Stop that Cart!

Even though we have been living here for 7+ months now, every time we have a new "LA experience" it still tickles me. Today, I had one of those in the most unexpected of circumstances. I had a few errands to run this morning which included cashing some checks and doing a bit of grocery shopping. Luckily, my bank, the Trader Joes, and our local produce mart are all in the same parking lot so I could accomplish all of my errands with one stop. However, given the popularity of the shopping center, the parking lot is sometimes a bit of a zoo. I took one trip through the parking lot and seeing no empty spaces decided to circle around the block and park a ways away on street parking. No problem, I can stretch my legs a bit and the exercise isn't going to hurt me. Grocery shopping was a complete success. I stocked up on lots of regular items as well as have a weeks worth of dinners and lunches - 6 bags of groceries -- all for around $100. Gotta love Trader Joes. Well, I started the trek back to my car figuring I would just bring the shopping cart back to the parking lot when I was finished. Well, there I am pushing my cart along and I start getting close to the street and all of a sudden the front wheel jams and I practically fall head long into my basket. So I try to pull the cart back and reposition the wheel but it appears to be stuck. I look down at the wheel to see what it is caught on and nothing. It appears to be locked up for no reason. For the life of me, I can't seem to get the cart to move. Then I look up a few feet in front of me near the parking lot entrance and see a sign that says: "Shoppers Beware: Shopping carts are programmed to lock if you try to remove them from the Parking Lot." Wow! Who knew shopping cart technology could be so sophisticated! Ha ha ha. Well, it was a little bit of a challenge juggling all six of my grocery bags down the street to my car but we made it. And not without a funny story for my blog.