So last week my birthday present arrived.

 
You might remember the rather cryptic drawing that rocked up on my birthday card:


Here I was, half hoping for an accordian just so that it wouldn't be some creepy Jack-in-the-Box, and it turns out that my friends who know-me-so-well have managed to find me the funkiest of gifts- funky cool, and funky-tional.

The 'billows' part of the lens needs to be pushed- to different degrees depending on where you want the focal point to be.

It's a bit of an art- especially for things a bit further away (or maybe just because my eyes aren't good enough to see the diffference between in and slightly-out of focus at that distance?).

Sometimes, this is exceedingly frustrating- I spent 5 minutes trying to focus on one or all of these trees, and took about 10 photos, but none of them is quite crisp.



And it can be a bit awkward- to get a steady and set focal point, you have to use both hands- one on each side of the lens, to pull it towards you.

Or, of course, you can just pull one side in, which gives for rather cool effects:







We found macarons!

.. and managed to 'make a friend' with the sales girl, who wanted to try out the Lensbaby.

My spirit was up for adventure, and I chose 'tomato, parmesan and basil', 'pumpkin curry' and 'gogonzola'.

And, perhaps unsurprisingly to everyone else in the audience, they all tied 1st place for 'worst thing I've ever put in my mouth'.

Still, it was fun trying to inflict them on everyone at work the next day.