Life for a Super-U shopping trolley at the Belle Rose shop has its thrills and spills. Although we (Super-U trolleys) try to make things easier for our shoppers, we are not always appreciated. Sometimes, I have been handled very roughly and in a most undignified manner, with children riding on me and rubbish left in me. Sometimes I am treated very well and occasionally I meet the ‘Shopper from Paradise’. I recently enjoyed a wonderful experience with a kind and thoughtful shopper who left me feeling like a lost soul after he had removed all his precious bags. He just abandoned me, like all the rest.

I know that some relationships don’t last long, these days, but just when everything seemed to be going so well – whoops! …… It is over. I was beginning to think that we may be going to spend ‘quality’ time together – however this is not going to happen, now that he has said goodbye. I am left thinking that this might have been the best time of my life and I will always remember all 34 minutes of it.

I knew as soon as I saw him, that he was the one for me. He must have felt the same way as he selected me from all my 59 sisters, as we were waiting in the underground car park. I admit that I had cunningly positioned myself at the front of the queue, where I could show myself to my best advantage. There was fresh WD40 on my wheels and my basket was empty and clean. As he put his hands on my handlebars and slid the coin into my slot, I knew this was going to be different. He talked very gently to me as he coaxed me away from my sisters and encouraged me up the ramp to the supermarket. It was as though I was going shopping for the very first time.

<B>Moving his hips...</B>

I’ll always remember the music they played that day; the Salsa number as we glided past the tinned tuna, with him moving his hips as I wobbled my wheels. I will always associate the James Blunt song ‘You’re Beautiful’ with the fresh vegetable and bananas stand. I’m sure he was looking at me as he mouthed those words. ‘If tomorrow never comes’ was playing as we waited in line by the cashier. This is what told me it was real love at last. I think his name was ‘Van Dutch’ because it was written on his Tee shirt.

I suppose, like any other trolley, I knew it may come to an end, but somehow, this was different. I was very happy to carry his shopping for him, when sometimes I have felt used and abused by other customers. Nothing was just thrown in. The food was nicely separated from the cleaning things. Towels and stationary were tidily folded at one end. I wasn’t just abandoned in the middle of a shopping aisle, while families bumped into me. As we rolled back down the ramp, his hands were so reassuring and supportive. Sometimes I have been left to glide down the ramp on my own and bash painfully into the railings at the bottom. I could never have guessed what was coming next.

The thing that really upset me was the way that he took his 5 rupees back, after all we had been through together. He just threw me into the arms of my sisters without a word. I saw him out of the corner of my eye as he was leaving. Only two minutes after leaving me he was getting into his white Peugeot306 with a smile. I know he will soon miss my red handle stripe and my ‘see-through grill’. At least he didn’t leave me with any unwanted babies/ products, and my sisters have been very supportive. I have recently spent some time at the end of the line, where I can’t be selected. I have been unwilling to be handled for a while. I have been thinking that I may just end my days rusting in the bottom of some canal like many of my poor relations.

Now it is Saturday afternoon and we are all very busy. It seems I am next in line. Here comes a handsome young man……. He is choosing me! Now he is promising me a good time. I don’t want to tell him how upset I’ve been. Oh! He certainly knows how to handle a trolley. I feel frisky. Here we go……….I think I’m in love……………..…again.

Jules JERRET</B>