...in which I'm never gonna stop the rain by complainin', so it's time I did some shopping.
It’s now about six weeks ‘til I move back to Richmond, and this paycheck I’ve got coming to me next week will be the last with any discretionary cash at all in it, really. I need most of my funds for the move, but I’ve decided to allow myself a little leeway in the matter of buying myself an umbrella. As I’ve written on here before, you can’t live in Richmond without an umbrella, and my old one just isn’t up to the job.
I have not been able to find exactly the sort of brolly I’m looking for online, certainly nothing with a carved handle, but I have found a few wooden ones with nice designs on their canopies, mostly at a very nice Canadian site called Raindrops. They have wonderful, old-school, windproof brollies that evoke Victorian evenings spent at the theater, but those are all really expensive, upwards of $200…who spends that on a brolly? If you spend that much, you can’t even call it a brolly. You have to give it one of those long polysyllabic English names ending in St. John-Smythe and get it seated in the House of Lords.
But they also have very nice ones for $40 (Canadian) or less. I’m deciding which to get. Wanna help me shop? Here’s what it’s essentially come down to:
They’ve got a wide selection of very nice umbrellas with prints of artworks on them. Structurally they’re all about the same, wood construction, hooked handle so I don’t have to waste a hand carrying it when it’s not in use but too wet for the bag. This here, the Degas, has what I would say is my favorite source painting of the bunch, but for a brolly I’m not sure this is the design I want. It’s a bit off-topic. There are also two lovely Monets:
The latter is certainly lovely, but I suspect looking at it that it would seem a little washed-out once it got wet, you know? A little murky. Although maybe that would be appropriate, a splash of color on a dreary day might be nicer. The former, the “Poppies,” that one would stand out a mile on a rainy afternoon, I think. I may yet change my mind, but right this minute I’m prob’ly leaning towards that one.
And of course there’s the one that’s a little clichéd but still very pretty, Caillebotte’s “Paris: A Rainy Day”:
This one I’ve actually seen on the street a few times, which makes me hesitant about buying it, but it is very nice, isn’t it?
The site has many more, but these are (as far as I’m concerned, and it’s my money) the best of the lot as far as art prints go. Their regular prints are a bit more sketchy in my opinion, featuring things I don’t care about like puppy dogs and days at the beach, but I do like this one:
I call it the “House of Flying Daggers” brolly (there’s a whole bunch of bamboo taking place in that movie, if you haven’t seen it). I like that the handle is made of…well, okay, it’s still made of wood, but it’s cut to look like it’s made of bamboo, which is a nice touch. It’s the little details that turn me on (or off) the most, on account of I’m shallow. This one is also slightly cheaper than the “fine art” ones, though I’m not sure why. It isn’t as though Degas is charging licensing fees. It’s a little less…classy, maybe, than the others, but I kind of like the simplicity of it, really. Right now it’s prob’ly #2 in my affections.
Then there’s this feat of miraculous engineering, the “Baroque Scarf”:
Don’t get me wrong, I like the way this one looks, though I think it could have been better photographed. I like the more abstract design of it; I think that will wear better on the eyes than the prints. Also, it’s the cheapest of the lot, and that is not meaningless. But what really sets it apart is that it not only opens automatically, it also CLOSES automatically. Just at the push of a button. How does that work? I just don’t understand. I am tempted to buy it just to see it in operation. In fact, I would probably have already bought this one if not for two things. First, it isn’t wood, it’s steel and fiberglass. Second, although it magically closes itself, it doesn’t fold down like a proper brolly, but rather breaks down into one of those wrist-sized six-inch capsules that you can carry in your coat pocket. I realize that this will make it even more cartoon-Transformer-like, but I like an umbrella that I can use as a walking stick if necessary (this is why it should be made of wood). I am not sure if I’m willing to give that up just for a fascinating gadget. But, you know, it’s entirely possible that I am.
They also have pagoda brollies, which I confess tickle me but I doubt that they work very well, and brollies with the skylines of London, Paris, Venice, and New York on them, and a Betty Boop brolly, and those are all very lovely, but I think I’m going to go with one of the six pictured here. What do you guys think?