by Marie-Luise Stromer

Created on: December 01, 2008

ROLLING RUSSIAN

English speaking people have coffers, Germans have Koffer. Although both words are derived from the Latin word cophinus = basket, they don't mean the same, according to the dictionary a coffer is a box or chest, especially one for valuables, the German Koffer is a suitcase.

Young readers may not know that there was life before suitcases on wheels were invented, they may think that wheels have always been an integral part of a suitcase, in fact they may not use the word suitcase at all but only talk of trolleys.

The few people that travelled in former times used chests to transport their belongings, not only when they emigrated, but also when they went to the seaside for their summer hols, after all they had to change several times a day and not into dresses that barely covered their private parts but into foot-long petticoats and skirts. These chests were transported on trolleys - contraptions for the transport of luggage - and only strong men could lift them.

My father lived in Brazil for some years in the first half of the last century, from him I inherited such a trunk, I used it for years to store things in but didn't travel with it. Together with the trunk came two suitcases, a big and heavy one which I couldn't lift when it was full and a smaller one which I could carry for some metres. We used to take them to the train station on a small hey-cart, I can't remember ever to have taken a taxi (yes, I *am* old!)

I took the two suitcases with me when I left home to study in another town, those were the days when the trains had extra luggage waggons and one could find porters on the platforms. These suitcases were made of impregnated cardboard and had metal locks, they usually didn't look new for long but became shabby rather quickly.

One could sit on the cardboard suitcases while waiting, a very important asset, from this you may deduce that when the time had come for my suitcases to go to suitcase heaven, I bought a hardshell specimen, for example a Samsonite, which can even stand the weight of an elephant as you may know (not that I weigh as much as an elephant!) No, I didn't! Much that I regret that I can't sit on a soft suitcase, I'd never, ever buy a hardshell one. The times of the porters with their trolleys on the platforms of train stations and in airports are gone, I have to think of the weight I can carry myself.

I'm a modest traveller, I don't take many things with me even when I go abroad and I think it's absurd to buy a hardshell suitcase

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