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

I don't mind my hair going grey - it's been doing that since I was 22. I don't mind all my teeth falling out - my own teeth were horrible anyway (never had a brace when I was a kid). I do mind my back giving me trouble, but at least other people can't see that.



But the worst sign of getting old for me is when you have to start holding the newspaper/book/menu at arm's length to be able to read it. IT DRIVES ME MAD. And so now...

For the first time, I've had to have glasses made for reading as well as for my short-sightedness.

So I have progressive lenses, or variglass, or whatever they're called.



Picked them up yesterday morning and went shopping - no problem.



But we had choir practice all afternoon and I didn't come to grips with the reading part of them straight away. Singing in church this morning (it's Palm Sunday) I still had to keep moving my head into the - unaccustomed - right position. No doubt this will become subconscious after a while.

Now I'm looking at the screen I have to remember to keep my head down and just look through the top part, as it's fuzzy if I look through the reading glasses part.



The frames I chose aren't much different to look at from the last ones I had, but are slightly darker and more striking and I've already had some compliments.

Because they are more noticeable, however, I think I need make up - and darker lipstick, or the rest of my face will (literally!) disappear into the background. Perhaps that's why people thought I looked nice - because I'd taken trouble to balance my "look" to go with the new glasses and had daubed some colour on.



My eyesight had deteriorated considerably for both close-up and distances during the course of the last year. And glasses are now very expensive in Germany - the compulsory health insurance doesn't cover any part of it. I have a private insurance which I hope will take the brunt - the whole caboodle has cost 830 euros.

*wanders off singing the rest of the "song of indifference" na na na nana na na, na na na nana na na.... I don't mind I don't mind, I don't mind at all*

Ook! I don't know how much in £s 830 Euros is, but it sounds a lot.

I have two pairs of glasses - one for reading and one for reading at a distance (at a lecture or driving), however those glasses are in Bristol, where my car had its incident, so they're with my friend who I was visiting, together with everything else of value in the car.

€830 !

It is a lot cheaper here. I'd expect to pay about €200. I had to come to terms with not being able to see things close to me in the last year. When I'm singing in choir, I can no longer just glance up to see the conductor; I wouldn't be able to see him. I have to actually lift my head, and then drop it again to see my score - it's a pain.

Hi, Everyone,

I have much sympathy over new glasses. I have had to wear them for two years now, and they make me look like a school mistress. I have just had my eyes tested again but don't need new glasses, so didn't see the point of wasting money on new frames. I can't stomach the thought of contact lenses.

However, the point of my post is to say that during the eye test before Xmas, they found a patch of pigment over my blind spot and I had to go to the Eye Clinic yesterday to get it checked out, in case it was anything serious!

I think you can imagine how I have been feeling for all that time since the beginning of December Trying not to panic but suddenly realising how much we take our eyes for granted. All sorts of things have been going through my head.

How would I see my sons, see the birds in my garden, look after everything for my husband, use my computer to talk to you guys, watch a sunset, among many other things

Anyway, the checks yesterday showed a mole like thing on the back of my left eye, which the opthalmologist is sure has been there for years. There is also considerable scarring, which may have been the result of an infection, even in the womb. I certainly have no recollection of any problems with my eyes.

The long and the short of it is, he thinks there is nothing to worry about, but as a precaution he is having me back again in a year's time to see if there is any change in the size and shape of the mole thingy. What would happen if there is, I don't want to think about!

All I can say, is that I don't care any more that I need two pairs of glasses so long as I can see and there is nothing wrong. Bifocals, and a pair for the computer (no, for me when using the computer!!) just don't seem to matter any more, it's just vanity

Today feels as if a ton weight has been lifted off me, and suddenly Spring looks extra lovely

everyone,

Websailor

I gave in and went to have my eyes tested about 3 years ago (48) walked in - girl gets form out - name ? address ? age ? Oh you'll need glasses.

Obviously there's extensive training to be an optician (I know they're called something else but my mind's gone blank.)

Anyway after all the tests, she takes me outside and says you need a pair of these - some ready readers at 1.5 strength - available for about £10.00 at chemists and supermarkets.

Still a blow to the ego though, still at least I only need them for reading and computers. Now if I could only do something about this waistline.....

I have just checked out 830 Euros and it works out at about £607.17

And we complain Now why in name would we want to join the Euro here in the UK

I thought £200 or thereabouts was robbery, and it seems I could have taken the prescription elsewhere and got them much cheaper!!

Websailor

You'll note, Websailor, that TC's price is the price in Germany. In Ireland, it is a lot cheaper. You could get them for about €75 if you went to Specsavers here. So it is not being in the Euro that makes them expensive.

I could have got them cheaper in Germany, but not in my little town. And I value the advice I get from the optician I always go to - as usual, the first frames he put in front of me to try were the ones I decided on in the end.

I've been wearing glasses for short-sightedness since I was about 24.

Hope your problem doesn't get worse, Websailor.

These things may be hereditary. So look into your parents' histories.

My parents have both always worn glasses but not very strong ones. Only recently has my mother (86) developed a blind spot on one side (probably similar to what you have) and my father (also 86) mentioned last night that his values had improved a bit, but now he was getting a cataract, which is not nice. ("like a lace curtain over my left eye")


Their generation feels that it is "giving in" to wear glasses and to be avoided at all costs. They claim that their refusing to wear glasses at first has meant that their eyesight has been so good in their old age. There may be something in that, but continually struggling to see gives you a headache which is not fun - and not necessary.

Apart from which, their generation didn't grow up with their eyes glued to the TV and PC screen.

Hi, TC,

You make some good points there. Yes, there is a very good chance that it is hereditary but my parents are long gone, and I have no family left, so I would have no means of finding out.

I do think that resisting wearing glasses for as long as possible is no bad thing, so long as you have nothing seriously wrong with your eyes. It seems to make our eyes lazy, but you are so right - our grandparents didn't spend hours in front of TVs and PCs . I don't like artificial light either, especially fluorescent and avoid it like the plague.

Re. the euro, yes, maybe that isn't the reason for the expense, I just don't want the euro I pay more for my glasses too, as I trust the opticians I go to, and they are close at hand too.

Websailor

The Euro has practically doubled prices here. Where you used to pay 15 DM for a poshish meal in a restaurant with meat, salad, potatoes, rice or chips, you would now pay 15 Euros. This is the same for a cup of coffee for 1,50 (was DM, is now Euro) and for most other things - petrol has soon caught itself up in Euros with what it used to be in DM.

It's not as though it's the fault of the DM, being one of the largest (apart from the Irish Punt) denomination among the currenceis that converted to euros,

The DM was worth almost exactly half of a euro.

But even in Pesetas and Lira prices have gone right up. It's quite frightening, especially as salaries have not doubled overnight like the price of a pizza has.

Still - that's another subject.

TC,

Thanks You have just confirmed what many of us in the UK think. Whenever there is any kind of currency change prices go up, and we are convinced that the same will happen if we join the Euro.

When the UK decimalised it was said that prices wouldn't go up as it was a near straight conversion - was it heck Prices don't seem to have stopped rising since.

I think Tony Blair is hoping another country will give a resounding NO to save us the trouble

Is it true that most German people would like their DM back again I read that both French and German people would prefer their old currency back. There is something so faceless and soulless about the Euro somehow. It has no national character and I miss that.

Salaries don't go up but the bills do, every year. I wonder where we are expected to get the extra money from - our food or heating budgets obviously - those are the only bills with any flexibility left. You either eat and keep warm, or pay your bills. Both are not possible for many fixed income families.

Websailor

I don't think the Germans are sentimental about the d-mark. It'd only been around since 1948, after all. It's just the fact that prices have doubled that bothers them.

I have just read your Euro explanations. Most interesting. It is the first time I have seen such a comprehensive explanation, but it doesn't fill me with excitement - quite the opposite in fact.

Perhaps because I am getting older (I have 10 years on you) I just don't want the hassle. Partly because this country under this Govt. has an appalling record with any computerisation they put forward - always "sold" as progress but invariably a fiasco!!


Websailor

Irish people do not want the pound back. We love the Euro. But prices have gone up.

On the other hand, prices have gone up even more in the UK, which is not in the Euro. There was a time when we used to look forward to going to England to buy cheap stuff, but now we can't afford it. Perhaps prices would not have gone up so much in the UK if you were in the Euro too.

On the subject of decimalisation, yes, prices went up in the UK. But they went up all over Europe at that time and the rest of Europe was not being decimalised. That was the worst depression in European history since the late 20s. So it was really nothing to do with decimalisation.

And on the subject of prices, not everything has gone up in price here in Ireland. Quite a few things are cheaper now than they were ten years ago, which I consider is great! Coffee is still the same price, although a coffee in a coffee shop will cost more. And Europeans companies like Lidl coming into Ireland have dropped the price of staple goods to rock bottom.

Ah well, we've always had Lidl and Aldi in Germany, but sadly, where you used to be able to fill your trolley for less than 100 DM, it's now about 100 euros (as opposed to 200 DM in a regular supermarket).

I can't think of anything that's gone down or stayed stable over the last ten years, but I can remember 30 years ago when you went to England to buy paperbacks and LPs in bulk because they were so much cheaper. Now it's probably the other way round - they're certainly not dearer in Germany than in England. Not even books in English.

I remember when old pence became new pence and prices started to gallop from thereon in. Petrol started to be priced per litre and again, it was very easy for price increases not to seem as bad when a penny was put on a measure. If that amount had been put on gallons, there would have been an outcry.

Yes, and first the farthing disappeared, then the halfpenny, then the pennies were worth tuppence and a bit, and so on. The same here with the Pfennig disappearing, leaving us with the smallest coin being the cent, which is, of course, worth 2 Pfennigs.

I remember being in France in the early sixties when they were revaluing the franc. Suddenly a france because a centime.

Oh dear - either or

I meant to say "suddenly a franc became a centime". It's like your mobile phone dictating the words to you, only my own fingers were pre-programmed there. I think I ought to set my automatic pilot to take me to bed rather than to compose rubbish postings.