Dearest reader, come with me and let us enjoy together the warm glow of satisfaction that comes from reading a till receipt that delights in its own detail. This is from a recent shopping spree in After Noah, in Islington. (Though in retrospect doesn’t it betray a day of careless frivolity?)

• Mini Stamp Set (8 Stamps with Ink), (1), £2.50
• Small Igor Wolf Moulin Roty Soft Toy, (1), £15.00
• Child s Slate Board & Pencil, (1), £3.00
• Badge/Pin, assorted words & pictures, (1), £0.60
• Small Squirty Goldfish 5cm, (1), £0.55
• Stretchy Man Smiley Yellow 6cm, (3), £0.90
• The Globe Ball Earth Ball Squeezable, (1), £1.80
• SUB TOTAL, £20.72
• VAT, £3.63
• TOTAL, £24.35

Marvel, as Anna and I did, over the attention to detail. And, yes, dearest reader, the ampersands really do appear like that. So you may share my additional wonder (but not Anna’s) that somewhere underneath this fraying till receipt from a two-shop operation is a beating heart of XML.