One thing that I didn't mention yesterday about my trip to Invergordon was that I'd gone all the way up there without realising that my digital camera had run out of batteries. I nipped into a shop and bought the cheapest I could find, which was 99p for four Panasonic AAs. I've never quite understood why batteries come in the same classifications as bras, but never mind. Anyway, when I tried my camera again, it simply froze on me after taking one photo of the QM2 (added below). It opened the lens and just wouldn't close. I was very annoyed.Today, I popped into the store where I bought it, only to find that I was past my warranty, and they could do nothing for me except make me wait 6 to 8 weeks. That was the response of another camera shop in town too, which was not what I wanted to hear exactly a week short of my trip to Australia. When I got back to the office, I phoned a few more places that I found on the web (one even in Colchester) only to get the same response. Desperate, I texted 63336, the Any Questions Answered people. For a pound, they told me of a place in town that could do repairs. Not only was the number wrong, but when I eventually tracked the right number down and called them it transpired they didn't do repairs at all.

Somewhat upset at the thought of having to buy another digital camera, or even worse go without photos, another websearch directed me to All Experts, a web-based and free version of AQA. Within a few hours of me writing to a camera expert with the problem, I'd received back a warm and friendly email with a jardon-free diagnosis: it was more than likely the batteries. It seemed, he explained, that some batteries aren't powerful to make a certain strength of motor work. The very nice man even comiserated with me on my dilemma and reassured me that getting a new camera would be better than missing out on capturing all my Australian memories. So, on my way home from work I bought some Duracell batteries, put them in, and the camera now works perfectly.

And so the moral of today's blog is: