I Spy

Groupon offers: my guilty time-waster. Normally I bite only for deeply-discounted massages or tapas, but recently they offered a novel accessory, a spy watch!

Yes! The copy says, "Film or take a picture of any event, while performing everyday activities like watching TV or drinking coffee".

Not since I was eleven, when I sent away for X-Ray Glasses (disappointing) did such a gadget grab my imagination. (I no longer have an iterest in seeing through people's clothes; must have been nascent puberty.)

Who isn't at least a little titillated by the notion of secretly filming? Never mind that I rarely see anything that would merit being covertly recorded, unless it's Le Duc maintaining that he "always remembers to put away the butter". Ha! I could prove differently.

I'd photograph the many fascinating people who pass by on the street without disturbing them or pleading for permission. (A photographer acquaintance reminds me that an iPhone works just as well, but is there not an added frisson doing it while ostensibly drinking coffee?)

But then of course I'd need more spy gear!

A private-eye trench, top of list. I'd choose the Thakoon Addition leather and fabric trench coat, full of drop-dead details, $750:

Ohh, look at the back!

And glasses–you can never be too disguised. The Row's cats' eyes ($400), please.

Skulking can be drafty work. Maybe a hat? I like this beanie's shearling pom-pom, which might also be used as a discreet lens-duster. Price, $195.

I see that it's quite costly to be a well-dressed spy, and never mind the "specialty dry cleaning" required for that coat. But our friend Natty (aka "Nancy Drew") just found a crisp black trench coat in a secondhand store for $9! 

 

Now that's sleuthing!