Day 69: 20 per cent off more gear?

Surely I don’t need more clothes or gear? It seems like I’ve barely started.

I need a second pair of cargo pants. I go to London’s Covent Garden where Paramo has a relatively new store. There is a large concentration of Outdoor shops in the space of a few streets, so competition must be fierce.

When asked, I tell the nice man in the Paramo shop I am going to Galapagos. He’s been there too, much to the annoyance of his colleagues. I take the opportunity to ask him lots of useless questions:

Q: What’s it like?
A: Amazing.
Q: How hot does it get?
A: Can be quite hot but it can be quite cold.
…that kind of thing.

He asks me:
Q: What kind of camera have you got?
A: An old compact digital and a film SLR.

He says:
“Take the compact digital and binoculars.”

I have actually been thinking of acquiring a second-hand digital SLR as my compact is very slow and clunky and pretty useless taking wildlife photos.

He says he wouldn’t bother but take a waterproof camera for those special underwater shots.

By now I realise we’re on different wavelengths with only Galapagos in common. But I hear what he says.

I buy my cargo pants which fit like a dream and he tells me if there’s anything else I need to buy in the other shops across the road I should tell them I’m going on a volunteer trip.

He says:
“They’ll probably give you a 20% discount as long as they have VentureCo on their database.”

Now he tells me! So where was my 20% discount from the Paramo shop??

Despite this, he is still definately a nice man as he chases me down the street to give me back my credit card that I left in the machine.

By the time I’ve finished checking my list and comparing prices in just a few of these other shops I just want to go home – I am suffering from shoppers-shuffle legs and feet. If I can’t do Covent Garden, how on earth will I cope with trekking in Galapagos??

Once home, I start researching second-hand cameras and binoculars and planning an exercise regime.