a small world

I often see this trolley around Milton Keynes.  Sometimes I see the person who pushes it.  He  walks miles, wandering from one end to the other (no mean feat in a large city designed for the car).  This morning it was parked near a large supermarket, at our end of MK. 

I don’t really like taking this sort of photograph.  I feel uncomfortable - that I’m exploiting someone else’s world to make a point  - or a blip.

But I saw a news item about a young woman who had 250 pairs of diamond encrusted espadrilles.  With a spacious wardrobe just to keep them all in.  And it made me think.  Not just about how this trolley contains someone’s entire world, but about my Mum too.

She died a long time ago.  She spent her last 6 months in a care home - she had dementia and needed a lot of help.  When I went to collect her belongings, I was handed a small red suitcase containing a couple of bits of jewellery, a photo album and some letters from my Dad when he was in Burma during the war.  And that was about it - all her worldly possessions in something that would fit under an aircraft seat.

Of course, the sum of her life was much more than that - just as there must be more (I hope) to the life of the person who pushes this trolly.  And of far greater value than 250 pairs of diamond encrusted espadrilles.