LOSING EYESIGHT (9 february 2004)
People tend not to notice changes that take place gradually.
If from one day to the next you became thirty kilos heavier, you'd certainly feel the extra weight. But if you gained the same weight in, say, twenty years, you'd hardly notice you were carrying around the additional weight of two very heavy bags.
When I was thirteen, my eyesight started to change. In the course of two years I could read fewer and fewer things written on the blackboard at school - unless they were written very big . It never occurred to me that this was unusual.
During a routine medical check-up it was established that I would only be able to see properly in the distance if I started to wear glasses.
But glasses tend to break, don't they? And every time I went to the optician for a new pair, I needed stronger lenses.
At a certain moment I discovered it was easier to read a book if I didn't wear my glasses, So from then on whenever I read something, I usually took them off.
When I told this to the optician one day, he advised me to take bifocal lenses: you read through the bottom part of the lens; the top half is used for watching tv, films, etc.
bifocal glasses
For some time, this seemed to help. Still my eyes kept changing. So once again, after a few years, I had to take my glasses off in order to be able to read better.
without glasses
But weren't the lower halves of the glasses meant for reading?
That's true. But with glasses the reading distance is sixteen inches; at that distance the letters are too small to be read easily. Without them I hold the book eight inches away from my eyes, and the letters are comfortably big.
On the other hand, sixteen inches is a fine distance if you're looking at a computer monitor, or a music score at the piano.
So I was often seen at the computer or the piano with my head directed upwards - not so much because I was praying to the Lord in Heaven, but because only the lower halves of my glasses were suited to a distance of twenty inches.
Maybe, people can do this kind of head-raising for a short while. But in the long run it is likely to result in a visit to a physiotherapist. And in my case it did. For about a year, just raising my head brought about a sensation as if high voltage was passed through my arm.
So once again, I needed new glasses, this time only for the computer and the piano
computer and piano glasses
With one pair of glasses needed at one time and and the other pair the next, it's no wonder I forgot them occasionally.
Especially at school I sometimes found I'd left my computer glasses at home. A colleague of mine, who used to be a teacher of physics, advised me to buy cheap reading glasses and wear them in front of the normal glasses. And indeed, it did help.
two pairs of glasses
So now the members of my family occasionally see me with two pairs of glasses. But no big deal: they already knew dad's somewhat strange.
