Napoleon once famously declared Britain to be 'a nation of shopkeepers', unfit to go to war with France (this was shortly before his defeat at Waterloo, ahem). In the centuries since, this throwaway Gallic insult has become something of a source of national pride, with the village shop being the heart and soul of any local community and a fiercely defended institution.
On Friday I re-blog something I came across during the week that I loved.
