Born under a bad sign.
I’ve been down since I began to crawl.
If it wasn’t for bad luck,
I wouldn’t have no luck at all.
Bad luck and trouble’s my only friend,
I’ve been down ever since I was ten.
Born under a bad sign.
~Albert King
Some of you may remember my post from last year entitled: A serious Oh sh&#!!! moment. Where I describe leaving my Leica M9 behind, on the floor, in a terminal in San Francisco International Airport. Fortunately, the flight attendant called back to the terminal, they picked it up, and shipped it to me on the next flight out to Charlotte. Crises averted!
I love Blues music and the lyrics above are from a song by Albert King, as well as a number of other Blues artists. In the song, he talks about how the only luck that he has is bad and that he was born under a bad sign. I’ll have to say that I was born under a good sign, as far as camera’s go. Here’s another story for you. 
Last week, I was trying to decide which camera to take, the D700 or the P-510. I decided to take both. I rented a car from Avis, put my luggage in the back seat, removed the P-510 from one of the bags, placed it on the floor behind the driver’s seat, and was set to begin my adventure. I took the camera out with the intention of moving it up front and having it ready should I want to take any photos along the way.
I got into the car, put the key in, and found the battery to be dead, nearly 100%. I got out of the car, locked it, went back into Avis, they gave me the keys to another car, told me to drive it over, move my luggage over, and continue on with the new car. I did just that. I moved all of my luggage to the new car, and headed for Anita’s house.
As I drove along CA-58, I thought that I might like to take a few photos of the mountains. I reached behind the seat and … Shit!!! The camera wasn’t there. Immediately, I knew that I had taken all of the luggage and forgotten to take the camera. I called information, got the number for Avis, called their lost and found department: Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring …. No one answered. After I got to Anita’s house, and over the next 5 days, I continued to call. All that I got was an incessant ring and no one answered. Crap. I even sent an email, but got no response. The reason that I didn’t turn around was that I was already an hour out and remembered seeing how much traffic was on the other side. I would have taken me nearly two hours to get back to the airport. Mind you, had it been the D700, I would have endured the return trip.
So, I simply put it out of my mind and continued on with my trip. I had a great time. When I returned to LA on Monday, I stopped by Avis, described the camera, which car it was in, and they looked for it. 5 minutes later, my camera was back in my hand. I’ll be taking it out today to do some touristy type shots. Lucky again: I must have been born under a good sign! LOL
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Paul, If luck was a battery I’d think you’ve just about drained yours!
Beautiful photo!!
Earl recently posted..Florence, Italy
Thanks, Earl. I’m kind of hoping that it’s like a cat’s life and that I get a complement of 9 such pieces of ‘luck’ – LOL – The interesting thing about this is that it happened at about this same time last year, just about a week off and in California. Perhaps I should just stay out of California in July. It doesn’t seem to be working for me, much.
Sh#t you’re lucky or living life right!
Monte Stevens recently posted..Morning Java
Four leaf clovers and rabbits feet all the way, baby!
OMG those were both stories of horror and then a fantastic ending.. I would say you were born under a good sign. If it were me, both cameras would never have been seen again. Great story and I am glad you got them back, especially the M9! ~ John
John Masters recently posted..Fantastic Doors
Thanks, John. My heart raced about the M9, but not about the P-510. After almost losing the M9, this seemed almost trivial. LOL – I’m glad that I got it back, though. In the end, I didn’t even shoot one frame with it.
I think I needed you around when I lost my Canon S100 and its housing. Maybe if you decide to go looking for it in Cuba, the Cayman Islands, or Jamaica you will find it.
Mark recently posted..Southern Stingrays
Well, Mark – I am willing to let you sponsor me for a trip to The Cayman Islands and I guarantee that I will look for it! I might just stumble upon it and I won’t even charge you to look!