Pet Shop Boys.

Our village has a great collection of shops, including two hairdressers, a pharmacy, a butcher, a greengrocer, a deli, a Post Office and a Co-op. Among the many other businesses and facilities there's also a great pub, an terrific Indian take-away, an estate agent, a health centre, a dentist, a lovely community-minded church, a fish and chip shop, a fantastic primary school, allotments, a village hall, a car repair workshop, a big community centre, a fancy dress shop and no end of clubs and societies so, all in all, we're pretty well covered for anything!

Every now and then, though, you're reminded that perhaps it's not quite paradise when a business has to close, supposedly unable to compete against the lure of two big towns only minutes away with their big supermarkets and shopping centres.

Sadly, it was the turn of the village pet shop this week. Every day since it closed I've seen Poppy (who's actually a boy, allegedly!) desperately trying to get in to the empty shop. Although he belongs to the newsagents, he loved it in there - and the owner - and this morning he was meowing and scraping at the door to get in - it was quite heart-wrenching. The other village cat, Angus, was there too, but was somewhat less persistent.

Poppy's efforts paid off, though, as he did somehow manage to find his way inside after all. There he was, bold as brass, sitting on the shop floor looking out at me. I couldn't decide whether to blip that shot instead, but as my reflection was in it, I chose this one.