I’ve heard that the plastic bag is the bane of some scenic landscapes in this part of the world. I’m sure it must be really bad in some places. Here in Kiev, everyone uses plastic bags, every day, in every way. Of course they are used for garbage, and for containing leaking fluids, among the millions of other uses. And yes, there are plenty of bags floating around without an owner. Fortunately, people often DO recycle plastic bags here, but still, they escape their hominid owners all too often, and drift away in the wind, only to be caught by a tree branch, lay in a gutter, or be collected and subsequently discarded again because it was deemed to be incompetent and/or wortheless. It’s sad, but I’ve witnessed the forests being littered with plastic bags. People here don’t really care for the environment, if you didn’t know. Not sure exactly why. But I guess if I think more about it, there’s all kinds of undesirable crap that people leave in in the forests (and elsewhere). And from that perspective, plastic bags aren’t a big deal, really.

Nevertheless, my primary experience with them is that they cut into my fingers when carrying 10+ kilos of foodstuffs back from the market. And I’m sure I’m not the only one. We don’t have a car! So whatever we wanna eat or whatever we need for our home, we gotta carry. Whenever we leave the house, one of the most common departure questions is “did you grab any bags?” Anyway, going to the market is a daily routine, for the most part. Sometimes it’s just for a light bulb, maybe some dairy and bread, or perhaps just a bit of cat food… but other times we end up loading up. For these outings, one either needs to have SOLIDLYconstructed plastic bags on hand, or an efficient way of carrying multiple bags. If desperate, you can always buy a bag at the market (for cheap), as you might have already guessed.

Anyhow, I’ve learned, even during the summer, that the best way to prevent spilled blood is to keep a pair of gloves with me at all times. Otherwise the time spent in the market, in addition to the time it takes to walk the >0.5km home will leave it’s mark on the skin covering your phalanges. I keep thinking that there needs to be a small, easy to stow, sturdy handle that would facilitate carrying bags, without losing a finger. More accurately, it would prevent circulation loss, tenderness, insensitivity, and freezing of your digits.

Any way you look at it though, the plastic bag is here to stay. My only real complaint now is that I’m carrying too much weight. Actually and to be totally honest (sort of), my arms have begun to hurt. I had my wife take a picture of me after we walked in the door last time…

For a while I was thinking that the bags’ handles were stretching. The bags seem to be scraping along the ground once in a while. After seeing the picture, I’m starting to think that I’m really developing a problem. My arms — they’re getting longer. Does it look weird? Am I imagining it? That would explain the tingling, the sensation loss, the lack of blood flow… YIKES