Day 14 - Keep Calm and Carry on Shopping (or how to avoid work and live longer)

The ducks hard at work ... like me.

Two weeks in and time for a reality check. Well, at least that's what today felt like, as both Phil and I determined it would be best to devote a full day to work. We also thought it might be healthy for the relationship if we took the chance to miss each other, so Phil headed off to Winchester for meetings while I hunkered down at the kitchen table in our cottage.

Now Ange...look down at your computer.

To start, I needed to sort out my to-do list, and so tried not to daydream as, French-pressed mug of coffee in hand, I looked out over the beautiful garden that leads down to the River Nadder. I watched as the sun lit up the bright green, soft blades of freshly mowed lawn, and tried not to laugh at the magpies as they looked for something shiny to steal. Garden pots of heather and lavender beckoned to me with their fresh, intoxicating scents as a gentle breeze wafted through the open patio doors. Large, billowy clouds floated lazily by, while the tall trees that surround the garden and edge the river swayed as if waving at me to join them outside.







Ah, where was I? Oh yes, work.

... blah, blah, blah (that's probably all you want to know on the work front, as that's not really what you're here for, is it?) ...

... and work day at an end, I walked to the Salisbury train station to meet Phil who was returning from Winchester via Southampton. The rest of our day was made up of stopping at the local Co-op store, making a nice dinner and watching movies on the telly, something I rarely did anymore due to workload and commute.

This leads me to a talk to you about one of the many differences in life in the UK over Canada that I have noticed. It may not seem like a  big deal, but I think it reflects a distinction in life style.

It involves the local shop or general store. While locally owned shops (and pubs, for that matter) are definitely on the decline in the UK, a"shop"still exists in just about any neighbourhood, small town, or village. What's amazing to me is that they all stock enough for you to make a proper meal. Even the small village shop will carry fresh meat, an assortment of fruit and vegetables, and freshly baked bread. And even more amazing is the fact that the prices are most often not far off what you would pay in a large grocery store, and often, the price is the same.

Many smaller villages are losing their shops to the expanding network of large chain stores. Chains took much longer to get a foothold in the UK than they did in North America. When Phil and I started travelling to the UK in the late 1980s, we don't remember seeing very many large stores at all. Now, they pop up in the strangest of places. In the Cotswold's, for example, there is a large Tesco (think Loblaws) at the edge of Stow-on-the-Wold, a town with a population of only a bit over 2,000 people.

However, while these chains are definitely pushing out many locally owned stores, the chains are also expanding in a unique way to replace them. Many towns have a mini version of a chain store. Tesco, for example, also has 7/11-sized. But unlike 7/11s, which seem certain all we want to buy are potato chips, pop and cigarettes, the mini-Tesco-type stores here stock products from just about every department of their larger versions...and at the same prices. I think this is a reflection of the fact that people still prefer their small local store, and their local butcher and baker.

In smaller villages, not big enough for a mini-Tesco, but too small for a local owner to compete with someone willing to drive to a place like Stow-on-the-Wold for groceries, village shops have been closing at a rate of about 400 per year. Sad, isn't it?

But all is not lost. In true "Keep Calm and Carry On" British fashion, they are being replaced by community-run shops. These shops do more than just ensure you can get milk without having to drive 10 miles. They help those who are more confined to their village. They help support local produce farmers, bakers and butchers. They offer paid and volunteer jobs to locals. But most important, they provide a way to bring communities together because everyone benefits. They are helping to save a congenial way of life.

Our friends, Stuart and June, who live in the beautiful village of Market Overton in the county of Rutland, help their local community-run shop by driving to the butcher and bakery in the next town to pick up stock. High quality food is offered at a reasonable cost to anyone in the community.

In Bledington, the village we stayed in this past weekend, Phil stopped to buy an apple from a box at the end of a lane. Next to it was a collection box asking for a donation to go toward funding a village shop and cafe there. The village has a population of only 490 people and yet more than 250 residents are members of the group working to build a shop. They've already raised ₤100,000 pounds and have plans drawn up.  Kudos! ... Feel free to click the link and donate... ;-)

Well, enough about shopping. I really should get back to work now. But hold on; the cottage owner's miniature long-haired Dachshund is out playing on the lawn. How cute is that! Oh, and look the sun is out...perfect for pictures...and those trees keep waving at me to come outside ...