Lucy, one of my favourite characters from the comic strip Peanuts, called her little brother Linus a ‘clumsy ox’ when he messed up or dropped something that belonged to her. I use that phrase quite liberally for my beloved offspring because: a) it’s snappy and apt and; b) it rolls easily off the tongue. But this is one time that I had to use it on myself, not once but several times.
A visit to Mont St Michel earlier this April was going to be the highlight of my trip to France. I had been looking forward to it for months. I had armed myself with a camera (a fairly basic digicam loaned to me by my daughter), ensured that the battery was fully charged, had my mobile camera too for back up; and wonder of wonders- the weather forecast for the day was ‘bright and sunny’ What could possibly go wrong?
What indeed?! In my excitement on seeing the place and wanting to take as many pics as possible (no I did NOT drop the camera), I fumbled with the settings and unbeknownst to me; changed them from the usual, safe, ‘Auto’ to something else entirely. And off I went, clicking away at all I saw. We started from the terrace of the Abbey and the breathtaking view of the steeple. The sea at low tide all around us stretched towards a distant horizon. The imposing interiors of the cathedral where a mass was in progress. The large dining hall where the monks used to have their meals. And many other interesting arches, doorways and carvings- I eagerly snapped the shutter at them all.
Yup, I had somehow changed the settings to something called ‘Fisheye’ which for the life of me I couldn’t figure out when or how. I never even knew that such a setting existed because who would want to use something that makes pics come out so ghastly. It only finally registered on my feeble brain that something was wrong with the settings when my friend took my picture through the ‘fisheye’. That’s when I felt that I couldn’t possibly look this bad- even on my worst bad-hair day. (Score One for vanity here) Which made me review all the pics I had taken earlier. And which got me fiddling with the blasted settings in a desperate search for the good old, reliable ‘Auto’.
But by then we had passed through half of the abbey. I made a apologetic phone call home, listened to the rantings of the camera owner and resolved to never ever, ever use my fat fingers on the camera to do anything other that switch ‘On’ and ‘Off’ and ‘Click’. I am so Not a gadgety person.
Anyway, I did redeem myself by taking some decent pics of what remained of the abbey for us to see. And I went overboard on buying souvenirs to soothe the ruffled feathers of those back home who had been waiting to see a monument that looked like it was right out of ‘Lord of the Rings’ (Duh)
Be that as it may, these pics will always remind me of my ‘clumsy ox’ moment. Thank God I still have my memories of one of the most magnificent monuments that I have ever visited. So far.
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