So, everyday carry (or EDC) is one of the things I can be quite nerdy about.

I recently changed my work bag. I’ve gone from a Bellroy backpack (made from recycled drinks bottles ♻️) to a Trakke Bairn Pro. The Bellroy bag was a nice idea, relatively compact but spacious enough to carry everything I was likely to need. Unfortunately ‘relatively compact’ it turns out is not a very good fit on me. It was uncomfortable and the straps were never the right length. It was only really comfortable at all with the stabiliser fastened which is not ideal. I didn’t have to walk with it very far, and commuted with it so infrequently that I could put up with it.

The Bairn Pro is a better bag. I used a Bairn (no suffix) for a long time when I worked in an office five days a week. I upgraded to another Trakke bag, the Wee Lug, for a preiod when I started to work from home more and was carrying a laptop to-and-fro rather than working at a desktop workstation. This one fit a 15” laptop (so my retina MacBook Pro at the time and also my Windows work laptop) and was pretty ideal. I actually tried going back to that bag, only to discover that while the laptop pocket could in fact accommodate my now 16” MacBook Pro, that extra size causes a protrusion above the pocket; the zippered pocket that would scratch the machine in transit.

So now there is a Bairn Pro, which is basically an updated Bairn designed to carry a 16” MacBook Pro¹. It’s a smaller capacity bag than that Bellroy backpack, which isn’t a bad thing, it means that I need to edit down the stuff I was carrying a little and it’ll also be lighter. It also fits more easily into overhead storage or, as is more likely, is more comfortable on my lap while on a train seat².

Trakke was a little business built by Glasgow students working as bicycle couriers who made messenger bags out of discarded canvas event banners. They went on to make a range of bags out of materials mostly sourced from Scottish producers and they made the bags by hand in Scotland. The business closed a little while ago, unfortunately, but was bought by a larger outdoor equipment business who promised to maintain their production methods (and so far have done so).

It’s not just about having an adorable bag though. What goes inside it is far more important. Well, somewhat more important. A cute bag is pretty important.

I used to pack for pretty much every eventuality. I had stuff for just about any technological dilemma. I had a travel towel, a waterproof bag (not just a platic bag, something you could take your iPhone scuba diving in³), two charging bricks… just more stuff than I reasonably needed. It is, though, a reality of a lot of remote workers that there’s a lot of kit involved in being able to do your job. If you’re remote working from changing locations and have to take your remote working setup with you then all that essential technology has to be mobile.

You can minimise the things you need. You can assume that there are things you’re very unlikely to need and be right most of the time. You can also choose to use things that are physically smaller and lighter so that carrying them is easier. The reality is probably a balance of those things will work best, an optimised compromise. There are some things, though, where I’m just not willing to compromise.

I’m done using garbage little headsets for conference and video calls. You’ve all used them, flimsy plastic headphones with a flimsy plastic boom mic that are very uncomfortable, have terrible audio quality, and an abysmal microphone. They’re so ubiquitous and so, so bad. What boggles my mind however is that many businesses issue these things to everyone, including customer, client, and supplier facing folks. You can’t hear the support guy you had to call because his voice is distorted, quiet, and grainy? He’s using one of these too cheap to be functional headsets over a heavily compressed audio stream.

I’m not suggesting that everyone can or should invest a whole bunch of money on a headset for work; that shouldn’t be your responsibility. I haven’t invested a bunch of money in a headset for work. I have however spent a bunch of money on a good headset for gaming and I’m definitely going to use it for work because it’s just leagues better. I actually had to replace my existing headset because it had been used so much it was the kind of grubby that no longer cleaned up, it was literally, physically crumbling, and struggling to maintain a stable connection. This is one of those areas where I’m not really willing to compromise on the tool so I have to compromise in acceptance of it’s size and weight. The shitty headset is smaller and lighter but the over-ear cans and boom mic are going in the bag. They just are.

I’m probably also carrying two computers. At least when the context is work. There’ll be my work laptop and a small, lightweight, personal machine. That might be a MacBook Neo, an iPad, or my Nintendo Switch 2. Two computers is a big commitent both in terms of weight and space in a smaller bag. No regrets.

I also want to carry a power bank. This is one of those situations where one item can solve a lot of very modern problems. I want to be able to charge a computer from it at least briefly. I’d like to be able to charge my Switch 2 while also playing my Switch 2. I need to be able to recharge my iPhone which is effectively my wallet, my train tickets, and my ability to summon help in an emergency. Being three cities away from home with a powerless brick in your pocket is just not an acceptable situation in this year of Our Lord Great Cthulhu Twenty-Twenty-Six. It’s a chunky power bank, but it ensures I can work and it ensures I am safe.

So there’s one other particularly bulky item: my tech pouch. This is getting paired down. I used to carry a couple of chargers, a 140 watt monster that’ll charge a big laptop, and a 35 watt dual output charger that can be used to charge two smaller devices. In practice the smaller charger was never the right choice. It might be if I’m packing for an overnight stay somewhere but not in daily use. I also carried an assortment of cables that I can significantly reduce. That’s actually a meaningful reduction in copper (as in literal, actual copper) and plastic that I need to lug around. I also keep a microfibre cloth or two, a tiny spray bottle of screen cleaner, and lens wipes for my glasses.

I pretty much always carry a notebook, either my work one or my personal one. Either way it’s a Leuchturm1917 — Moleskine can suck it. There’s a pen in there, too.

I carry a wash kit. There’s a fancy quick-drying wash cloth. It’s quite a neat thing, if a little coarse. It dries in about ten minutes flat. There’s soap: a 60ml bottle of Dr. Bronner’s Castile Soap. The labels on this stuff are kind of unhinged religious diatribe but the product is so immensely suitable for purpose. You can wash yourself with it. You can wash clothes with it. You can wash the dishes with it. If you need to wash something it will wash it. It’s very washy. Hand sanitiser is a no-brainer and the one I have makes your hands smell like cola candy which is awesome. There’s also a comb, and a tide pen. This all fits into a tiny packing cube and solves any number of little problems, accidents, and unfortunate occurences.

Of course, it’s not just about what’s in my bag, there’s a few other essentials that are even more ubiquitous and that occupy pockets.

• Keys. I have a key ring with (of course) various keys, an Apple AirTag (there’s an AirTag in my bag, too), and a Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild⁴ tchotchke.

• Apple Watch. I still think this thing is great.

• iPhone⁵. Obviously.

What’s missing from my truly Everyday carry these days is my wallet. I dont often carry a wallet at all anymore. It has to be a situation where getting home would be difficult without my phone if it broke or was out of charge. Here in the UK you can use Apple Pay (or equivalent) for basically everything and so I do. There are no stores with a policy of not accepting Apple Pay. I have two wallets nonetheless, one is a MagSafe Wallet that takes two cards and magnetically attaches to my phone; the other is a standard billfold.