Friday, February 22, 2008

 

Specky Four Eyes

One of the things that I dislike about wearing glasses is picking a new pair every two years or so. After getting a number of reminder letters I toddled off to the opticians and got my eyes tested. The guy testing my eyes was hilarious, after every test he kept say ‘go maith, go maith’ so much so that I was disappointed at the end when I didn’t get an ‘ana mhaith ar fad’! When he was giving me the results of the eye test he said that they were marginally better than my least test and quipped that I was ‘like a fine wine, getting better with age’. Then he launched into a detailed description about my eye problem and the prescription necessary to fix it, complete with several diagrams. I think he was probably the funniest optician I’ve ever met. After the test I had the awful task of picking new glasses. Normally I’d bring a pair of contact lenses with me so that I could see what the frames look like when I try them on but I was a bit ill prepared this time. I spent ages wandering around picking up different frames and peering into the nearest mirror trying to get some idea if I’d like these frames in six months time let alone two years. It isn’t easy when each pair of frames comes with several stickers stuck to the lenses so it’s hard to gauge what they will really look like on. I also had about seven assistants offer to help me choose frames; I must have looked totally incapable of completing the task on my own. Eventually I just wandered over to one of the assistants, did a cursory trying on of the different frames and agreed to take them. Well at least it’s another job over for two years!

Comments:
I guess it's lucky there wasn't a "2 for 1 " offer on otherwise you would of been there all day :)

PS, whats 'go maith, go maith' and ‘ana mhaith ar fad’?
 
I hate picking out new frames too because I've never come across a pair that I like as much as the pair I got in 2000. I still get compliments when wearing these frames, and I've only needed to upgrade my lenses twice since 2000. I did buy these gorgeous frames once though, and the optician hand died the lenses to match the frames so I could wear them as sunglasses... they were stolen within the first week.

Oh, I have a small tip though, the last time I was in the opticians (we call them optometrists) they said that once a month a frame sales person comes to their shop and the optometrists select what they will display in their stores, and they said I was welcome to come along and pick some frames directly from what was on offer. Though, of course... this isn't helpful news to you now !

Also, there was a thing on our tv recently that mentioned the huge profits that some opticians make on selling frames, and apparently you can buy frames off the net for about $10 (Australian Dollars) and if you know your prescription you can order the frames and lenses for about $40-$60 total. I haven't tried this out myself, but I think it is for real.

Bye, from Coastal Aussie (having trouble leaving comments on your blog, but it could just be something I'm not doing correctly:)
 
Robbie/BWLT: 'Go maith' means very good and 'ana mhaith ar fad' sort of means excellent. Umm... it actually was a 2 for 1 offer which may explain why seven assistants tried to help me. :-)

Coastal Aussie: It goes without saying that once you find a pair you really like you either can't get something as nice again or they get stolen! Thanks for the tip about getting frames/lenses over the internet. I'll have to check it out.
 
On the upside, I've seen you're new glasses and they're bitchingly hot... so go you!

(Sure that's a proper word, look it up.)
 
I got new glasses too! AND the eyesight in my left eye has improved! Yay us:)
 
Isn't it mad when your eyesight improves (even slightly) after wearing glasses for ages, actually donkeys years in my case. :-)
 
It's a really different experience when you go to optometrists, right? You don't get the fear that we usually feel when we go to the dentist or the physician. When I go to my eye doctor in Indianapolis, I always come out of the clinic with a smile.
 
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