THE CURATED LIFE
AS WE PACK for our summer holidays, no matter where we are heading, how long we will be there or what we plan to take with us, many of us will experience the same frustration with one of the great irritations of modern travel: the telescopic handle, that ubiquitous feature of modern luggage. It is not the handle itself that is irritating but rather its intrusion inside the suitcase in the form of a pair of rails or something resembling a small Bronze Age burial mound.
I find packing stressful enough without having to consider the internal topography of my suitcase: having to fill up the trenches on either side of the hillocks with folded underwear, toiletries and ties so that I have a level-ish surface upon which to lay my suits and trousers. There are, of course, more pressing ills that assail humankind—but since many clever people have so far failed to bring peace and economic stability to the planet, perhaps it would be sensible to apply ourselves to more manageable challenges.