Hello Jon
It's just that I've been far too cavalier with binoculars for most of my
life. For years, when you could get a pair of half-decent binoculars for a
song, I think I tended to regard them as consumables. So many pairs of mine
have been left on roofs of cars, or fallen into rivers or just aged
prematurely from being shoved into rucksacks or under car-seats or wherever,
that I couldn't bring myself to spend big money on a really good pair. Oh
yes, and left behind at cafes, kiosks or picnic tables after being set aside
while lunching as an alternative to keeping them round my neck and every so
often dropping jam or Bolognese sauce, or whatever, onto the eyepieces.
So for many years, I got by with binoculars that were less than the best
when new, and which then rapidly deteriorated through constant somewhat
careless use. I felt that I was still seeing everything that was around - I
don't think I was missing any birds that others alongside me were seeing -
but of course, I was working twice as hard as I needed to, and probably
somewhat slower than I would have liked, to gather up the data that was
struggling through to me, and to convert it into something meaningful.
It was a mind set I had to get out of, and when I did take the step to the
best binoculars I could find, I discovered that despite a lifetime of
thoroughly enjoyable birding, my daily enjoyment was magnified yet again.
It's rather like watching tv for years with a not too good signal. You get
used to it, you decide it's probably ok, but when you get a decent antenna,
or better still a cable or satellite connection, you recognize just how good
it should be and how much richer and easier it could all have been all
along.
And of course, you stop putting your binoculars on the roof of the car while
you're having a chat, or shoving them on the floor or under the table in
fish and chip shops, or hooking them over one finger while you struggle
upstairs with an eskie and a scope and boots and whatever. All things that
you should never have done with your old binoculars anyway!
Bill Jolly
"Abberton",
Lockyer Valley, Queensland.
Visit our website at www.abberton.org
email:
ph: (+61) 7 4697 6111
-----Original Message-----
From: Jon Wren
Sent: Monday, 24 January 2005 9:13 PM
To: Bill Jolly
Subject: Swarovski vs Leica
Gooday Bill,
Come on let us in on the spaghetti yarn!
Jon
> always put the caps on the eyepieces when you have spaghetti for lunch.
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