Heard a nice little statistic recently: small shops/business in Britain employ 5 times the number of people that supermarkets do. I've always done a fair bit of shopping in non-chain establishments (and more so since Foot & Mouth) but I do like stats that shore up my beliefs.

sian...

... just noticing two college girls nude sun-bathing on the roof opposite the office - where have all the young men gone? (as a musical aside)