Maddy, at age 3. View larger.
Maybe I should just buy one of these plastic things that Maddy’s holding. My Canon A80 has officially bit the dust, the casualty of a bottle of guava-tinged water purchased at the Whole Foods cafe and only partially consumed, then emptying into a pool in my bag because I hadn’t properly screwed on the cap. I did not notice the leaking until I was already down the escalator, oblivious to the trail of guava water behind me as I was shopping for a replacement for a bottle of lotion I purchased at a Whole Foods in Philadelphia last September. (I gave the remainder to La China, my host in Havana. I’m sure she’s finished it by now. If not, it’s just a well-travelled bottle of lotion.)
It is quite possibly the ONLY time in my life I have ever wished that a bag could leak MORE, because maybe the Canon could’ve been saved. I stood by the strawberries and emptied the contents of my bag as discreetly as possible, hoping no one would notice the pool of liquid forming on the floor.
The contents of my bag:
- iPod (eek! — I checked, and it still works)
- Pentax K-1000 (double eek! I’m sure it works, but maybe the roll of film in it is ruined…)
- Canon A80 (uh oh)
- address book in small pouch (whew, the pouch protected it)
- wallet (not leather, which is probably a good thing in this case)
- USB cable (not to worry, got lots of those)
- dish towels (now, who carries dish towels in their bag??? why, someone weird enough to bring them to work with her because the paper towels in the office kitchen are awful, but aren’t the towels handy today!)
- plastic bag (see towels, above)
- various odds and sods, because I can carry an incredible amount of stuff in that bag
I did my best to get rid of most of the offending liquid without attracting unwanted attention from the grocery employees, wrapped the electronics in the plastic bag, then put the dish towels between everything and the bottom of the bag. When I got home I dried everything out but alas, the Canon wouldn’t turn on, even after I changed its batteries. I’m gonna miss that camera 
It served me well for more than three years (I bought it in 2004, just before I went to Europe in April) and it racked up more than 22,000 images.