Journal Entries
Nothing to do with any war or anything...
Posted Mar 29, 2003
...of course!
It's been strange seeing all the pictures of RFA Sir Galahad on the TV and in the papers; only a few weeks ago she was moored in the Dart opposite the office window. Strangely, it seems to bring things closer to home than thinking of people I know who are out there...
Discuss this Journal entry [13]
Latest reply: Mar 29, 2003
The eyes have it.
Posted Mar 8, 2003
Well, it had to happen. I've been ignoring the blurred vision - or putting it down to the scrumpy - for some time. Over the last few months, though, I'd started getting headaches if I spent a while on h2g2, watched the goggle box for much more than an hour, or visited the cinema (The Two Towers was a nightmare, as you can imagine). More importantly, it was making work unpleasant; I rarely went home with a clear head.
Last week, I made a couple of disturbing observations in our rather grandly appointed front office. First, my left eye couldn't read the previous week's sales figures on the desk in front of me. Then, staring out of the window as I often do in idle moments, the same left eye could tell the time on Kingswear church clock on the other side of the river; with the right eye I couldn't even tell that there was any clock! I mentioned all this to my boss, who persuaded me to visit an optician. She even dug out the various forms for the company to pay for it, something previous managers would have kept very quiet about.
So, on Wimpy morning I trotted down and submitted myself to the optician's rather nifty gadgetry. I was quite shocked when the first chart was flashed up and I could only read the first letter. The tests completed, the optician carefully explained exactly what the problem was, even drawing me little diagrams. If only doctors would follow this example instead of just scrawling something unreadable on a scrap of paper and ushering you out! Anyway, he told me that the left eye was a little long sighted, and the right was very short sighted - in fact I'd effectively never been using both eyes at the same time.
The same afternoon, his assistant rang and told me that the glasses I'd selected (after much dithering, and discarding huge numbers of trendy frames all over her desk) were ready, and I returned to collect them. I put them on and looked out of the window, and frankly I was gobsmacked. I'd never realised until that moment just how poor my sight had become. Suddenly I could see crystal-clear detail at the other end of the street. I could read street signs and shop names that I'd have just assumed were too far away to be legible. The strangest thing, though, was that the sudden stereoscopic vision, just like looking into a ViewMaster. That really proved the optician's comment about using only one eye at a time.
I know many of you are spectacle wearers, so all this probably seems pretty old-hat to you. It's very strange to me, though, knowing that I will always have these frames interfering with my view of the world, and that I'll have to move my head rather than my eyes. It's also rather scary looking into a mirror, and realising that this is what I now look like for good, as though I'd had plastic surgery. People tell me that the glasses suit me, but I don't really believe them.
It was nice to look at the night sky last night and see all the pin-prick stars, though.
Discuss this Journal entry [138]
Latest reply: Mar 8, 2003
Merry Christmas, Readers!
Posted Dec 23, 2002
Well, I thought of bringing my journal up to date with all the news from the last six months - but I really can't be bothered.
Instead, let me wish you all a splendid and over-indulgent Yuletide, and a thoroughly spiffing 2003.
Discuss this Journal entry [45]
Latest reply: Dec 23, 2002
Out of the Blue
Posted Jul 1, 2002
I was offered a new job today, a promotion of sorts. It was totally unexpected - in fact when I was called into my boss's office I thought I was going to be told off for something!
I haven't accepted yet, though I'm pretty keen for the change and the hefty payrise.
I'm not meant to tell anyone really, but broadcasting the news on the BBC doesn't count, does it?
Discuss this Journal entry [20]
Latest reply: Jul 1, 2002
parrferris
Researcher U168284
Write an Entry
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a wholly remarkable book. It has been compiled and recompiled many times and under many different editorships. It contains contributions from countless numbers of travellers and researchers."