In this general area, which is flat and rural, small towns and villages crop up every few miles. They contain few shops and those that do exist are invariably closed. One senses that commercial opportunism is something the French are disdainful or ignorant off. However, wherever we went, one could be sure to find a supplier of surgical footwear, trusses and the like. Napoleon mocked England via his "nation of shopkeepers" tag; at least we had shops which supplied a nice variety of food and other essentials for which we had some use.