Sunday, May 17, 2009

Snapshots of Life

There are no pictures of my brother before about 4 months of age, and even then he is dressed in evil brown 1970s polyester and he looks quite rightly furious.

(If I lived any less than 8 THOUSAND miles away right now I would scan those pictures, but it will have to wait to July).

I always thought this lack of photos was odd, and that, coupled with the fact that he is only a year younger than me (which would mean for me to repeat that feat I would have to be pregnant right now! Ha! Holy Mother of God! No!) - these things mean I have always harboured a sneaking suspicion he is a changeling.

Hi Baby Brother!

Except we have exactly the same eyes, nose and mouth and when I walked in to a bar in his University town in North Wales the barman took one look at me and went "bloody hell, you have to be PW's sister". Not that flattering really considering he was at that point a 15 stone bruiser.

Anyhoo.

Back to the point of this. When I asked my Mum why there weren't more pictures of P. when he was an infant she said "your Dad's camera was broken". Which always made me think wha? No photos for posterity because you couldn't fix the camera? You couldn't find a way?

Well, for the last two months my camera has been broken and I haven't been able to take any photos, or more importantly, movies. Lucy has been growing and evolving, throwing out gymnastics moves and achingly cute gurgles and I have been glaring at her telling her we can't afford to record, so please, halt all development. LK obviously has his impressively large and manly camera so I've not been completely without a tool (bizarre sexual word play) but I've missed having my little point-and-shoot camera and my blog has become a barren wasteland of words when I know that all you really want to do is look at the pictures.

But then the recent wildfires made me realize that one of the things you grab in a natural disaster are your photos - your memories - and that made me quash my inner tight-wad and buy a new camera. I need, I want, I must have! I am a one-woman economic stimulus package. To hell with the expense, Lucy was experiencing serious second-child syndrome and I didn't want her growing up with a picture of her at birth and then one of her at graduation.

Except my inner Yorkshireman prevailed (short arms long pockets) and it appears I bought a camera without a memory card. Gah! Which is why there are no pictures from yesterday's ultra hip surfboard convention. An event that LK thought would be peppered with hot Roxy-clad chicks but was instead absolutely choc-a-block with mouth-wateringly athletic and sun-bleached surfer-boys and I had no camera! I can't apologize enough. That's just what you needed to look at with your cup of coffee and pastry on a drizzly Monday morning I know...

I will be buying a memory card today. Watch out world!

7 comments:

Ali said...

I have wondered about the lack of ohotos actually. Now I know. Poor LK, was he disappointed?

Eden Kennedy Onassis said...

Gah! I have an extra one! It's for a Sony Memory Stick PRO Duo, whatever the hell that means, and it's yours if you want it!

Unknown said...

Good for you for buying a new camera. I would have done the same thing, because the voice in my head would have been screaming "we'll never get this time back!!!! we'll never get a picture of her doing this again!!!" Yes, to stop the voices, I would have spent the money.

Tina Post said...

Can't wait for pictures. They can be a lifesaver when you can't muster the energy for words. ("Dear Mother in Law: Please see our picasa page. It tells all. Love. Bye.")

Life As I Know It said...

I am guilty of taking (and printing!) many more pictures of my first than my second.
I should know better since I'm the youngest of 4, too!
Have fun with the new camera - and memory card ;)

Expat mum said...

No excuse really given that you can buy a $10 throw away camera! Just kidding!!! My sister and I are a 11.5 months apart (beat ya) and the first photos of her are around the 4 month mark. Having had a few babies myself, unless it's your first, they just don't stand a chance! (No wonder they're all weird!)

bevchen said...

I have a camera that lets you store a few pictures on the actual camera itslef if you forget to put the memory card in. Very practical. (And sorry about that stupidly long sentence without any punctuation whatsoever. You wouldn't think my job involves me having to actually be good with language!)