Mike and I went to dinner last night at the home of his old college roomate, Ben, and his fiance, Lucy. They were so sweet! Such a proper English evening! Ben and Lucy prepared this amazing dinner, steak and potatoes and mushrooms, all of it organic. Actually, even the brownies and ice cream were organic. Lucy works at an organic market, so I learned a bit about the food market in the UK. Basically, one in every eight pounds spent in the UK is spent at Tesco, a chain of supermarkets and minimarts. Now, in order to save you, their loyal customer, and extra 10 pence on your weekly milk, they are forcing the dairy farmers to cut their profits so drastically they can barely make ends meet. Additionally, they have opened so many stores, and forced out so many independent stores nearby (can you say walmart?) that the majority of England has no other alternatives. Legally, they can't open any more supermarkets without becoming a monopoly, so they have begun opening metro stores, which are smaller, yes, but if you've ever lived in the city you know you frequently go wherever is nearest, no matter how big or small it may be. Also, the don't adapt at all to supply neighborhoods with any of the specialty items they were accostomed to getting at other independent shops. Whereas a year ago I could have gone to Ben and Lucy's neighborhood and picked up some much needed EasyMac, that store is now out of business thanks to Tesco. So - bad for farmers, bad for consumers, bad for UK. GRR Tesco GRR! but, yay Mike Ben and Lucy. Also, the three of them are going for a weekend trip on Ben's parents canal boat. I'm a little jealous! I love the canal boats, they are so cute! We pass about 50 of them on Regent's Canal on my way to work every morning. ah, sigh....