Sometimes it's painfully clear to me why our economy is in the mess it is...
Boy #2 recently dropped our 7 year old digital camera. Thankfully, it wasn't the really expensive one (the one that never gets used and which was bought more recently in a moment of unsupervised madness by Husband, which I am too scared to ever to take out of the house - for good reason, it turns out), and it still takes a decent shot, but the lens cover no longer closes when it's not in use. There's also a little teeny dent in it, but I've carried on using it and the picture quality seems fine.
Since we're staying at my parents for a week or more, however, I thought that it might be a good opportunity to get the lens cover fixed. I took it into the local camera repair shop, and after showing it them the damage, had the following conversation.
Me: "....so, can you fix it?"
Shop assistant (sucks in air through his teeth and looks doubtful): "Well, we can. But honestly, you might just as well buy a new one. Once things start to go on these cameras, you just need to do one repair after another."
Me: "Oh. Right. But it hasn't 'started to go', it's been dropped. And it still works. I just want to the lens cover to close when it's not in use."
Him: "Still..."
Me: "Well, how much would it cost to repair it?"
Him (more sucking of teeth): "Oh. Probably £60, £70?"
Me: "Right. And how much to buy a new one?"
Him: "Well, we sell the latest version of these for around £250."
Me (doing some teeth-sucking of my own): "Well, £60 to repair it does sound a little cheaper than £250..."
Him: "Yes, I suppose it does, really..."
As it happens, I didn't get it repaired; the time it would have taken was longer than we had (More tooth sucking "You've chosen the busiest time of year to bring it in, you know..."). But neither did I buy a new one. Instead I bought some cleaning papers to keep with the camera so I can make sure there's no dust on the lens when I use it. The price? £1.50.
