Wychwood farmers' market: Saturday Dec.14

parking with my special permit, and unloading

there's a niche for my walker

At 10 a.m. there's a big strip of available parking around the corner from the north market entrance. The parking is illegal except for cars with the wheelchair sign on the dash, so I make sure I put mine there. I don't actually use a wheelchair but it is hard to walk far, and biking to the market gets me there but doesn't work to get all the groceries home. So it's a car day. I suspect there won't be enough places to sit down, and walking around the corner with my cane, then standing while shopping, doesn't work unless I can sit down often. So I take my walker, whose main purpose -- in my case -- is to provide a rolling bench for rests.

at first, lots of space to walk...

...but the aisles fill up fast....

...with lots of strollers

a fiddle and a guitar

he's ready to show people where things are

At the west end of the market hall, musicians are playing. To get out of the way, I stick my walker in the corner behind a market staff who's standing there to answer questions. There are no chairs or benches to sit and listen to the music, though, so people don't linger much. There's actually very little space around the musicians. All the farm stands are lined up tight together -- there's no snacking area with a few tables. It seems like every bit of space is taken up by vendors, all eager to sell their fall vegetables before winter settles in.

a walker can double as a wheelbarrow

In my slow tour around the crowded aisles everyone is courteous, and we all say "sorry, sorry" as we try to get by each other. I get about twice the amount of "sorries" because of my evidently disabled condition. Nobody gets mad but the wheeled carts -- mainly baby strollers, and me, no evidence of any wheelchairs -- clearly make the congestion worse.

The market stall where I buy most of my food offers to send somebody to the car with me to help me load. But I don't need it, not today.

Still, it would have been very nice to have somewhere to sit and have a coffee and watch all the activity. Strange that it's not there. There may be some tables down a hallway beside the greenhouse, but there's no sign of a social area. And when people see their neighbours and stop to chat, they block the aisle. So people keep moving. Me too.

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