There is some good news about my new camera in that it now has a name. I feel like pointing out that it’s definitely a male, after all, what else could the zoom motion of the lens so subtly indicate? Anyway, yes, his name is Hamish, possibly after Hamish Blake but that is yet to be confirmed or denied by the authorities.

Right, so while I love Hamish for his zoom and resolution (I’m so shallow…) he’s not without his annoying quirks. The first one relates to what I’m doing now, which is copying the photos from camera to the computer. He’s a plug and play camera if you’re willing to let Windows Explorer hang for a five minutes before you can actually copy your photos over. The included software isn’t fantastic either. I tried copying over the photos with that and not only do you not get to pick and choose which ones you want to transfer but the program uses up as much of the CPU as it can. The answer? I need to get me a card reader, obviously.

He also threw a hissy fit earlier when I changed his batteries for the first time. He takes regular AA batteries so that’s what I gave him but as soon as I did he started complaining. First he complained about a card error so I took the card out and put it back in, which fixed that problem but then he decided that the brand new batteries that I’d given him were completely flat. I know the zoom will drain the batteries but I’d barely done anything with him, let alone take a photo. I guess I’ll just have to see how he is next at the battery swap and take it from there.

On the plus side though, he does remember the time and date unlike my last camera, who developed amnesia in his old age and would forget those simple things every battery change.

I other non-camera-related news, Middlesbrough was on the telly today, again being portrayed as an industrial town, when clearly the factory and industrial shots that were shown were from Billingham, Hartlepool and the like. So what showed Middlesbrough in such a light? Why, Freak Eaters on BBC Three of course. The only bits they showed in Middlesbrough were the MIMA and an aerial shot of The Riverside. Well, and the place where the person lived AND THE FISH SHOP OVER THE ROAD FROM ME!!

See, I was only half paying attention to it when it started and I caught a glance at the poor soul with the bad diet and I thought to my self that she looked familiar and then the narrator mentioned her name, Joanne, and I thought I know someone who looks like that called Joanne. Turns out it was her. Who would have thought it? I went to secondary school with her don’tcha know. Can’t say I was friends with her really cos I wasn’t but she was in a few of my classes over the years so there’s another (lousy) claim to fame for me - I went to the same school, at the same time as a reality TV show star. Woo.

I still prefer the other school-related claim to fame in that I attended the same secondary school as magician Pete Firman who’s been on the telly and that several times doing magicky stuff and not cheap, boring reality TV stuff. Blending mice and regurgitating goldfish is so much cooler that being coached on your bad diet.