T'was a wild and stormy night

And the Captain and crew were all gathered round the cabin table watching the compasses roll in their gimbals and the shadows from the swaying lanterns swing up and down the dark wooden walls while the ship rocked and creaked and the rigging sang, the Captain said to his Mate,
"tell us a story Mate!"
And the First Mate said
"AARRRGH! well. T'was a wild and stormy night and the Captain and crew were all gathered round the cabin table watching the compasses roll in their gimbals and the shadows from the swaying lanterns swing up and down the dark wooden walls while the ship rocked and creaked and the rigging sang, the Captain said to his Mate, " tell us a story, Mate!" And the First Mate said"AARRRGH!....Well...."
And the Captain said "Oh not that story again Mate. Tell you what, have you heard the one about the three camels, the pastry djinn and the tin opener?"
"No" said the Mate rather huffily.
"You know, the one with twelve Arab maidens and a roc?"
"No" said the Mate again.
"Oh. Pity." said the Captain. "Neither have I"

Anyway. It was a wild and stormy night and the next day also and I had the interesting experience of leaning into the wind (which promptly dropped. Me.) while trying to focus on a rather pretty church in Stanford Dingley.

It's no good. I've studied cameras indepth, online, atpub and even injessops.
The one I eventually decide I want will be too expensive. There's not much point, I feel, in moving to a different kind of camera (DSLR) if I can only afford one which doesn't have most of the features I've become accustomed to in my beloved point and shoot Lumix.
the Lumix has x12 zoom and a nice viewing screen which can be rotated so you can see your shot from up above your head or from in between your feet. It has antishake and does good colour and as long as there's reasonable light, will take a good picture in most circumstances.
It has failings, which a good DSLR would not have. But if I didn't have the viewing screen and the antishake I might not be able to take advantage of the better things about the DSLR. And without the built in zoom, I'd have to add a hugely expensive zoom lens to get close ups but not as close up as I can now.
To get the sort of camera which will combine what I already have with the extra quality I want would cost more than I'm prepared to pay. Yet.
Really, I need to use one in real life to see what I can do with it before taking on extra lenses and huge expenses.
Anyone got a DSLR they want to lend me for a week or two? :)

Storm beaten church at Stanford Dingley
Wise old tree, watching me
Stars (dancing in the wind) in a leafy firmament
A golden evening (still stormy though)
Got to do some stuff now. I hope your week is going well and that whatever you need is happening.