No, folks - this one isn't a quandary - looking for a solution. It's an essay - about irony. It's also a story which will ring bells with some of you, as I know some of you have been in the same place, at one time, or another. It is also, a statement - about the fragility of some parts of our cameras. It's also, a story about all those things which can go wrong, go wrong, go wrong - virtually, at the same time, and - invariably - when
you're in a hurry, and you need to get something done before a huge snow-storm is about to hit. Right?

A word to the squeamish - this is NOT a quick read. It's a complicated scenario, and to fully understand it - you need to spare a few moments in time - to read, in depth, and to fully understand the picture painted.

Herewith: my latest opus ... I do hope you enjoy it. Please feel at liberty to comment on any part of it ...

Losing It!

After I came in, after doing the front steps - I was soooooooooo overjoyed - that I'd actually completed a job I said I would do, today - I decided to go back outside and photograph the image representing all my hard work. Started to photograph it all from the door, thought then - it'd make a better pic - if I went down near the car, and took a picture, facing back UP the steps ... so, I walked down to the car, and absent-minded-ly - dislodged the lens cap, intending it to HANG from the barrel - with the elastic tether I have around the lens barrel of MOST of my cameras (don't usually use them on Macro lenses, as they get in the way, during close-up shots - for them, I usually just take off the cap, and put it on the side - inside, and in my pocket, outside.) Imagine my surprise, then, when I heard that unnatural sound of plastic falling on cement!!! ... I looked down, and there I saw my priceless lens cap, with the big orange "S" on the front - looking back at me. Oh, drat!!! I thought ... what a bummer!!! Hope I didn't break the damned thing ... these things are so damned pricey, and now Sony seems to be getting out of the DSLR market completely - to concentrate on its Mirrorless line - doubt whether it'll be easy to get a replacement. So, I bent down, and picked it up, finding it - luckily - seemed to have survived the fall - initially, at any rate, so I pocketed it, composed my shot, and took it ... only to find a follow-up shot attempt was met with the dialogue on-screen "Battery is exhausted" - so, I came on in, getting ready to slide out the dead battery and replace it with the backup, all the while, fiddling with the cap, as I marched forward - but, it just would not click into place. Decided to sit down on my chair in the LR, after first sliding out the exhausted battery and putting it into the wall charger, and plugging it into the strip - then sliding the back-up out of the pocket Velcro'd onto my camera strap, and dropping it into the chamber, then - turning over the cap, as I switched on the spotlight on the pillar behind my chair, and put on my glasses, simultaneously - so I could examine the cap, to see why it did not seem to want to "click" into place ... and was suddenly amazed to see there seemed to be a piece missing out of the locking mechanism. Quickly, I got up, went to the door, and looked at the ground in front of the freshly-swept steps, to see if there was something black just laying there on the ground - no doubt, anticipating setting itself as some kind of booby trap for me - next time, I got ready to bundle myself into the car. And, there it was!!! At first, I put it down as some kind of crack, in the pavement, but as I gently dragged my toe along on top of it - I became quite surprised to find it moved in unison with my foot, so I bent down, picked it up, slid it into my pocket, and since I was out there with the camera, and now I had a LIVE battery in the chamber - decided to run off a few back-up shots - from BOTH directions, this time - BOTH - looking up, and looking back down! Then, I tumbled myself back into the house, where it was warm, and nestled myself back down into my chair, as I slid the black spindly thing out of my pocket and attempted to work it back into the mechanism of the lens cap.

To my surprise, I discovered it just wasn't possible ... not only had this "u" shaped piece dropped out, but, in order to become dislodged - it had snapped - presumably, when it hit the pavement. Worse still, I noticed the OTHER "u"shaped piece on the other side of the lock mechanism - had ALSO snapped - meaning - the lens cap was a total bust!!!! ... Time to put it away, then - and look for an alternative means to protect the glass. So, I began rummaging around in my gadget bag, and came across another lens cap (sans orange "S") but pre-tethered - so, I breathed a sigh of relief, and happily attempted to replace my shattered lens cap with this other one, but, as I went to slide the tether around the barrel, I suddenly sensed something amiss ... and that stopped my motion, in its tracks. This cap was smaller than the one I just broke - not by much, but smaller enough so that I knew it'd never work. Took a look at the size engraved on the underside of the broken one - 62mm ... then took a look at the other one - 55mm - stared back at me. Nope! ... That wasn't going to work!!! So, I resigned myself to the fact, I'd boxed myself into a hole, and decided to put the camera back away into the gadget bag, with the lens nose down, providing the most protection I could possibly afford it, in the present situation. As I did so, a light-bulb went off in my head as I suddenly remembered that 18-250 lens I had on my old a77 which I didn't really use that much, anymore as a) the card in it was pretty full, and I had no way to replace it at the moment ... and b) the lens was pretty useless, anyway ... as it only acted normally up to around 55-60mm ... at which point, it goes berserk, and never stops - attempting to find focus ... and c) the lens cap on it, anyway - is pretty shoddy - as it doesn't lock too well - it never did ... since I GOT the lens ... but still - when you first put it on - it seemed to snap in place - loosely - but enough so, that it'd be a better fit than the one I'd just broken - so then - I started rummaging thru my other bags - looking for the one that held the a77 with the 18-250 on it, with the wobbily lens cap. Then, all of a sudden, after opening several bags, and not finding the a77 ... I opened yet another one, and saw at once - the Navaho Indian colors of the Capturing Couture strap I'd put on my a77 II - and suddenly - everything fell into place!!!! ... It was NOT the a77 II - my GOTO camera - I'd taken out earlier - in order to shoot my handiwork on the front steps - it was the older a77 model, with the messed-up 18-250 lens on it - with the already-broken lens cap!!! ... No wonder I let the lens cap drop!!! ... The one on the 16-105 on the a77 II - IS tethered!!!! Somehow, then - I knew - there WAS a God - looking over me!!! I breathed a sigh of relief, then - for I knew - then - All IS alright, with the world!!!! .... Happy Holidays to all ....

Chris, curiosity compelled me to have a look at a US site for rise and run dimensions.
Where you are, they say the rise/run combination should only be 20 inches.

The rise and run on my back steps is only 17 inches, but having said that, my toes
always extend over the back of the step when going up them and I'm
only 5' 9"... hence I placed "no slip" on the very trailing edge of each step
after I recently painted that area with the "pale eucalypt" colour you see in my photo.

That part of the building was added (a "sun room") by the very short Maltese
family that owned the property before me... I guess that explains the smallish dimension of
17 inches.