Something odd has been happening these past few months. It crept up on me gradually, but the other week I was forced to take notice and take action.
Looking up on a clear starry night a couple of weeks ago, I was fascinated by what appeared to be a very unusual star. It was a star surrounded by other stars, almost like a mini firework sparkling up in the inky sky above us. I pointed it out to the others getting out of the car, wondering what special planet it might be. They shook their heads and chuckled.
“It’s just a star, Rachel. It’s quite bright, but there are no fireworks round it.”
Was I seeing things? It felt a little worrying.
The next day I began my usual trail around the local supermarket. I didn’t have that much to buy, but there were a few key items I was in search of, one being cottage cheese. I scanned the shelves on either side and realised I couldn’t read the labels and there was no way to distinguish between cartons of cottage cheese, yoghurt or cream. I stepped right up to the shelves and peered closer and at last I could read the labels, although I still couldn’t find the cheese. Sauntering down the aisle with the cereals I had to admit to myself it was all a blur… Shreddies became Frosties and Weetabix might as well be Cornflakes for all I could see. I was beginning to get frustrated. It’s definitely time to book an eye test.
It was still a bit of a shock a few days later to discover I had become short sighted and was in need of glasses for driving and watching TV… in fact if I wanted to see things clearly, I was going to have to wear glasses to go shopping!
It should all be very straightforward from this point on… you buy a pair of glasses and get the lenses made, and ‘hey presto’ you can see clearly. It turns out choosing glasses is not easy.
I’ve been quite happy buying ‘ready readers’ online to help with reading in poor light and at £10 a shot it was no problem buying two or three pairs. If they got squashed or lost it wasn’t such an issue. This glasses decision was a little bigger at more than £150 a pop, it was worth getting right.
Over the following week I took a keen interest in anyone wearing glasses, wondering which ones might suit me and what the glasses said about me. Was my face round or oval or even square? Should I go frameless or make a statement with big bold frames? Should I buy varifocals or what about contact lenses or even laser surgery? Too many choices.
A friend let me try hers on and her husband listened with his head tilted thoughtfully, while I explained how hard it was to decide what I liked.
“It doesn’t matter if you like yourself in them or not, it won’t be you looking at them,” he said, without a quiver of a smile. He had a point… but then I do look in the mirror sometimes.
Over the next few days I spent several sessions picking up pair after pair of different glasses at different prices in a number of opticians. I was beginning to despair of ever being happy with my choice. One morning a builder working on our house, even offered me his glasses to test the bi focal lenses… they weren’t right, unsurprisingly!
Before 
After
After another frustrating blurred shopping session, I had to make a decision and eventually found a pair I was happy with. Perhaps it’s like shoes that you slip on and immediately they’re comfortable. This pair just felt like me, sort of, and I didn’t have to think too hard whether they were right. I picked the glasses up two days ago and it was a little bit like magic. Staring round Tesco’s aisles I could read the items on the shelves, outside the branches of trees were crisp and signs were no longer fuzzy. Life had suddenly come into focus. Last night I watched an episode of Silent Witness and felt my face relax as I realised it was all completely clear, instead of all the actors being in slightly soft focus. Why had I waited so long?
Now, I’m waiting for the next starry night to see if my ‘magic’ glasses will put ‘star gazing’ back to normal… although if I prefer the starburst effect, I can always take them off.
rachelfarmer 