Finally, it is done: I have killed my Lumix compact camera, the one that’s almost always with me and with which I have taken the majority of the photos on this blog. Here’s the good news – it’s time to go shopping for a new one. In Bordeaux!
I’ve had the Lumix for several years and it has served me well, but I’ve never really liked it. Its workings are so obscure, and the 400-page online manual so impenetrable, that I only ever got to grips with a tiny fraction of what it was capable of doing.
How did it die? I left it out on the roof of the boat, and it drowned in an exceptionally heavy dew. I tried leaving it in the sun to dry out – that worked once with a similarly abused iPhone – and then cleaned the battery terminals, all to no avail.
With some relish, therefore, I pronounced it dead and started an online search for its replacement. I like the Canon brand – I’ve had Canons forever – so it didn’t take long to decide on the Canon PowerShot G7x.
The murder was perfectly timed, just in advance of our visit to Bordeaux, just 77km from where we were moored (all right, broken down) at Fontet on the Canal de Garonne. Retail giant Auchan stocks Canon cameras; so Roy identified the Auchan closest to central Bordeaux, in Mérideck shopping centre (where it takes up three entire floors), and instructed the Garmin to take us there.
Note that all these Bordeaux shots are taken on my iPhone – you can probably see the difference. An iPhone camera performs better in good light; the grey skies made things a lot worse!
Auchan’s range of Canons did not include the PowerShot G7x. A good thing, in retrospect: we got to see more of the surrounding area, as the salesman directed us to another Canon supplier. That was a ten-minute walk away, through the main shopping district – across Place Gambetta, through Porte Dijeaux (the city’s Western gate) to Rue Saint-Catherine.
Once I’d bought my new G7x (€599) at FNAC , we wandered through the pedestrianised streets along with the rest of the Bordeaux population.
Fortuitously, the district was having a three-day braderie, or clearance sale, with tables out on the streets and a great shopping atmosphere. You might not have taken Roy for a Zara man, but he was the first to spot my favourite store. As usual, I was able to find a perfect something ; that’s quite easy to do when, like me, you have absolutely nothing to wear.
Then he treated me to my favourite L’Occitane lavender bubble bath, and splashed out on a lovely shiny new kettle* at Le Creuset to replace the already-rusting one we bought in haste at John Lewis in Reading, UK, a couple of years ago.
*Note for landlubbers: Boat people need a gas stovetop kettle, because an electric ones draws too much power.
Bordeaux Cathedral is as splendid as you would expect. Here are two shots taken by someone else, on exhibition inside the cathedral:
So much for the professionals: here’s a selection of my own iPhone shots on a dull day.
Next up is a two-day trip to the Atlantic coastal resort of Arcochon – armed with the new camera!
