About a month ago I redeemed a swag of Westpac VISA Altitude points to get a Knomo 15" Bungo messenger-style bag. Out of all the things I could find on the Altitude points redemption site the Bungo bag seemed to be about the only thing that I liked—that I had enough points to get. My existing bag is about 15 years old and is bit dated by the "TechED 2001" badge on it. That was back in the days when my employer paid for me to go to Microsoft TechED events.

So after 20 years the reason I was redeeming Altitude points was because I was cancelling my Westpac VISA. With an interest rate over 22 percent I finally decided to give up on Westpac and get a credit card with someone charging a cheaper rate. I ended up going with P&N Bank (Police and Nurses) where the rate on their VISA is around 11.5 percent. Much better.

Anyway ... back to the Bungo messenger bag.

I ordered it back in early July and had almost given up on it ever arriving. I was actually starting to look at Timbuk2 bags and considering getting one of those. My thinking was along the lines that because I had now cancelled my Westpac VISA they weren't too worried about getting the Bungo bag to me. But yesterday my Bungo messenger-style cross-shoulder strap bag finally turned up.

To tell the truth I was a bit reticent about opening the package up. After all this time I was a little bit nervous about it being a complete failure; after all my nickname is 'Bad Luck Barry'. But after a few red wines, Ersatz (our live-in almost-daughter-in-law) bullied me into opening the package.

The first bit of good news is that the lining is blue. Almost perfect for me; as you will see later. One of my workmates was sure I was going to get the passion pink lined model. So getting the blue lined version was a bit of a relief. Even if it had been the yellow or orange lined versions that would have been okay, but a pink lined one might have been an issue.

The picture below attempts to show the front sleeve of the Bungo bag. I have had to 'peg' the main sleeve back using my desk mobile phone holder because the main compartment sleeve would not stay back.

As you can see there are a number of pouches in the front sleeve. You can get quite a bit of 'stuff' in this front compartment.

The next picture shows the main compartment. Again I have had to use my mobile phone holder to keep the compartment open.

The second and main compartment has a padded section for a notebook at the back, and the 'main' section of the bag which includes another small zippered compartment.

There is also another sleeve on the back of the bag but I don't have a picture of that.

The following picture shows the Bungo bag loaded up for work.

The next picture shows what I have in the bag in the picture above. There is: my LED Lenser torch; my insulin kit; my little black bag of tablets; my container of jelly beans (in case of a sugar low); my digital note taker; spare pens and a refill; my G96 pocket knife (which I have from when I was about 18); my Leartherman (you just never know when you might need a Leatherman); glasses; two 40 page documents I am currently working on; and a blue A5 notebook. Oh, and my—now somewhat ancient and heavy—Toshiba Tecra A11 notebook PC buried under all that stuff.

It occurred to me that I have a bit of blue theme going on here, what with: a blue lined bag; a blue key thingy for my work pass (see, there it is, hanging off the side of the bag); a blue notepad; a blue Nokia Lumia 640 XL smartphone; and my blue mobile phone holder (which—as it happens—comes in both a left-handed and right-handed versions).

The Bungo bag can be expanded to take 8cm wide objects in the main compartment. This is done by unzipping a zipper that goes around the bottom of the bag. This then allows the bottom two-thirds of the bag to expand further. However I am not planning to use the bag with this expansion opened.

As big as it is I am unable to fit my Toshiba Tecra A11 notebook PC and my Pentax K-3 with the 18 - 135 mm lens fitted while in its carry bag into the Bungo bag at the same time. I can fit the camera in the bag if I take it out of its padded bag first, but I don't plan to do that.

If I remove the laptop computer from the bag then I can fit the camera in its bag into the Bungo bag.

The Bungo bag also has a good long shoulder strap so there is no issue at all carrying it cross-shoulder—which I am pretty sure is how a messenger bag is 'supposed' to be worn.

All I need to do now is update my notebook PC to something made in the last two years so it is thinner and lighter, and everything vital should fit in the one bag on those weekends away.

My Bungo bag finally arrived

It's obvious really ... I need to get a left-hand drive car

S7-0120: Find the cat