Just coming off teaching a four-week course in night photography, I was excited to continue my rejuvenated interest in the subject. For a travel-light person, adding a tripod and a pistol-grip head is a big decision but the two items fit into my carry-on luggage so along they came.

Several days into the trip beginning in Brussels, moving on to Ghent, the time and weather were right for night shooting. The tripod was pulled out, the connecting disk was floating around in the bottom of the bag but of no concern, pistol-grip head ready to go. Put it all together. Not quite. A floating around disk is a concern. Where is the connecting bolt? Everything out of the bag. Shoe bags shaken. Clothes separated. Under the hair dryer? Caught in the hair brush? In the side pocket? No sign of the all-important bolt without ends. This “without ends” becomes the operative phrase as I go in search of a replacement.

Brico City, that wondrous Belgian hardware store where everything comes in a package of ten and nothing is quite right. Can a bolt with an end be cut? Yes. Here? Yes, but you will have to finish it yourself. What does that mean? The person in the store can cut the end off, but I will have to use my tools to finish it so it can be used. That’s what everyone who buys things in Brico does. Tools. How could I have forgotten my tools? He thinks someone in a bigger, suburban store might be able to help but he doesn’t know for sure. It’s very hard to explain how to get there and he is much too busy to call. Service. A dying art.

Off to the tourist information center to see if they know of a camera shop. At least a camera shop would know what I needed. Alas, the camera shop is a bit like the hardware store. A place to buy things, not fix things. Nothing in the store. It could be ordered from the manufacturer but not available immediately. My interest is not so rejuvenated as to purchase a new tripod!

So, I resort to the very unsatisfactory method of putting the lens against the window, holding my breath and trying not to move for eight seconds. Limited, certainly, and not my best work. Perhaps in Bologna where I will stay longer. Maybe I can borrow some tools.
As for that missing bolt, while lying in bed, I remembered a kerthunk sound. Vacuuming the floor before my departure, something was swooped up into the vacuum cleaner. A penny? A bolt! At the very least, I know where to find the original. Now if I can just create a temporary…

New packing list: bolt cutter, metal file, extra bolts.