This is where I do most of my shopping. Paris has Monoprix,  which pretty much stays in big cities. The countryside has a whole raft of options — Intermarché, HyperU, a bunch of them, all pretty similar. I go to Leclerc because it’s new and because of all the cheesy cafes that most of them have, Leclerc’s is the least bad.

These used to be big supermarkets. Now, though, they have gotten into draining the life of the city centers in a big way and are using the market as an anchor tenant, renting out space to pharmacies, laundries, all kinds of things. They add their own areas to sell clothes, housewares, appliances, so basically you are looking at a minimall.

I’d love to go into a rant about these evil city – killers but the French make that so difficult. When I finished my shopping at Leclerc I went into town and left empty – handed.  You see, it was midday on Monday. The shops were closed because they do that for lunch and also on Mondays. Double whammy. I’ll have to change my watch battery another day. Or maybe there is a watch guy at Leclerc.

After all, look what I can get there! I don’t want to think about what Old El Paso does to a tortilla to get it to last more than a day. I’m just going to wrap one around the poulet fermier I just roasted, maybe add some grated comté cheese and enjoy.