It was our first visit to Canada since our daughter relocated to Fort St Johns some years ago.
Himself (my husband) and I found communicating with the locals who were apparently speaking English, challenging to say the least.
People's smiles told us that they were being friendly when they drawled in long syllables, "Howradooooing?" with that bewildering rising cadence at the end of almost every sentence.
Upon a nudge from our 'dorra' (daughter) we learned that we should answer, "fine thank you." ............'and smile mom, you're looking very tense!'
At the door to the grocery store (supermarket for us In South Africa) while she parked the car and got her toddler sorted
out who was waking from her nap, we set out to help.
We asked the first person, "please, where can we find a trolley?"
We were given a blank stare and a head shake.
Surprise turned to frustration as person after person could not help us find a simple thing like a trolley! As we watched our daughter with the pram coming into sight, we threw up our hands in "we give up" when the final person told us "we don't have any of those here."
No arguing with her tone of finality even though we saw dozens of them in the bowels of the shop (store).
Louise could hardly contain herself she laughed so hard.
"I had the same problem when we first moved here. Oh my, it's like another world inside the grocery store, half the ingredients you want are called something different here..........
They call what we in South Africa call a TROLLEY, a grocery CART ..............actually a "carrrrrrt".................'roll those rrrrrr's.'
Pixabay
I asked the next person I saw where the "carrrrts" were, he gestured in the direction where at last I saw a whole line of interlocked trolleys patiently waiting to be piled high with groceries. Hooray! I was beginning to speak 'Canadian English'!
As an aspiring writer should, I re read the title for this 5 minute rewrite, before posting. Suddenly I had to I wonder why grocery trolleys should have a "Day"?
I must have been thinking "along the lines of every dog has its day."
The light goes on!
Ooooops I think, TROLLEY.............hmmmmm DAY!
Is it possible this grocery carrrrt - called trolley by me, may perhaps be a trolley in the historic sense of what I would call a "tram"? My head begins to ache.
I remember seeing them featured often in pictures of San Francisco..............
Wasn't there a crazy wonderful movie once featuring one in a chase across the town? A vision of a trolley swooping down steep hills lives in the recesses of my memory.
Pixabay
I'm almost worn out with all this thinking in Canadian English.
TROLLEY - a cart? -an historic vehicle?
Can it be?
Who cares? I managed my 5 minute write in, I check my watch, a little over that!
Please forgive me.
