Grandma Shopping

      Know one thing for sure: My carbon footprint is about a tenth of what it used to be. That's what hit me when I was rolling my new shopping trolley back from the supermarket yesterday.

      Rolling instead of driving. Walking, or riding my bike, instead of driving. Taking public transport, as they call it here, instead of driving. Made me feel kinda virtuous. 

      Although I had to be careful not to pull a rotator cuff muscle after I stuffed that sucker full to the brim. 

      It was my first time out with my new shopping trolley. Usually I just wait for my husband to be off and he'll use his car to pick up any big stuff we need. But I kept looking at my new trolley there, forlornly upright, nicely folded, crisp and checkered next to the front door and thought, okay, what the hell did I buy the thing for if I'm not going to use it.

     So off I went to do my shopping.

     Just so you know, shopping trolleys here have that kinda blue-rinse thing about them. Although they are convenient when you're hoofing it. 

     When I was looking for one, a young British woman told me she bought a cute striped one as a mother's day present for her sixty-something mother, who refused to ever use it because she said it made her look old.  

     But hell, who's got any pride left for that?

     First problem: What do you do with your shopping trolley while you're actually shopping? I got the big trolley, thinking that was better because it held more stuff, so what do you do with your big trolley when you're wheeling around the actual shopping cart in the store?

     Can't leave it anywhere, because it might get stolen. Don't see any locked-up shopping trolleys anywhere -- and don't have a lock for it. Okay, get one of the biggest carts you can find and wheel that big sucker around the store in the cart with you.

     What else? If by any chance you know the right way to do it, please tell me. 

     Then, how to stack the stuff in at the check-out counter? Bottles on the bottom? Cans down the sides? Bread and eggs on top so they don't get squished or broken? 

     Check-out guy asked me if I wanted bags. Uh, dunno. But probably not, right? What's the point of a bunch of bags if you're gonna just stack the stuff in the trolley? And anyway, the new ultra-green me doesn't want bags. I don't even think about how many trips I'll have to make up my steep stairs to the kitchen carrying all the stuff individually.  

     I'll just stuff it all in here, sir, thanks. Hope it fits. 

     He looks at all my stuff. Then eyes my trolley warily. Big line forming behind me at the check-out counter.

     Got any trolley-stacking tips for me, mate? So I don't hold up this line, ah, I mean, queue?