Da dah!

Fanfare or death knell? We have yet to find out.

Today a new supermarket opened in Roujan down by the cave co-operative. As you can see it's a Hyper U and pretty big. Montpellier Football Club turned up to sign autographs; there were hot-air balloons (though it was too windy for them to get airborne); and for some reason yet to be explained, a display of chickens and livestock (I'm wondering if the cockerel is supposed to symbolise the dawning of a new age? Mmmm, bit tenuous. )

And here's the rub. Til now Roujan has been a heavily shopped village boasting 2 bakers, 2 butchers, 2 mini-supermarkets, 2 garages, 5 doctors, 1 pharmacy, 1 funeral director, 1 florist, 2 hairdressers, 2 bars and 3 estate agents. One of the butchers, M. Bordes, sold the land for the supermarket and is the franchisee. He's closed his shop in the village and opened a new one in a corner of the supermarket. The post office and the pharmacy are also closing and moving down the road to become part of "the mall" and he's instituted a "navette" (a minibus) to run up and down the hill every quarter of an hour to pick up the elderly who are used to shopping at least once a day in the village.

To be honest the supermarket looks great but there's not a single outsider here who welcomes it. All we Brits, Germans, Irish Dutch and Scandanavians know all too well the impact of supermarkets on small shops in villages and we don't expect them to survive. Our French neighbours, meanwhile, seem thrilled at the notion of cheaper prices close by.

We're hoping that Roujan isn't going to lose it's heart. Watch this space.