The migration of trolleys around Reservoir may seem symptomatic of a certain lawlessness to some, or to others may just be an eyesore. To me though, it is symbolic of the power of the everyman.
In Reservoir trolleys aren't coin operated. They were once, briefly; occasionally you find yourself pushing a trolley with the stump of a prehensile coin chain still attached. Unlike other suburbs though, people in Reservoir quickly realised that a trolley is worth far more than a dollar, and they continued to nick them. They refused to be deterred by this pecuniary obstacle as people so frequently are in more affluent suburbs, where it is not uncommon to see freshly coiffed women-of-society wilfully maiming themselves to retrieve a coin before retreating to their Range Rovers.
The people of Reservoir won. The chains were cut, and both Safeway and Coles employed permanent staff to drive around the suburb with trailers reclaiming trolleys, day after day, week after week. I hear their distant rattles sometimes in the early morning as they claim their cargo, and I throw a tiny ineffectual air punch in my half-sleep.
Of course from time to time locals are still distracted from the trolley's basic functionality and can't help but ride around on them when drunk, occasionally face planting one into a garden or creek.
We're only human, after all.
