Strangely enough, the beautiful weather this weekend drove me outside. Other than checking email, Facebook and Adsense (the holy trinity) a couple of times, I pretty much stayed away from the Internet.
I’ve not been having a particularly good year – in fact, it’s been pretty terrible – so rather than my original plan to go back to Manchester to see some college and school friends, I decided to hide away at home. One of my school friends came to stay for the weekend and I ended up having a great time. Lots of sun, food and retail therapy 
On Friday I got an email telling me the camera lens I’ve been trying to buy for weeks was in stock at John Lewis. Given that it’s apparently quite hard to find and the Amazon seller price was considerably higher than the average at £720 (!!) I jumped at the chance and used their click and collect system to pick it up from town the next day (it’s like a posh Argos in their collection area, but it’s not particularly well-organised). I knew photography would be an expensive hobby, but when you see that Nikon micro fibre cloths retail at around £35-£40 – bearing in mind they are small micro fibre cloths in a miniscule pouch, the same kind you can buy in large unbranded forms from a supermarket for about £2 or get free when you buy a decentish TV – I’m beginning to feel completely ripped off. On the plus side, this lens is 18-200mm, so hopefully I’ll never need to buy a replacement and I imagine it’s ‘the’ lens – the one that will sit on my camera most of the time. The zoom is great compared to my kit 18-55mm lens.
Other than the fact that it was taken with my new lens, this photo has no relation to anything in this post
Back in the real world, we got a takeaway Friday night, and then we spent Saturday shopping. It was Zizzi’s for lunch – it was dead due to the popularity of the city centre market and the preference for cold food and drinks rather than full-blown Italian meals. After a bit more shopping I suggested Shakeaway, but ended up picking a peach frozen yoghurt rather than a milkshake as it was fat-free.
I’d suggested a BBQ in the evening as it was so hot, but Joe got back later than expected (he’s currently doing some exam invigilating at the uni), so we ended up starting pretty late. Just as he lit the BBQ there was a knock at the door – he’d invited some friends round and forgotten to tell me. Luckily I always buy too much food, so a BBQ originally intended for four stretched to seven without much difficulty. Our guests watched Eurovision whilst me and Joe frantically prepped and cooked. In the end, I think we pulled it off, and it was a lot more fun than hermiting myself away.
By Sunday I was beginning to feel quite tired out, not least because I’d gone to bed around 2am the previous two nights and got up at 8am (I just can’t sleep in, I don’t know why, so it’s stupid of me to go to bed late but I still do it). Not to mention that I did some cleaning round the house as well. I suggested we go to a localish park so I could take photos of the deer with my new camera lens – like an idiot I forgot to take a memory card and it was pretty busy people-wise with no deer in sight (they are free to roam so they tend to keep away from the busy spots although they are often in plain sight). Even though I dragged my camera there for no reason, it was really relaxing to have a picnic in the fresh air with a nice breeze (it was around 20-25 degrees C – I know, I know, ‘cold’ in a lot of places but hot for England in May (in fact, hot for the UK at any time of year).
Being the colour I am it takes me forever to burn, so I didn’t bother with sun cream (I know, naughty), even though I’m usually the first to be slathering on factor 30 or 50. Even one of the cats gets sun creamed on the ear by me (under advice from the vet) – he absolutely hates it and I regularly get disapproving looks from him throughout sunny periods. At the park, I had to cringe at the kids running round with bright red arms, backs and shoulders – I can’t believe parents don’t put sun cream on them for a day out in the sun, especially when they’re obviously hurting. It was painful enough to look at, I don’t even want to think about how badly it must hurt today.
In the evening I collapsed in front of the TV – it was a weirdly work-free weekend and I must have some more of those at some point! It wasn’t a cheap few days though, I probably spent around £800 at least, and I definitely can’t afford to do that again (yay for pay day) but it was a lot of fun.
And now I must really take some more photos with my new lens!
The problem with new lenses, I find, is that they always make you want to buy more. It doesn’t matter how often I tell myself that I don’t have any more room in my camera bag (in fact, I don’t have enough as it is right now), I can’t seem to shake the feeling that I need more.
Have fun with your new lens! I hope you’ll share some of your favourite new photos with us here.
It’s nice to stay home sometimes when you’ve been feeling a bit tired and to end up spending it with people you enjoy being around. Even though it means spending more money than you intended… it’s the end of the month, you’ll soon get payed, lol. That picture you took is stunning by the way!
I think it’s great that you were out enjoying the lovely weather. We’ve been getting similar weather in Canada lately. But unfortunately, I have been stuck inside working most of the time.
Sun, food, and retail therapy is awesome!
I’m glad the BBQ ended up going well, and that it didn’t put you in a worse mood! 
Haha, I don’t burn easily either, so I tend to forget to put on sunblock… BUT… I don’t want to get any darker than I already am now, so I’ve been trying to remember to put on sunblock. Hehe.
I’m no photographer, but that picture looks really good. It’s too bad that hobby equipment prices are never as low as they should be. The same is true for musicians and their equipment. It’s quite irritating, considering that musicians (and photographers) usually don’t make much money at all!
I hope that the good weather lasts! In my own experience, good weather makes people cheery.