主播大秀

Last time I had to go to Oban (a rather pointless visit to the hospital where a man drew round my feet, and no, I don't know why I had to go to Oban just for that) I also visited the optician (or optomotrist, or whatever Specsavers call themselves). They were extremely helpful and rushed me through so I could get to the hospital on time, and recommended I tried varifocal glasses. I had been resisting this move: unlike going grey, which starts at age 18, wearing varifocals is a definite sign of wearing out. But it was getting increasingly difficult to focus on chalking the pool cue, and my short-sighted eye is very short-sighted, so to see the pool cue I had to lift up my old ordinary glasses and hold it about 2 inches from my face, or hold it out at arms length, and both methods were affecting my concentration (and making my opponent laugh).
So now I have a pair of varifocals. I was warned I would fall down the stairs and feel sick and dizzy and it would take ages to get used to them, but I'm not so sure I need them much at all, as there isn't a huge difference between the top and the bottom. Reading magazines at the kitchen table is a bit easier through the bottom section, but reading in bed is much more difficult, the edges of the glasses don't focus at all, so the head and the book have to be in line both up and down and side to side. The computer monitor seems to be at exactly the distance where I could use the top or the bottom half and focus, but constantly switching from looking at the keyboard to the screen is rather confusing. But I have discovered they are a bit like ear defenders. Wearing ear defenders kind of cocoons you away from the real world, providing a barrier between you and the madness, and looking through the bottom of my glasses at distances makes everything go fuzzy and also separates the real world from the world in my head.


Meanwhile, Coll International is open for business. The 主播大秀 flew in (but unfortunately no passengers for Coll), did a couple of interviews and flew on to Tiree. We were all invited down to wave flags and cheer, but I am not that great a supporter so I stayed away, and then had to ask everyone I saw what had happened, just in case I missed something important. It was a pity they picked a day when all the qualified 'volunteer' firefighters were away, so someone had to come in on the ferry the day before to man the baby fire truck. Still, I'm sure it made good economic sense! There still seems to be some confusion over getting the kids home on a Friday; the latest and almost certainly false, rumours say a) only the best-behaved can come home early (surely a recipe for disaster, labelling those who have to stay troublesome is more likely to make them so) or b) if the hostel can't shut, so the staff have to stay, then none of the kids will come home.
However, once mjc has paid a visit I might conclude the airport has its uses.

PS in 2 years I will be half as old as my Gran, that's a lot of life left, but it means I will be wearing varifocals for over half my life, surely that can't be right.