Here in almost every shop as you enter, you will hear a greeting from a usually unseen shop assistant “Morning Ma-dam”. My British politemess gene automatically forces me to mutter a response but I notice that many of my fellow shoppers simply ignore the staff. This level of attention I don’t mind. In fact it is good to know that someone has registered your presence unlike the UK where often its impossible to find anyone to answer your query. My pet hate is when they decide to follow you around or pop out from behind the racks to stand close, often very close beside you as if they are a good friend. Another oddity you have to get used to here is the fact that in many women’s clothing stores, it is young men who are realigning the clothes on the hanging rails, straightening the shoe display or refolding t-shirts on the shelves. Not certain why I find this off putting but I do.

Yesterday as I browsed round the City Mall sales there was usually someone standing a few yards behind me tracking my every move, ready to jump in if I so much as look at a label more closely. Get out of my space! The most off putting was the young man in Desigual who stood at my elbow as I moved around the store asking me what size, what colour, was there some specific? All too much for me, do I look like a potential shoplifter?