Age that is.
I've been for an eye test today. I knew my eyesight wasn't right, particularly in my right eye. As a photographer, the easiest way for me to describe it is that my right eye doesn't seem to want to autofocus properly, particularly when reading or watching TV. I've also noticed that I've been working myself up into a very anxious state when driving at night. I just can't see properly. So I booked for the test.
Eyesight has always been a concern for us all in our family. My dad wore glasses for as long as I knew, and my mum is registered blind. She is an albino, and has no pigment in her skin and her irises have no colour. She was also born with very poor eyesight and is in fact, registered blind. She does have some vision, but very little. I'm sure it was a great relief when all three of us kids were born without albinioism and with good eyesight, as were 7 grandchildren. My nephew has had to have glasses since he was about 18 months old, and my brother (not my nephew's father, my other brother) had to have glasses last year.
So, the results of my test, I am long sighted. (eh?) After googling it, the summary is: Long sightedness affects your ability to see close-up objects, opposed to short sightedness which is: a problem of vision that causes distant objects to appear blurred, while close objects can still be seen clearly.
Thank you very much for the examination, and now on to choosing some glasses. I didn't want anything too obvious, too dark, too heavy, too square, too round, too small, too big.. lets face it, I didn't really want glasses LOL.
I have a round face and I needed a pair of glasses that sort of blend in rather than shout out and make a statement. All the 'trendy' glasses are small rectangular shape with heavy rims. eek! Also, the price range was going to be a problem. So I started at the £45 sections which actually turned out to be the Grandma section (by Grandma I don't mean young Grandma's I mean 80 year old Grandma's). I was surprised but happy to find out that the price of the glasses actually included the price of the lenses (they didn't used to be like that) and if I was prepared to go into the £65-£85 section, I could buy one get one free.. pair that is, not lens LOL, so that would mean I could have a pair for in the car as I basically need to wear glasses for everything except walking around and sleeping. I have to wear them for computer work, watching TV, reading, close up work and driving. If I didn't get the free pair I'd spend my life running around looking for glasses wondering where I'd left them, in the house or in the car? I'd get to the car and have to go into the house for them. I'd go to put them on in the house and have to go to the car to get them. So a pair for the house and a pair for the car seems a bloody good idea.
So, on to choosing them. I tried loads on and didn't like any of them. The opticians guy who was helping me choose said, I bet you don't have this problem choosing shoes haha. (cue smack round the head for him!) He was joking and we'd been bantering for a while anyway in good humour so I kindly (and laughingly) told him I own one pair of boots, one pair of trainers and a pair of sandals. It's my husband that is the shoeaholic in our house, owning no less than two pairs of biker boots, four pairs of trainers, two pairs of work shoes and a pair of walking boots. He looked shocked LOL. So, back to the glasses. He was actually very good and agreed with me on the non-choices. He passed me another pair and I tried them on, he said.. yes, that's them, they look gorgeous. I found it amusing that a pair of glasses can be described as looking gorgeous lol but they did look ok, for a pair of glasses that I really didn't want to have to buy. So that was settled, I'd have that pair. So then he said.. what about the second pair? Do you want to go for similar, something different? Oh god, I'd got to go through it all again for another pair. I would have had the same pair again as the free pair, but there wasn't a second set of frames.. oh grrrrrrr. I finally chose a second pair and got measured up for them. We ended up having a really good discussion about books and one of the opthalmists joined in LOL
I was told they'd be ready in a week, but I could ring on Saturday as chances are, they'd be in by then anyway.
At least no one will be able to say 'shoulda gone to specavers' because that's where I went LOL.
It will be nice to be able to watch TV without it all blurring and I'll be able to read any text on the TV because at the moment, I just can't bloody read it. It all blends into one after a while. I hope it will make driving a much more pleasurable experience, because I enjoy driving. I also have a stack of books to read (another one arrived this morning yay!) from the swaps made on readitswapit.co.uk
