Peter and I were in Fishguard this afternoon. Peter and Iwere the only shoppers in Fishguard at all this afternoon. (I use the term 'shoppers' loosely as most of the few shopswere closed.)

In the Pharmacy,Peter bought some gel for his gum, which he'd scraped on a hand-sliced, pan- fried, sea-salted, vacuum-packedhard crisp; ('Don't buy them again, I prefer the ordinary ones', he muttered).

I went to the Cancer Charity shop and bought Chaucer's 'Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale', which I've already got but can't lay my handson, so at forty pence it was a bargain and saved me hunting.

We should have arrived in Fishguard on horseback, two strangers roughly jerking our mounts to a stop and gazing over the territory around us, pushing our hats to the back of our heads and narrowing our eyes against the dust but this wasn't 'High Noon' so we camethe usualway, in the car, Peter driving. (He wouldhave to be half dead beforesitting in the passenger seat).

Just like in the Hollywood version of things, there was a funeral in the distance, butthere were few mourners there, so it did not have much effecton the paucity of shoppers.

There was plenty of room in the car park, thirty pence for two hours. I decided they should be paying us for coming, not charging.(Some people's minds work differently from mine. A friend complained the charity cards she was selling weren't popular so, although I'd already had one pack, I said I'd have another. 'That will be double what you paid last time', she said, 'because I want to look as though I've made some money'). Mmh.

'Fishguard's like a ghost-town', Peter commented. 'There's nothing here'.

Pembrokeshire relies on its tourist industry, but this year,hotels have not fared too well.(This is true for other places as well.) A recent television programme featured Tenby, a pretty town with Georgian villas anda coastline to rival the Amalfi Coast. Aboat sails to Caldy Island, rather than Capri,in fine weather. The hotels are lovely, overlooking the sea, but there are too many empty rooms.

Pembrokeshire is not lacking in events: there isa 'Fish Week', a three-day County Show, a Classic Car rally, a tractor rally andpleasure flights from Withybush aerodrome, but caravans and self-catering are knocking the hotel trade.

Figures published recently show that despite European funding, Wales's prosperity has dropped. I love Wales and its rural communities and don't want our country to become the 'poor man' of Europe.

Before writing this, I ate a pot of 'Rachel's Dairy' organic gooseberry yoghurt.The brand was developed bya farmer's wife in mid-Wales when the milk tanker failed to reach the farm in the snow. Now it is a best-seller.This is thecreative thinking we need if we are to take our placesat the top table again.