dancers here worship these traveling charlatans - who are, despite their padded resumes and slick advertising, nobodies in Buenos Aires. The poor fools here can't help it, they have seen and only understand stick drawings - they can't conceptualize a tango that has beauty, emotion and colour.

We always tell our teachers from Buenos Aires - no matter whether it's Martha and Manolo, Osvaldo and Coca, or Alberto Dassieu - that they should not travel so much to teach all over the world.  They are getting on in years, and traveling is tough for them.  They have family and friends in Buenos Aires. Many of them don't need the money (or the financial or health-related risks) of a tango tour abroad and could live quite comfortably just teaching tango in their home city. They could get sick or worse, navigating strange cities and living with strangers, dragging their heavy suitcases with them wherever they go.

Not a single one of them could be persuaded. For them, teaching the world how to Tango is more than a mission - it's a duty.  If their efforts could illuminate, for even just one person, what the Tango of Buenos Aires is all about - then it would be all worthwhile.

Thank you, Alberto and Paulina, for bringing Buenos Aires to Toronto. 

[Update 10/07/10 - Dear Readers, the videos of Alberto and Paulina at Toronto's La Cachila milonga are temporarily unavailable, as they wish to use the footage for an upcoming documentary someone is making of Alberto!  I can't wait until the documentary is available!]

Alberto and Paulina dance to Orquesta Tipica Victor's "Adios Buenos Aires"

Alberto and Paulina dance to D'Arienzo's "Valsecito Criollo"

Alberto and Paulina dancing late in the evening at Toronto's La Cachila milonga 

Alberto and Paulina dancing late in the evening at Toronto's La Cachila milonga