I came across an old country guide the other day. It listed all the tradesmen in each village in my part of the country and it was impressive to see the great variety of services which were available on one's own doorstep in the late Victorian countryside.        Nowadays a superficial traveler in ruralprefix = st1 /Englandmight conclude that the village tradesmen still flourishing were either selling frozen food to the residents or selling old things to visitors. Nevertheless. This would really be a false impression. There has been smaller village commerce ,but its vigor is still remarkable.        Our local grocer's shop, for example, is actually expanding in spite of the competition from supermarkets in the nearest town. Women prefer to go there and exchange the local news while purchasing, instead of purchasing up at a supermarket. And the shop owner knows well that personal service has a substantial cash value.        His prices may be a bit higher than those in the town, but he will deliver anything at any time. His assistants think nothing of bicycling down the village street in their lunch hour to take a piece of cheese to an aged woman who sent her order by word of mouth with a friend who happened to be passing. The wealthier customers telephone their shopping lists and the goods are on their doorsteps within an hour. I also find it satisfactory because a village shop offers one of the few ways in which a modest individualist can still get along in the world without attaching himself to the big groups of industry or commerce.        Most of the village shopkeepers I know, are individualists in their ways. For example, our shoemaker stares with a cold look at the pairs of cheap, mass-produced shoes taken to him for repair. Has it come to this, he seems to be saying, that he, a craftsman , work upon them. And he makes beautiful shoes for those who can afford such luxury . What is the village shoemaker's reaction to mass-produced shoes?
He considers they are not worth the effort of mending properly. He is angry with the customer for bringing in such rubbish. He looks down upon the low quality of industrialized products He hates those people who do not buy his handmade shoes.