A few months ago I was careless enough to lose my glasses. I was out for the evening and despite not actually having put them on at all, they weren’t in my bag when I got home. The following day I chased up the venue, thinking they must have fallen out of my bag and when they couldn’t find them, I tried the taxi company. No luck. I then put a couple of requests out on local Facebook groups where I didn’t locate the glasses but I DID learn that lots of high street shops and post offices keep a range of lost glasses behind their counters. (Worth bearing in mind if you ever lose your own precious pair!). Despite trawling the high street and having specs of all shapes and sizes optimistically pointed out to me, mine never turned up.My old glasses didn’t look anything special – just simple black frames, but they were varifocals with a photochromic treatment, so replacing them wouldn’t be cheap. I decided to make do with some old frames for a while but eventually the wobbly arm was all but falling off so I was very relieved when an optician’s letter arrived inviting me for my routine eye test.
So off I head to our local branch of Specsavers, where as a family we’ve been customers for years and are on first name terms with all the regular staff. (If you’re a regular reader you may be aware that my eldest son is very short sighted and has to have new glasses every few months). An optical assistant takes me into an impressive little room packed with all sorts of technology and carries out a number of tests including measuring the pressure inside my eyes, their curvature, how well they focus and my field of vision. She also uses a fancy camera to take photos of the inside of my eyes and these photos are kept in my records so any future changes can be compared.
Then the optician gives me full eye examination, starting with questions about my lifestyle, health and whether I have any concerns about my vision. She then tests my eyes, asking me to read from the wall chart, making lens adjustments and asking questions until she’s satisfied she’s achieved the best possible vision for me.
She dims the lights and sits me in front of another fancy machine so she can look right into my eyes with a light and determine the health of my eyes on the inside. She reviews the photos of my eyes taken earlier and fortunately has no concerns. She also looks at how my eyes work together and checks how they focus at different distances for both reading and distance vision.
Finally, she explains that my prescription hasn’t changed too much (which should be a good thing but makes it slightly more frustrating that I lost the other pair) and I head out to the shop to choose some frames.
This is where the fun begins and with the help of a friendly assistant, I try on numerous frames, some of which go into the shortlist pile, some go straight back into the rack and a few have us almost in tears of laughter as they look so ridiculous on me! The optical assistants don’t make the final decision about which look I should go for but they know which shapes will work best for varifocals and I know them well enough that they’ll give me an honest opinion if I ask for it. After a while I’m all glassed out and decide a break would be a good idea.
They put a few frames away in my file for me and I arrange to come back with fresh eyes (and my Mum) to make a final decision the following day. After school the six year old asks what I’ve done today and I say I’ve been to Specsavers. “Did you have fun?” he asks. I reflect on all the sitting down, getting lots of attention and having a giggle with the staff. “Yes I did”, I replied.
Eventually the decision is made and these are my new glasses. I reckon I’ve ended up playing it quite safe don’t you?
DISCLOSURE: SPONSORED POST. ALL OPINIONS ARE HONEST AND MY OWN
