We've moved from Baltimore, Maryland USA to Venice, Italy in pursuit of living our dream!



Sunday, September 21, 2008

Living the dream- My Grocery Cart




Living in Venice requires a bit more stalwart spirit than I have been used to…. Or, perhaps I should just say I have had to learn to be much less spoiled. Yes, I wanted, craved the simpler life, and now I have it. Don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining one bit. Merely explaining how I have had to adapt, and in doing so, give up some of life’s little conveniences.

In the US, I would happily hop in my car to go a few blocks to the grocery store, load up the trunk of my car then drive back home. Once home, I’d commence on the “unloading” process- hauling all those blue, white or tan plastic bags, ( most with torn handles) from the car into the house. Yes, this was modern convenience, and I did love it. Was I spoiled—God, yes. There was a grocery store less than a 5 minute walk from me, but the only tim I ever dared walk was in the winter when the roads were bad and I needed some milk desperately!

That being said, you can see by looking at my grocery cart that I am a changed woman. When we were visitors in Venice over the last 6 years, I would see people hauling their grocery carts off to the market, and I would actually wish I could go buy one for myself. Having arrived in January of this year for permanent occupation, one of the few items on my list to acquire (we’re in a furnished apartment, so didn’t need much) was a grocery cart of our very own!

We went a couple of weeks without one, carrying the bags back from the COOP or the Punta over the bridges between the shops and our place. Then one day we actually bought more than just a couple of bags worth of stuff, and it became clear it was time to find our grocery cart. I shopped around- I didn’t need the 100 Euro variety- I’m really not a top-of-the-line kind of girl. I’m way too frugal for that. My requirements were simple: not gaudy, sturdy enough, decent wheels, lightweight, and I had a price range in mind.

Our grocery cart has a place of honor near the front door now. It goes to the market down the street, it goes on the Vaporetto to the Rialto markets with us, and it even goes on the bus to the Panorama when we do a bigger shopping trip. For me, it’s way more than just a grocery cart, it’s a symbol which represents to me that we really live here now.