...for my hundreds of photographs that is. Those of you who know me, have lived with me and been on a night out with me will attest that I have an unhealthy obsession with capturing every moment. (Career move into paparazzi?) I must say I do have a knack of capturing the good, bad and the drunken moments very well.
So you can imagine my surprise – correction SHEER PANIC – when after being trusted with Ben and Wendie’s camera containing their 500+ honeymoon snaps as well as big bro’s 30th birthday antics and of course Gareth and Louise’s wedding, the XD picture card somehow got damaged. How am I going to explain this to two separate couples that sorry but your wedding and honeymoon photos are lost?
I took the card to a well known technical store with all the hope that their “electronic specialists for all your electrical needs” can perform a miracle. Well I quickly came to regret stepping foot into the store. Just my luck that I find the most gormless and anal retentive employee who worryingly enough was also the store manager. Mr Draw-Blood-From-A-Cliff told me (cue monotone) that the XD card cannot be damaged because scientists the world over have carried out experiments, including shooting the plastic out of a cannon to prove that they are indestructible. I did not know whether to laugh or cry. I showed him my camera with the words ‘Card Error’ in red. He then agreed that the card is 99% damaged. Knock.Me.Down.With.A.Feather. His solution was for me to send it to their specialists in Bradford who will try and retrieve the data. It could take up to 6 months. I said my thanks and goodbye.
Next stop PC World. This time a very bubbly and smiley tech lady tells me not to worry and that the pictures are not lost. However it will cost me £100 for labour minimum along with another £30 to buy a memory stick to copy the images to. That’s more than half a week’s wages. Are the pictures that important? No.
Just when I thought all hope was lost, my saviour came in the form of one Mr Gareth Corris – yes, groom number one. Gareth being the professional IT expert assured me that with all the software he owns, he guarantees that he can save the images. It took him and his colleague almost one week and two attempts to rewrite every piece of data into a readable jpeg format. Miracle at last! Every image was saved but not the picture card itself. That can rest in peace.
Payment to Gareth and colleague: £0 just beers.
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