A letter from a reader

At 67, I had started clutching my handbag everywhere I went. This quietly fixed it.

I have never written anything like this before, and I nearly did not. But I have said it to enough people now that it seemed easier to write it down properly.

It crept up on me. A friend of mine had her handbag dipped in town last year, right out of the top while she was looking at a market stall, and it frightened the life out of both of us. After that I found myself clutching my bag to my chest the whole time I was out. On the bus, in the shops, anywhere busy, one hand always on the clasp. I had even started leaving the nice bag at home and taking an old one I would not mind losing.

I did not feel unsafe, exactly. I just never quite relaxed once I was out the door.

And it is a tiring way to spend a day out, holding on to yourself the whole time.

Then I noticed one on a friend

We were on a coach trip and she had a soft, smart-looking bag on her lap, and when I admired it she told me it was an anti-theft bag. I must have pulled a face, because it sounds like something for a soldier, but she explained it simply. The main zip sits against your back, so when the bag is on, nobody can get into it without you knowing. She had worn it all round a city break and never once worried.

It is from Manchester Boutique, a small British boutique that has been quietly kitting out women our age for a few years now. The bag is called the Delia. I ordered mine that evening.

What happened on the day out

I took it into town, round the shops and the market, and then on the coach home.

Three women asked me about it before we had even set off. One of them told me she had stopped going into town on market days because it made her nervous, which I understood completely. What struck me most, though, was that I had spent the whole afternoon out and never once stopped to check my bag was still shut. I had not managed that in a long while.

The zip is tucked against your body, there are little protected pockets for your cards, and the strap adjusts so you can wear it across you or on your back and keep your hands free. It is soft and light, there are pockets for everything, and the best part is it does not look like a security bag at all. It just looks like a nice bag.

Three things I have learned since

One. The hidden zip is the whole thing. Because the opening sits against your back, there is simply nothing for anyone to get at. You stop thinking about it, which is the point.

Two. Hands free changes a day out. Worn across the body, it leaves both hands for the shopping, the handrail, a cup of tea, instead of one hand always guarding the bag.

Three. Safe need not look severe. I expected something ugly and practical. It is soft, it has a pretty clasp, and it goes with everything I own.

About the price

I will be honest, the price made me a little suspicious.

The Delia is £29.95. It was £60.00.

My first thought was that a proper anti-theft bag would cost a great deal more, because the branded travel ones certainly do.

There is no catch that I have found. They are a small boutique selling directly, so there is no middleman taking a cut, and they run a summer sale to move the stock. I read the reviews before I ordered a second colour, the way I imagine you are doing now. Just over three hundred of them, sitting at 4.2 stars. Not the suspiciously perfect five you see on some websites, which if I am honest made me trust it rather more. The same things kept coming up. One woman had written, “Took it round Europe and never worried once. So many pockets and it goes with everything.” That was the one that decided it for me.

What I would tell you if we were friends

If you and I were sat in the garden with a cup of tea and you asked me, this is what I would say.

If you have found yourself holding your bag a little tighter than you used to, or leaving the good one at home because you would rather not risk it, it is worth ten minutes of your evening to take a look.

Not because a bag changes anything. It does not. But being able to enjoy a day out without one hand always on the clasp is a small freedom I had quietly given up on, and I would rather you did not give up on it too.

The sale is on now, it comes in a brown, a black and a soft beige, and it does go quickly.

I do not clutch my bag on the bus anymore.

Maggie