Yesterday, we sent out for our big monthly shop and bill-paying day. As usual, I took along my camera, in case there was the chance of some decent pictures along the way; I popped it into my old green shopping bag.
Having done an errand in Kilmarnock, our almost-final stop was at Morrisons in Ayr where, as usual, I hung my green shopper on the trolley as we went around. It was an unseasonably chilly, windy day; getting back to the car, B told me to sit inside while he packed the shopping and put the trolley away. The place was heaving with cars and shoppers and it took us over ten minutes just to get out of the car park.
We got home some ninety minutes later, unpacked the car. And it was then I realised my green bag was missing. It had last been seen hanging on the Morrisons trolley, B had put the trolley away…… Luckily, I’d had my purse in one of my pockets; but my lovely new camera had been in the bag.
I shouted at B, hit the wall until my fist hurt, shouted some more at B, stood outside and sulked blackly in the rain for a good spell. Slowly cooled down. I rang the supermarket; no, nobody had handed my bag in. I rang the police and reported it; the nice police worker sympathised with me and said that my house insurance would probably cover it. I didn’t tell her that we’d never been able to afford house insurance.
I didn’t have a good night’s sleep. On getting to bed, I’d remembered that the bag had also carried my notebook, in which I jotted down personal thoughts, poems, notes, doodles and drawings. I bleakly imagined the thieving little scrote who had lifted my bag having a giggle over it.
This morning we had to go to Dumfries for more bits and pieces. It was a gorgeous morning, with the sun breaking through the autumn mist; trees looked ghostly and the hills receded into the fog. Damm – I wanted my camera! In Dumfries I had intended to get a couple of pairs of jeans in the TJ Hughes’ sale, B wanted a big pack of bacon from the butcher van. B got his bacon, but the jeans – well, the ones in my size – were all gone. I did try buying a jacket that was hanging in the sale rack – the one I usually wear is looking its age – and which appeared to be an affordable price. Only to have the salesgirl tell me it shouldn’t have been in there and was at full price – which was not affordable. Hell and damm.
Driving back, we went by the back road past the loch. The mist had melted away and the sky was a clear pale blue. The water surface as as smooth and mirror-like as I had ever seen it; the trees,just turning colour, studying their upside-down reflections. We passed a group of people on the bankside aiming their cameras everywhere.
B caught me looking. “Don’t say a word,” he pleaded. “Please, don’t say anything.”