The Bar-Tabac at Miendrac, like many in the villages of the Midi-Pyr n es, is dusty, functional, dated. It survives only because, amongst the vineyards of the undulating countryside, there is nowhere else to have a drink and buy cigarettes. It was not always like this. When Jimmy and Helen Ross first knew it in the 1980s, the Bar-Tabac was modern, clean, busy, its terrace colourful with flowers. The owner was a reserved, middle-aged woman, who provided...