A catastrophe has befallen me. I hope you realise that when I say "catastrophe" it means someting really bad. The last time I used the word was when the summer holidays started and I couldn't go to my dearly-beloved school anymore.

I even wrote a haiku on this recent catastrophe.

 

today I weep for

my faithful camera which

served me long and well

 

 on this sad morning

the tool of my trade breathed

its last and expired

 

I hope you can deduce from that positively tragic poem that my camera is no more.

I'll relate to you the catastrophe and how it came about in prose, which makes it easier for you (and, I admit, me).

Yesterday evening I was photographing a mantis in the last glow of sunset. Suddenly the camera went off. I, alarmed, took out the battery, replaced it - and did the same with SD card and lens, to no avail. Puzzled and distressed, I left the camera for a while and came back to it. Now it turned on. Thankful, I put it in the cupboard and went to bed.

This morning I wanted to photograph the dew. I took the camera outside, turned it on and was about to take a photo when - it went off again. And now, five hours later, it's still off and it seems that it's likely to stay that way. Thankfully there's Dad's camera I can use, and my little point and shoot, but neither are as good as mine - and Dad's camera's flash doesn't work, so I probably won't be able to take any macros. I'm going to phone a camera shop in England tomorrow - they're shut at the weekends - and describe the problem and ask if it's fixable and how much it would cost. Otherwise I don't know what I'm going to do! I've got enough money to buy another camera, but the problem is that I'm saving my money - to buy the 150-600mm Tamron lens. But after that I was going to get the Nikon D750. I could save up for that first, but while I'm only £200 away from the Tamron, I'm £500 away from the camera. It's going to take me absolutely ages to get that much money. But do I want to buy a new camera to keep me going and get set back a few hundred pounds? Oh, gosh, I don't know!