Curry's and PC World- truly an eye opening store.

Curry's and PC World- a truly an eye opening store.

There was nowhere else to be on a Thursday afternoon in North London. You had to be there because these are the kind of places you normally visit on  Thursday afternoon a couple of days before the May Bank Holiday. Throughout Britain there are hundreds of industrial parks heavily populated with all the shops you could possibly ask for. These are those giant commercial operations with the emphasis on buying in bulk or just loading up for the summer barbecue season.

 You must have popped in to them on a frequent basis because they really do stick out like a sore thumb. In fact such is their high visibility that you can hardly miss them. They beckon you into their palaces of commerce with the most seductive of fingers. Time to buy, buy and buy. Time to make those essential transactions that make our homes so complete.

This afternoon my wife and I strolled into Curry's and PC World which used to be known as ordinary Curry's until some enterprising capitalist decided to merge with PC World and this is the result. Now it isn't often I sing the praises of an electrical store but here goes. Curry's and PC World is just sensational, a vast emporium of everything you could possibly want in the heady world of high tech.

Can you imagine what the local high street must have looked like 50 years ago? Is it possible that one day we would have so much disposable income that we simply wouldn't know what to spend it on? There were no I- Pads, no Tablets, no Internet, no TVs the size of stately homes and no appliance that resembled something you'd find in some futuristic spaceship. The whole of the world now is so far removed from days of yesteryear that you have to blink twice before realising that you're still living in Britain rather than some distant galaxy.

Most industrial parks find that, generally speaking, a Homebase is a vital necessity in case you need the traditional lawn mowers, shears, watering can, a greenhouse, trusty tins of paint and. of course the obligatory plants for the hall or an ornate ornament for the mantelpiece. You could also add a plentiful supply of compost and manure before shutting the car boot with a heavy thump. You couldn't really squeeze anymore into one car and yet you still feel an enormous sense of achievement. Oh don't forget the bags of charcoal for that barbecue.

And then you could seek out Curry's and PC World because everybody needs a sophisticated gadget that buzzes, hums, makes childish noises and then chants with all the fervour of a choir boy at Sunday mass. Today's electrical appliances are  so clever and accessible that they almost seem to spark into action as soon as you pick them up.

Curry's and PC World is the perfect answer to all of your high tech problems and complications. It has everything from fridges, cookers, TVs, red, purple, and pink kettles that sit together on one shelf like a well drilled regiment of soldiers and a whole variety of gizmos and paraphernalia that go pop, crackle and snap But these are no ordinary kettles because they can whip up proper cups of cappucino, kettles that have dramatically changed our whole approach to hot drinks and beverages.

Then as you look around  you are suddenly confronted with more stuff that goes ping, things that  flash from a distant screen, rows of freezers, ovens, and DAB radios that are so small that they're almost totally inconspicuous. And you may have missed something but never mind there's always the Bank Holiday on Monday. Hold on they're shut on the Bank Holiday so we'll have to do without a fridge over the weekend. On second thoughts we've got to eat so it's time to jump into the car and converge on the conservatories. Those cupboards and draws look so inviting and we do need those irresistible orchids. Oh we mustn't forget the sheds and the latticework for those blooming roses. Now they look a bargain.

Anyway it's time to finish our whirlwind tour of Tottenham Hale industrial park, a huge estate of food and drink, shelves stacked with monumental goods and produce, an exciting combination of the practical and the logical, and of course the things you feel drawn to and have to get. This is the mindset of the 21st century shopper in industrial parks. You are terribly spoilt for choice and maybe in this age of immediacy and urgency you have to satisfy that insatiable thirst for more and more. We now live in a age of almost ravenous materialism where everything has to be bought, shown off to the neighbours and proudly paraded.

So before we left our local industrial park we had to pay the briefest of visits to the one and only Argos. Yes that inimitable British institution called Argos had to be worth a fleeting glance or two. Now came the bombshell, a bolt out of the blue and a distressing revelation. The Argos catalogue is small, much smaller than it used to be surely. On closer inspection, it was indeed tiny, rather like a miniature sized version of the Argos catalogue but with even smaller pages. I began to feel almost short changed, deprived of my big book of Argos toys, games, clothes, furniture and classic prices for the people who just adore Argos.

But I'm sorry that Argos catalogue is seriously disappointing. In fact this is totally unforgivable. After all the pizzazz and extravagance of Curry's and PC World I was expecting much more from our friendly Argos, the only shop where you can actually see a conveyor belt behind the main counter and catalogues with shiny pages. There is something incredibly unique about Argos because very few shops can offer a whole library of catalogues in the front and those cute terminals where you can pick and choose at your leisure. This is a British shop that quite clearly stands out from the rest and is almost instantly identifiable if only for their conveyor belts and the staff with those lovely Argos badges. What a store.

That's it. We'd taken back a sound amplifier for our TV to Curry's and PC World. It was mission accomplished and it was time to plan our next expedition to an industrial park. Oh to be in England at the end of April. St George's Day has now passed into history and William Shakespeare's birthday seems to have been conveniently forgotten again. But to quote Al Jolson. Those April showers have come our way today. There was a milky white colour to the North London sky, an emulsion white paint look. And then very late April had its final weeping session. The clouds darkened and the rain fell steadily but not heavily. Maybe it was bidding a fondly emotional farewell to April. Do you know what I've got high hopes for May. Roll the drums.