About two weeks ago, I had agreed to buy a secondhand Stanley Stove from a woman. When I arrived at her house to collect it, she opened the door and said, “You worked in Xtravision! I knew it was you!” I’d recognised her too and still meet loads of people, even twenty years later, who remember me from the video store. One of my now friends said, “Xtravision guy!” when she met me and my husband in a pub years ago. I now work with a guy who was 12 or 13 when he used to rent PlayStation games from me, and a guy in Waterstones who still reminisces with me whenever I pop into his shop about missing physical DVDs and the ritual of going in to get a few movies out on a Friday night. And I got my current job because I chatted to someone one afternoon, and the rest is history. 

I remember the incredibly old computer system used to rent out movies and games. There were weekly offers to get a movie, popcorn, and a bottle of something for just ten euros, and I remember the sound of rental boxes getting dropped into the return box at the front of the shop. The back of the shop was filled with stacks of rental boxes, food, and didn’t have any air conditioning, so it was very warm in the summer. I remember having to call people to remind them they were late returning their rentals and that they were being charged late fees. But I loved working there.