It was hard to photograph this shopping cart, because the cocktail lounge setting below the Sheepshead Bay train station was dimly lit — as a good dive bar should be. By ‘dive’, we don’t mean the pool of water in the gutter.
Unlike the other stray cart found in a similar cocktail table setup a little while back, this one was still waiting for the porter to come by and clear it off.
There was no tip left on the table, so we’re guessing that either the service was pretty bad, the vagrants ran out of pocket change, or the patrons had to rush off to catch the train (which might also explain why there are no bar stools).
Thinking that he was undetected in the early morning hours, the lone Doody’s cart was sauntering around the near-empty lot when he was secretly photographed by reader, Stefanee Rivera.
After a full night quietly playing by himself behind the gates of the apartment building’s empty back lot, located on East 12 Street, between Avenue X and Avenue W — the cart was quietly contemplating his new life and enjoying the morning light.
He had lived his entire life in the confines of the Doody’s Hardware Store boundaries, but finally decided to make a break for it. By the end of his first day of freedom when the second picture was taken, it was clear that the cart was feeling homesick. It’s very likely that the building super yelled at him and told him to ‘get outta here’ — because he was slowly making his way back home to Doody’s at 2461 E 17 St.
When he gets back home to the home and hardware store, he’ll have a story to tell about life on the outside to those rebel shopping carts planning their getaway: Sometimes frolicking around a community hardware store, with others just like you, is better than a lonely life behind bars on the outside.
This stray shopping cart titled “A Long Way From Home” was caught by photographer Lisanne Anderson and posted on Flickr on May 22, 2009.
The beautiful blue plastic cart found cowering under the shade of a tree must have been mistreated by its family — the Family Dollar Store, that is. Imagine the life of this poor shopping cart, banged around, filled to the rim with cheap imports — only to be emptied and tossed aside without so much as a thank-you.
From another perspective, it looks like a blue cruise ship sailing on a sea of green, but then reality sets in and like the Backyard Woods Explorer said, “If this one sits here long enough, the weeds will grow through it.” Looks like Beautiful Blue would be happier living in the weeds than in an unhappy home.
