With the CTA, as bedraggled as it is, I don't have to do much driving anymore. Most of my drive time is spent going to the supermarket, Target or some similar location.

Places where Chicagoans love to leave shopping carts sitting around.

Unlike anywhere else I've lived, including rude little Baltimore, Chicago just doesn't seem to feel like walking the few feet to the cart corral, instead leaving carts clustered in parking spaces -- threatening the Prius with their sharp corners and rusty handles.

Just look at them.

Like Sun Drop in Concord and Row Houses in Baltimore, is the shopping cart cluster some kind of folk culture in Chicago? Have I stumbled upon some strange tradition I've yet to decipher?

Or are Chicagoans just laszy jerks when they go to the store?