“The world is so full of a number of things I’m sure we should all be as happy as kings.”
– Robert Louis Stevenson
One of the destinations I chose on my road trip to the Annual Gathering in Birmingham was the Unclaimed Baggage Center in Scottsboro, Alabama. What a place! A large new building, well laid out and illuminated, staffed with a concierge who answered questions and gave directions with unflagging Southern courtesy, sales staff up to five deep at the check out counter and other red T-shirted salespersons in every department.
The shoppers were serious. One woman in a fairly flamboyant outfit found even more flashy items to her liking.
Be SURE you have identification inside each piece of your luggage when you travel. I was stunned by the vastness of the place. Like a large department store, all carefully displayed, were racks of clothing, shoes, eyeglasses, baby items including strollers, perfumes, cosmetics, jewelry, luggage, electronics, at least a dozen wedding dresses, a large men’s department. Even a snack bar to relieve the pangs of hunger and thirst without leaving the building. For a while I drifted from one department to another watching the shoppers and looking at the various items that someone, many someones, had lost. The clothing was probably the best they had, packed lovingly for a special occasion or packed less carefully for the return from a reunion, a business meeting, a funeral, a get-away weekend, a tryst… So many stories the clothing, shoes, jewelry, the expensive perfumes and cosmetics could tell.
In another building I found bed and bath linens, king size comforters, dishes, crystal and small appliances. A gorgeous table, about four feet by eight feet awaited a buyer. Downstairs I was astonished and amused to see three kitchen sinks. On broad shelves were power tools, hand tools, furniture, canes and crutches, walkers, pots and pans, a slow cooker, jars and cans of food -- peanut butter, jam, pickles, salad dressings ordinary and exotic -- microwaves, a stove top, boxes with markers, pens, crayons, chalks, packages of ten spiral notebooks, toys, a comfortable-looking cane chair, a really attractive leather game table with several games in its shallow drawers: $75.00. Tempting -- a good gift for my son’s new house, but just too large to accommodate in my already overloaded station wagon.
Next to the main building UBC has taken over a cute little two story house for books and art. A lot of the books were just what one would expect – light reading for the plane. I did find two books for gifts. Looking through the art, framed paintings, posters, museum prints, drawings, I found a set of 8x10 photographs of a young man shaking hands with notables, Ronald Reagan and about ten I don’t remember. Unless he has access to the negatives, that group of happy events captured in the pictures is lost to him, as is all the stuff there. And there is LOTS of it.
Having broken the clip on my pedometer I returned to the main building and went to electronics where I found a ‘new’ pedometer for $2.00. Looking again through the luggage for the carry-on I have in mind was again disappointed. All through the couple of hours I was there red T-shirted employees kept bringing in ‘new’ merchandise. In the museum I was struck by the violin. Not quite a Stradivarius, it was old and beautiful.
The shoppers were serious. One woman in a fairly flamboyant outfit found even more flashy items to her liking. Some found clothing for their children as well as for themselves. The fitting rooms were all in use. The shoe department was doing a great business. Probably the most thought provoking thing I saw was in the jewelry case. In a jewelry tray, lined up neatly in their slots, were about fifty (50) men’s wedding rings. All those wedding rings in checked baggage…