[Leica] Summer is over: Le Tour, Vespa and other such misc.

[John Collier <jbcollier@shaw.ca>]

Well here I am back after a very busy summer and looking to a fall that 
will be as, or perhaps even more, busy. I will stay subscribed but I 
will probably avoid the: "Yeah? Oh Yeah!  Yeah? Oh Yeah!  Yeah? Oh 
Yeah!  Yeah? Oh Yeah!" call and response rituals. I say let the newer 
members enjoy themselves. I might allow myself just an occasional 
goading if things start to flag.

It is highly amusing to find 542 messages on the digital M. I suppose 
the last word is still the fact that it is just not possible with 
today's technology. Not that such a thing as last words exists on the 
LUG :-). Though a continuous cacophony has never really done anything 
in the past, perhaps some chip designer will be inspired this time; 
even if only just to quieten things down.

I hope you all tuned into Le Tour this year. What an amazing race. 
Easily the best of the last twenty years. Perhaps even one of the best 
ever. I watched it all: all of the broadcasted 63 hours. I otherwise 
seldom watch television but I manage to catch up to the national 
average in July. Needless to say my sofa already has a reserved sign 
for 2004.

Leicawise it has been a quiet summer. No more than fifty rolls or so. I 
bought a Valoy 2 enlarger for no particular reason other than it was 
there. I do not have much interest in a darkroom; but, if I did, it 
would be with a Valoy 2 enlarger. That is the only reason I could come 
up with and it sounds just as thin now as it did then when I first said 
it to my spousal unit. I also picked up that indispensable accessory 
that no Leica kit should be without, the Focoslide. In my defense, I 
bought it for the included Focotar and it was, you guessed it, A Good 
Deal. A week later a Focotar 2 came available and I bought it too 
because it was A Good Deal; and, it came with an MDa.

Now you may feel, perhaps rightly, that the MDa is a bridge too far. 
Well to justify that expense, I bought a Voigtina 15mm! If by this time 
you are too stunned to speak, then you know how my long suffering 
spousal unit is feeling! The Voigtina required the usual mount position 
adjustment. I am surprised that there are not instructions on how to do 
it included with the lens. The fact that I received instructions for a 
75 Heliar shows that Cosina is still spending all their money on R&D 
not on packaging. The finder is amazingly awful. Showing you a 
wonderful vista rather than anything approaching what might actually be 
recorded on the film! Dazzle them with the scenery I say. Hard to 
complain about the price though. It is such A Good Deal :-)

I am getting older and I was in danger of doing the typical late middle 
age bloomer. You know, buying a fast car -- which is illegal to use at 
anything over eighth throttle -- or carrying on with young women with 
questionable morals. Those of you who have met me know that I am not 
exactly irresistible to young women (insert here giggle of otherwise 
supportive spousal unit). So I bought a Vespa scooter. The only thing 
it has lots of is style.

I am a strong proponent of slow things. Fast things often cannot be 
used safely or legally in our society. Fast things lead to frustration! 
At my age I do not need more frustration! Contrast that with a vehicle 
that you need to drive with more skill than the average formula one 
driver has just to keep up with the little old man in his battered 
Volkswagon type 3 wagon. Now life is fun. Now life is worth living. 
There I am: terror of the traffic circle. H*** I never have it at 
anything less than full throttle! The fact that little old ladies can 
fall asleep while waiting for me to clear the intersection does not 
lessen the pleasure or the intensity of my grin.

Where was I? Oh Damn! Time to go back in the padded cell.

Cheers for now,

John Collier

PS: I am still loving my Noctilux but every time I read that a Summilux 
weighs less than 300 g ...

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