As soon as I saw the office set-up I knew that this would never work. ETS and PC led me through the front of HMV to the cordoned-off work area. Four long tables were arranged in board room style, set up with laptops for about a dozen programmers. One by one the colleagues took their places and settled down to work for the day. Then the caterers arrived with the daily lunch delivery and placed each individual sandwich order at the appropriate spot.

PC had promised that I’d soon be online with all the facilities I needed to tackle my e-mail backlog. However, although I was thankful to the technician who booted up a machine for me, I was not prepared to wade through my work from a green screen text-only interface that dated from the 1980s. A Pink Floyd soundtrack piped in from the shop confirmed my decision. I packed my bag and headed home to my Mac and dongle.