He rolls his eyes at the mere mention of it. He is torn between his appreciation of the good intentions and underlying principle behind it and his horror of the actual idea of it in a real-life situation.

"But it's trendy now - I saw a guy with one at Borough Market, so it must be!"

He raises a cynical eyebrow.

"It's okay, you don't have to use it, but I will," I reassure him.

"Him" being Big. "It" being one of my Christmas presents - my Rolser folding shopping trolley.

The idea behind the trolley was closely related to my new job. Since I was able to walk to work in town and that walk brought me right past a supermarket and in the vicinity of a weekly farmers' market and a plethora of local shops, the idea was that I could combine my pedestrian commute with shopping, filling up my trolley at lunchtime or on the way home and thereby fulfilling a number of my principles, being:

• not using the car for shopping
  
• using local shops and buying local produce where possible
  
• not using plastic bags - everything goes straight into the trolley
  
• not ripping my hands to shreds by carrying heavy shopping bags over a mile home
  

Admittedly, I didn't get much opportunity to use it while I was at work - simply because I wasn't actually at work that much (ahem, yes, sorry about that, Mr Employer) - but now I'm a lady of leisure, these principles still apply and I am free to shop all day, every day if I wish. By shunning my car (still unsold), I get the added bonus of a bit of (much needed considering that I'm not running and still eating like a horse) exercise too.

Okay, so I may not have chosen that colour myself, but all in all, the trolley is proving to be a little marvel.

I just wish it didn't make poor Big curl up with embarrassment...