This weekend, Mr C and I ventured into the outside world, and not only did we escape from the office but we also decided to go to shops. Actual brick and mortar retail establishments. This was never a big pastime for us, and particularly not now the internets is so useful.

However, a day away from the screens called, and we headed to Currys.

(As an aside, did I ever tell you about the time I went to PC World - ugh - looking for a particular piece of Mac equipment. I wouldn’t normally, you understand, but it was a late night, last ditch effort. The man shrugged. I went next door to Currys, owned by the same people, and the man said they had sold out but pointed me to the nearest Mac place (which was shut but he wasn’t to know I was in a rush) and gave me a card for out-of-hours supplier type people. Amazing the difference. PC World. Ugh.)

The last time Mr C was in Currys, a good few years ago now, there was a single aisle of Apple stuff. Not even an entire aisle, just a little section at the end of the crappy PC software headed up Mac.

Now, the moment we stepped inside the door, we were confronted with two full-length rows of Apple style wooden tabletops, with beautiful displays of Macs, iPods, iPads and screens. Lots of software was hidden underneath, and as we perused the selection for about five or six minutes, we were asked if we needed help by no less than three people.

Contrast that with further down the shop, when we were browsing the TVs (what we actually went in for) or the fridges (which we didn’t go in for but massively enjoyed anyway) and there wasn’t a shop assistant in sight.

Incredible what a difference the last few years have made. Incredible how Apple have made themselves the go-to consumer product. Incredible how annoying “can I help you” staff are. The margins must be just that important to them.