No more supermarkets for me

Gone are the days when I'd rush into Stop& Shop and Purity and frantically push my cart around the aisle throwing things in from the ridiculous number of choices. I once counted 15 different types of oatmeal.

Even Migros and Co-op in Switzerland, although smaller, are impersonal, although choices are far more rational. A joke is you know you've lived in Switzerland too long when you think it is normal to have only one brand of anything on supermarket shelves. That is less true than a few years ago. Now Migros carries BOTH Coke and Pepsi instead of just Pepsi.

Food shopping in Argelès is different -- personal and fun.

Elisabeth is one of three green grocers. Where else when you bring an avocado to the cash register does the merchant shake her head and say, "Not good enough. Go get another?"

Her honey in a comb, the local fruits and veggies (origins are labelled) are good. If by chance she does not have what I'm looking for such as the day she would of fresh coriander, there's is another green grocer around the corner.

When there's time we chat, and rarely we might end up drinking coffee together at La Noisette.

Today when I bought potatoes as tiny or tinier then my thumb nail we exchanged ways to cook them. She does them with a little oil and garlic and I like to add sage. I'll try them her way and vice versa.

She flirts with "Rek" and gets him to use his French.

In Argelès there are six boulangeries because woe to the French family that doesn't have its French bread fresh from the oven at least once if not three times a day. This one tends to be our favourite for its cereal bread. Although bread is sold in loaves, baguettes and boules, they do slice it. Once it was mainly baguettes but now a variety of flours and shapes are available.

For years I'd used Michel's as my butcher. His fresh made mayonnaise I still believe is the best in town, but Rick encouraged me to try this one because of the young couple who are now running it. They are all smiles.

In both butchers, advice on how to cook it or meats cut to exactly way I want them is normal. And on the days they have off (for stores do close entirely one day a week and Sunday afternoons), there's a third.

All butchers offer prepared dishes. I did notice prawns in a salmon sauce, that I may want to try in the not too distant future.

This little grocery store has been here since I first came to Argelès in the 1970s. It was first owned by Jean-Pierre's parents, but now he and his wife Babette own it. It's less than 50 steps from my house and perfect for when at the last minute I realise I've forgotten an egg, a carrot or or or...

Jean-Pierre gives great advice about what wine to buy when I tell him I'm cooking this or that. He's never been wrong. He doesn't always choose the most expensive, but the one he thinks will marry best with the meal.

Babette is used to me shopping then coming back ten minutes later for the things I have forgotten.

They will retire at the end of June, which they deserve because they work hard. Jean-Pierre puts out his vegetables for the early morning shopped about seven and lugs them back in when the shop closes at seven at night. For their three-hour lunch break, for in Argelès shops close for three hours, they merely cover the produce with a blue tarp.

She knits and does cross stitch during the slow periods behind the counter. I watch her work progress.

They are also quick to help my good friend Barbara if her back is bothering and have been known to cat sit in a pinch.

Shopping isn't a chore anymore, it's an experience, a sharing of daily life in the village. And the best part, most of what I spend stays within the village and gets recirculated.