Runaway supermarket trolleys are a well-documented phenomenon. But it recently struck me that significantly more have appeared around inner Melbourne over the last few months. I've started photographing them whenever I've got my trusty digital friend at hand, and the numbers are racking up fast (witness these two charming examples discussing life near Royal Park). As I continue to wander the streets I've also noticed they're not going anywhere. I've passed several that are now as much a fixture of the landscape as fire-hydrants, lamp posts, and old vomit. Is there a fanatical, rebel group at work, a la the Gnome Liberation Front? Or do I simply have too much time on my hands? Either way, there's a whole lot of dollar coins begging to be retrieved.
Evidently the mass realisation of shoppers that shopping is, in fact, mundane and an utter waste of precious moments of life. The immediate effect of this revelation being running from the store, trolley still grasped firmly, such that one's knuckles have turned quite white with exertion, and then, in a moment of infinite beauty, the release of the trolley, a sensation of infinite variety - sometimes violent, sometimes graceful and beautiful - but all nonetheless liberating.
ReplyDeleteThat (obviously) explains the abundance of trolleys.
Indeed! We've recently embarked on the quiet joy of a vegetable patch. Hopefully more will join our ranks, feasting happily on silver beet, coriander, and snow peas; our chewing accompanied by the sound of dust falling gently in the supermarket aisles.
ReplyDelete