She sat at the cold metal table outside the windswept bakery, wishing she hadn't bought that too-sweet tart. Grabbing a shopping trolley, she scurried inside to the warmth of the supermarket.
Walking home, her shopping in her backpack, her thoughts returned to when this familiar route was lined with busy little shops. It was normal for housewives to walk to the shops then, carrying a basket or trailing their tartan shopping trolleys. Before affluence gave them cars. Before plastic bags and bottles. Before a hundred different types of milk. Before, before, before ...
She thought of starting a "Walk to the Shops" movement, but dropped the idea because people "just don't have the time". After all, many say they don't even have the time to do their own housework or raise their own kids. They'd probably just pay someone to walk to the shops for them. And she'd have to put a "weight loss" or "carbon neutral" spin on it. She preferred that people did it because it felt right, it felt good. It slowed the clock down and made us more human.
It was late when she got home, but there was enough light to check on the vegies she had planted earlier. But that's another topic
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