The silver lining

I desperately need a good camera. I mean no disrespect towards my Sony DSC - L1. It fits wonderfully into my trouser pocket, is extremely light, looks very cool, takes beautiful pictures of people and places, but when aimed repeatedly at the horizon, in an attempt to capture a glorious sunset or a lonely sea-gull, it seems to say to me: 'C'mon! Gimme a break will ya! I've got a lens system 'bout the size half yer thumb! What kind'a pictures d'ya think ye'll get?!' Guess I'll have to ask Vinod sometime.

The acuteness of the problem struck me while trying to get a decent take on today's horizon. It's been a very cold and clammy day. And since noon the ship has been surrounded by a deep fog. It clears once in a while, only to settle in once again. I knew this of course, since I'd had to go out on the back deck a fair number of times today. So when I went out for my daily pre-sunset time out, I'd wrapped my jacket over my coveralls. The intensity of the cold still caught me off guard.

Standing on the deck, staring out over the sea at today's peculiar sunset as my arms and legs broke into involuntary shivers every now and then, I fell to wondering why I do this to myself each day. My eyes and nose started watering in a little while, but I kept standing there, looking at the sea. The strong cold breeze blew the mist over the deck, obscuring even the opposite edge of the deck where I stood, the mist felt depressingly chilly against my already numb face. Then the mist blew over, and once again I could see the distant waters where the cloud no longer blotted out the sunlight. Far away, I saw the bright light reflected on the water creating a white brim around the edge of the gloomy world. I felt relieved. The sun was still out there, somewhere. A feeling of contentment stole over me, and that's when I realised that my right hand had frozen onto the steel of my camera. I hurried back inside, but even the painful return of sensation to my numb hands and face couldn't completely overcome the glad feeling inside of me.