Anyhoo (yes "anyway" was already taken).

Decisions, decisions...

To Nikon D80 with 18-135 mm kit lens for £713 or not to Nikon D80 with 18-135 mm kit lens for £713? That is the question (well, one of them). It's one of those things where the more one thinks the more options become apparent, and yet there are a myriad of little (and therefore weak?) reasons to go with the D80 as is, which go beyond the natural to use and it just being very, very nice.

For the inevitable Googlers, the price is based on Jessops's standard but includes £50 off for finding a code to give me £50 off (more are listed here but, like a puppy, I think they might just be for Christmas given the words used. Rather unfairly the maximum percentage off varies with each step, from ten down to five and back up to eight).

And it's worrying when Jessops become the good guys and the nice little shop suggested I get a mint, reconditioned (what, it's green?) D50 they just happen to have for more than a new one costs.

Hmm, I know it's before Christmas (bad, bad time to buy), it's top of the range in that market, still fairly new technology and that it'll haemorrhage value, plus there's all the extras to sort out, including boosting this computer, but did I mention it's really, really nice, and in playing with it in the shop I didn't have to resort to the using the LCD screen once? And that it feels right? And that I... I can't say that, because I was always taught "'I want' doesn't get", but well, it's somewhere in that milieu.

Completely illogical, arguably unnecessary and yet...
Give me an ess, give me an em, give me an i, give me a tee, give me an e, give me an en and waddaya got?

And I kinda would like a decent camera before Brussels. Oh, remind me to actually mention the Belgian adventure to various people at some point before I go; it's only polite. If only we could kick Belgium out of the EU, I might be able to get away without paying duty or VAT (my family has slight history of, er, avoision. Did you know Gordon's gin bottles fit in binoculars cases? And who's going to notice a captain carrying his binoculars off the ship and then back on and off while he collects some missing paperwork? But then he was an expert in convoluted knots, such as those ideal for attracting bloodyminded customs and excise men; they see something that obviously took time and effort to do up and so demand it be undone, whereupon one end is pulled and the whole thing unravels to reveal the thoroughly mundane and boring contents. The excisemen look foolish and feel annoyed and so usher him out of their sight rapidly, neglecting to look in the loose bag slung over his shoulder. Whereas parts of the other side of the family have houses they can never sell because then the Inland Waterways or whatever they've renamed themselves might notice that somebody actually owns it).

Ok, I kinda would like a working camera of my own, full stop, period or if I'm feeling a bit hyper, bang (and what a daft name for a punctuation mark is that? It's as bad as calling a single straight line a 'pipe', which obviously should be =, O or F depending on meaning).

Anyway, I'm off to dream of bizarrely small response times.

I think it's probably the fact you can ignore that it's digital which hooked me; there's no need to flick between a dim viewfinder and this huge glowing screen to use the thing (which usually sends my eyes in an aching frenzy). So the feel, the fit and the use all seem to mesh with me. Is it wrong to like something because it suits one's body?

Of course, the real reason for procrastinating is that I will no longer be able to fairly blame the camera for all photographic failings.

Anyhoo,