Well, Ohna just entered her 40th year (no discretion in this family) so we were able to go public with what happened when we bought her present. We got her a very nice digital camera (canon ixus 400 for any techie folk) from a small branch of Jessops in Hampstead (the kind of place we go to cos we think it's nice that they exist even though we could save money by buying online). I'd phoned up to discuss it and get them to keep one aside for me and then it got stolen from the shop while we were trying to buy it.

We had a look at it and the assistant left it in its box on the counter while he pulled out memory cards from some drawers under a display cabinet. When we got back to the counter the camera was gone. Two guys had come in and pretended to look in a display case. Then one of them picked it up under his jacket on the way out. They were captured on cctv but I guess the cops would need to catch them with the camera before they could nail them.

The shop assistants took it very well, sighing and cursing but also smiling and giving the impression it wasn't the first time it had happened. The main thing they said to me was that it was lucky they had another one in stock. It occurred to me that they could have accused me of being in league with the baddies. I suppose the fact that I paid for the other one makes that less likely. It makes more economic sense to get one camera for nothing than two for the price of one, doesn't it?

B-}