I had forgotten the cable to connect my camera to my laptop. Of all the stupid things that I packed for the trip, 50 different USB cables, a USB hub, power adapters for devices I’d forgotten, not to mention devices whose power adapters I’d forgotten, I forgot the one thing that was absolutely necessary and planned-for. Not to mention irreplaceable, seeing as every camera maker in the world decided that their camera’s little hole should look different from all the other cameras’ little holes.

I walked into a little computer store on the strip in Fleet, Hampshire. Walking up to the pasty-faced, teenaged part-timer there, I introduced myself and shook his hand, which seemed to shock him.

He unconsciously wiped his hands on his pants and said, “eh...nice to meet you, sir. What can I do for you?”

I asked him, “do you have any USB card-readers?”

“Um, yeah,” he answered. “I think I saw some around here somewhere.”

I looked around the shop, which was organized and clean. Man, he must really be the FNG around here. He finally found what I was looking for, stored on a shelf right next to where he had been sitting. He handed it to me and I started reading the back of the packaging.

“Just looking to see if it works with my Mac,” I told him.

“Oh, it’s USB, so it should work,” he answered, and took the reader out of my hand. He moved his lips while he read the package. “Oh, yeah,” he said finally. “Right there it says it: ‘Requires Mac OS 9 or later’.” He looked at me skeptically. “So, you do have OS 9 or later, don’t you?”

“Um, yeah, I think so.” OS 9 went out of style back in the ‘90s.

He moved around to the register, and I handed him my Visa card. He looked uncertain as he turned it over in his hand. “This thing doesn’t have a chip on it?”

I took it back and examined it. “No, I guess it doesn’t.”

“Well, I don’t think we can take that, then.”

“Why don’t you just swipe it,” I said. “Give it a go.”

He shrugged and swiped it through the machine.

From behind me, a voice said, “it’s all chips nowadays, you know.”

I looked around, and saw that an older woman was standing behind me. She looked to be in her mid 40s, and wore a name plate with the store’s logo on it. “You can’t get nothing without a dozen little chips in it.”

I nodded agreement, and turned back to the young man behind the register.

“So, what kind of Mac you got, then?”

“A PowerBook G4.”

He nodded approvingly. “Nice piece of kit, that.” The little machine that had taken my card made a loud ping!, and spit out a receipt. He tore it off and gave it to me to sign, along with the card reader.

“Now, you have a nice day sir, and do please visit us again.”

I thanked him, said goodbye to the chip-lady, and put the small package into my bag next to my laptop. “Thanks, man, I’ll do that.” Nice kid.