The Elephant in the Window

The client had promised feedback on yesterday's page proofs, but nothing had shown up by lunch time, so after a bite to eat I made my way in to town again (second day running). No car this time, making up for yesterday's semi laziness.

I actually went in to Brown Thomas's today rather than just use their car park like I did yesterday. The place is looking very festive (all in the best possible taste, of course), and there was actually a bit of a seasonal buzz about. I enjoyed my half hour's browsing there. I came out a different door from the one I'd gone in through, and that's when I spotted this bright and cheerful window display.

It was becoming drizzly as I made my way up Grafton Street, half-heartedly doing some window shopping for what might turn out to be Christmas presents. It never got any more serious than light drizzle, but even that was enough to get the traffic in a bit of a mess. It's at times like this that you'd be thankful for bus lanes.

But what am I doing? I still haven't mentioned the most important and significant thing that happened this afternoon. I called in to Conn's Cameras (which was actually the sole reason for going in to town at all) to enquire about the Lumix G3 that I'm interested in. We talked about Panasonic's Cashback offer and what I'd actually get if I went for the standard kit configuration (the lowest possible figure, as it happens, in the 'up-to 135 euro' offer). To sweeten the deal, they said they were currently throwing in Adobe Lightroom for free. Apart from talking about money, what I really wanted was to actually hold the camera and get a feel for it.

The staff couldn't have been more helpful, but then everything tok on a new dimension as I was playing with the G3 and we continued to talk about what I might get for my G9 on trade-in (not much, actually). Out of the blue, the bossman mentioned that they had a second-hand G3 on offer for 200 euro less than a new one would cost. I got to try that one too, fell for it instantly and put down a deposit. I'm to go back in tomorrow morning with the G9 all packed up to get a final trade-in price. But that's only a formality. I've done the deal anyway.

So this will be the last blip with my G9 (it's served me well for the past four years). A whole new photographic world opens up tomorrow.