Johan Dippenaar took the precaution of sitting down before picking up the phone in his office on 24 September last year. It was a public holiday in South Africa and the man on the other end of the line, the manager of Petra Diamonds' biggest mine, was supposed to be on holiday with his family.

Retailers returning to work yesterday after the bank holiday were buoyed by the news that the GfK NoP consumer confidence index rose for the first time last month since February. But after putting away their buckets and spades, life now gets serious for shopkeepers ahead of the so-called crucial golden quarter, when most retailers make the bulk of their profits.