There was some trouble with the commuter trains when I was leaving the office for home. I thought I’d save time by doing my grocery shopping in town while giving it all some time to settle. All fine and good, but it was enough of a deviation from my routine that I accidentally left the bag with groceries on a bench in the train station. I always, ALWAYS only have my backpack to think about, so when the train arrived I just grabbed it and boarded.

I realized my mistake about 5 minutes later, unfortunately after we’d already passed the next station. Had it been just the groceries, I might have just left it and bought everything again in Spånga. But it was also my favourite grocery bag, made for me by Ingrid, colourful and comfortable and just the right size, and I wasn’t going to just leave that.

So I got off at Sundbyberg, where I got to wait 10 minutes in the cold wind for a train going in the other direction. Back at Stockholm City my bright orange bag was exactly where I had left it, a splash of colour on dark benches against a dull red floor. Looked very pretty, and I wish I could have taken a photo – but the train home was standing at the platform, ready to leave, and I really did not want to wait 15 minutes for the next one.

Here is the bag, holding the makings of fritters for dinner: two courgettes, a three-pack of tinned sweetcorn, and some feta cheese.