SOPAPACAIA Sighting #4

A shopping centre in the Northern Suburbs of Melbourne

Sighted: Me

Now before you go accusing me of being all narcissistic, I will let you know that

1) I despise narcissists, having had the unfortunate hand of having to deal with one such stellar example all too closely in my life, taking me to the scarred-for-life point-of-no-return dimension, and

2) I was actually NOMINATED by a passer-by. With the observation “You’re on a mission! With a trolley, and a coffee… and a baby!”

Yes sir, indeed. You have no idea. Explaining now.

Last week I was charging through my local shopping centre, with coffee in one hand, the other manoeuvring the shonky trolley which was only 1/3 full (you all know how shocking the trolleys get once they are full – well envision a packed trolley with a toddler in there too). The coffee was too, too hot (bittersweet scenario in fact), the trolley was moving from side to side, I was trying to entertain baby girl as well as I could while passing the too-hot coffee from burnt hand to burnt hand, manoeuvring said trolley between hot hands in between, and aware of the time factor, and HUGE shopping trip I was just beginning.

If the shopping takes too long, baby girl starts to get irritable. No one wants an irritable littlie around Christmas time.

This huge man started to walk by me, and with big eyes poked his head in my direction and said the above, with an incredulous, Islander accent.

I rest my case.