h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

There are cycles in life. Longer cycles and shorter cycles. I get my eyes tested every two years, and the last test was on Saturday. And it seems my eyes have not degenerated at all since they were last tested. But I did get a slightly different prescription. The optician said my eyes have a tendency to not look quite straight ahead, so that for me focusing requires conscious effort, which could be tiring. So she ordered lenses with a prism in them, which would help that. This, she said, would make a long day of staring at computer screens less tiring.

And then I went out to pick frames. It seems fat arms are in fashion. I cannot stand glasses with massive arms on them. I want something that looks light. So I had limited choice, which is probably a good thing, as I'm indecisive. In the end, I went for the first pair the lady picked out for me. They're a slightly unusual shape: square on the outside but rounded by the nose. They're dark and thin-armed and look good.

They phoned me this morning to tell me my glasses were available for collection, and since the optician is just down the road from the office, I popped around to pick them up. Fitting was quick: they needed no adjustment at all. And then they told me that I'd be getting a free set of prescription sunglasses, so I had to pick a second set of frames. This was quick, as I was given limited choice for the free set. They're chunkier, and plastic rather than metal, but sunglasses look like that anyway. They'll be fine with dark lenses in them. I've never had prescription sunglasses before, and am rather looking forward to them.

She told me they'd take a while to arrive. I looked out the window at the grey February sky and said I was in no hurry.

I have quite bad eyesight, and therefore fairly strong lenses. And the wider the frames, the chunkier the glass has to be. So I've always been recommended to get small glasses, the type that barely cover your eyes. This means that the frame of the glasses is present in my peripheral vision. I don't see it: my brain tunes it out. But new glasses, with a different shaped frame, take a while to get used to, and for the rest of the morning there was a black blur around the edge of the world. It had gone by lunchtime.

TRiG.