One of the issues we have had during our time in France is that our village has huge potential, but all the little shops and cafes dried up and left.  we have to get in the car and drive one or two villages over or into Toulouse to get  almost anything.  I have stood on my soapbox and bitched about it more than once.  Karma, it seems, has a sense of humor…

Just as we leave, a huge new shopping facility is being completed near the main Village traffic circle.  Every-time we drive by, there is something new and awesome going in and I start cussing.  Here is a short list of the shops that are opening JUST as we leave France:

1. Picard: It is like a whole store worth of stuff from the Trader Joe’s frozen food section.
2. Cheese shop that promises artisanal cow, sheep and goat goodness.
3. A wine shop that is the French version of BevMo with a climate controlled cave in the store where they sell “The Good Stuff”
4. An organic grocery store
5. A bakery that has been woo-ed from another village that happens to be a national medal winning pâtisserie and boulangerie.  Dammit!!
6. A real sushi restaurant that will serve both sashimi and maki.
7.  A real gym, with squat towers, benches, weights, machines, etc…

I swear to the GoT gods, old and new, that if I drive by and there is a tool shop with chisels and planes in the window I loose my mind!  I am really glad all this is opening, but why now?1  Why did it all have to wait till we were leaving?  to make us have second thoughts about moving home to Seattle?