A Japanese friend of mine bought a lens in total stealth mode. Even he seemed unaware that he was doing it; it just turned up in his briefcase with a receipt and a curiously light feeling in his wallet.

I told him that he'd just stepped onto a slippery slope, and that sooner or later he'd wind up ... well, like me with my little collection.

The Japanese refer to th elens-buying addiction as the "lens swamp". I like the Japanese name!