WHY AM I NOT SURPRISED?

13 September 2003

I knew how it would end up two days ago. Who was she kidding?

Two days ago, the sale sheet for the local store, Big-W, came.

"Let's look at the cameras," she said. "Chris needs one and I told her I'd look around for her."

Yeah. Right.

The camera she'd read about was there--the Casio R-4, 4 megapixels, does-everything-but-the-dishes model was on sale. But there was another one too. This is the R-40 and it won't do dishes or dust, but it does just about everything else.

"Hmmmm," she said.

Yeah. Right.

So today we took the day off to do home stuff. She washed clothes, I hung them on the line (great physical therapy--all that stretching the arm up). She did a bit of a clean up. We both showered. We were in the car by 9:30 headed to the mall.

The purpose of going to the mall was to buy internet access for the next 10 days so we can have it while on the road.

"While we're there, we'll pop into Big-W and have a look at the Casio for Chris," she said.

Yeah. Right.

On the way to Big-W, we stopped in at a camera store to see about getting a camera lens to replace mine, which broke about a month ago. No luck, but as we were leaving, there in the window was the Casio R-40, on sale. Not as cheap as the Big-W ad but there it was, just a window away.

She asked to hold it. I knew what was coming. It's about the size of a pack of cigarettes, only thinner. Does amazing things. Has incredible quality.

Could they match the Big-W price, she asked? The clerk conferred with her manager, went to Big-W to get their quoted price, came back and said that yes, they could.

While she was away, Peggy was checking out the camera.

"Are you really buying that for Chris?" I asked.

"Well, I'm going to try it out first," she said, a smile playing on her lips.

Before the sale had been rung up, she was already talking about "if" she decided to offer it to Chris and by the time she'd played back the test photos she'd taken with it, she was saying that she would have to suggest to Chris that she go to Big-W and buy her own camera.

After all, Peggy hadn't bought a new digital camera in...oh...weeks, at least. Some folks collect stamps or Beanie Babies. Peggy collects digital cameras.

So we called Chris so that Peggy could tease her with "I bought you a new toy, but I've decided to keep it." We were invited over for a visit and tea.

Chris loved the camera. "I need to get one," she said.

"You want one?" Peggy asked. "Want to go get one now?" There was a definite gleam in her eye.

"Yeah!" Chris said. Janne rolled her eyes.

"You want one?" Peggy asked me.

"uhhh....yeah," I said, softly, thinking that it would be fun to learn the cameras together, and knowing I'd learn it much better under Peggy's tutelage.

Off they went, while Janne and I sat at home drinking tea.

Within an hour they were back and the three of us had our Casios. The next half hour was filled with the noise of beeps and instructions and guesses on what button did what.

Now as we set off on our driveabout on Monday, we'll have about 10 different cameras (ok...slight exaggeration) with us to experiment with.

I knew as soon as that ad came out, we'd be doing this. "I'm getting this for Chris." Yeah. Right.

When we left Janne & Chris' we raced off to the store to buy food, because Peggy had invited them to join us for "tea" (dinner for the Yanks) and we had to buy veggies, then rush home to straighten up just in time for their arrival.

Peggy made a great corned beef dinner with all the trimmings (proving that she really can cook).

Janne and Chris arrived about 30 minutes before the start of the next playoff game of "footy" (Australian football), and as we sat down to dinner, the game had just started. Since I was only seeing (or not seeing, as the case may be) my second game of footy and since the others were passionately interested, seating at the table was arranged accordingly.

It's hard to know whether the outcome of the game was what was desired, since there were divided loyalties among the fans in the lounge, but I was out in the kitchen washing dishes.

No sightseeing today, just at-home stuff, which was really very nice.

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