Fairyvocals

Rio de Janeiro Botanical Gardens, April 2019

I realise I haven't mentioned my new spectacles. It has become increasingly difficult using the computer screen at work with my varifocals - or 'fairyvocals' as they were amusingly called recently.

The particular distance of the screen corresponds to a fairly narrow band within the specs so I was having to hold my head at a particular angle to see the screen which then made it difficult to refocus on paperwork on the desk. A classic case for supporting an application to my employer for special specs for VDU use, and I mentioned this at last year's routine optician appointment. They agreed, and measured me up for a pair of old fashioned bifocals with the cheapest possible lenses and frames given that I wasn't sure how much my employer might stump up. It came to £125 which is a real bargain compared with my usual specs which cost about £200 per lens plus the cost of the frame.

It took a long time to go through the process of self-assessment at work, then an Occupational Health interview to verify my assessment, then identifying how much might be contributed and who by and how the payment would be achieved. Meanwhile, despite my instructions to the optician not to get the glasses made until I'd found out more about how they could be paid for, I got a message to say that my spectacles were ready for collection. So they stayed that way for quite a while.

Eventually the Powers That Be at work agreed to stump up £60 and I collected the specs. You get what you pay for - they are the old-fashioned bifocals, which I was aware of; what I hadn't remembered was that they are also the old-fashioned low refractive index glass, which makes the left lens 12mm thick at its widest point, and they weigh a ton. Good thing I'm only wearing them for the computer. At least they do work brilliantly for that purpose.