Well, I never thought I would buy one of these! Yes, it's a shopping trolley. I have joined the ranks of the bag ladies and little old grannies and people without cars. Still, I did get the brightest multicoloured, floral one I could find - you know, it's almost funky, with its drawstring top. You can imagine the "yummy mummies" putting the children's picnic for Windsor Park in one...can't you...really? When it came to choose the right tolley, from the market stall in Rugby, the stallholder offered me a tartan one. "Noooooo!" I shrieked, "I couldn't POSSIBLY have one of those!" I remember my granny had a trolley made of basketware, with a curved wooden handle. No, no, this had to be a bit more modern. Clive fully endorsed the purchase because the bag actually lifts off the wheels, and leaves the frame which is useful for transporting "other things" - one of which I suspect, is the toilet cassette, which needs emptying every two or three days. When Clive is away I'll have to do this job (if you'll excuse the pun) - so the trolley will be very useful for transporting the heavy container to the disposal area, disguised in it's floral bag of course. Lovely.

Anyway, I tried it out in Tesco near Milton Keynes today, in the pouring rain. It's been raining all day, non-stop. So much for the great British summer. I had to negotiate several flights of steps to get up onto the road from the canal. No problem there - I just carried the trolley. The supermarket trolley presented a bit of a challenge as the usefully placed hook was a bit too low which meant that my trolley wasn't quite off the ground, making the wheels careen wildly as I tried to negotiate my way through the tomatoes to the bread. Muttering under my breath I tried to re-position the trolley, while keeping out of the way of the other shoppers. Anyway, eventually I found the optimum driving position and completed my shopping without further ado. Getting back down the steps was a bit more challenging so I just bodily lifted the whole thing up and staggered down to the canal, narrowly avoiding falling in as I placed the trolley on the boat.

How capacious my new trolley is! What a clever invention! Why have I never owned one of these useful things before? Yes indeed dear readers, something I would really recommend for the transportation of your comestibles.

But not a tartan one.