As a Bat

It's been gradually getting worse for ages but now it's reached the point where I have to squint as I approach bars or Tube stations or other meeting points in an attempt to recognise my friends. I'm totally going blind. Well not blind, but I'm totally going short-sighted. I had to get my eyes tested for my provisional driving license and the optician did recommend getting glasses. I heeded his advice (unfortunately it didn't stop me writing my mum's car off on a driving lesson and subsequently abandoning the idea of ever being able to drive) and got myself a little pair with tortoiseshell frames. I could still see quite well without them and so I didn't bother with them much. But now, five years on, I can't see properly even with them on. I need new glasses but I haven't been able to bring myself to actually do anything about it. I've half-heartedly perused the Specsavers website and when I pass an opticians I look in the window, but that's really not good enough when I am at the stage where I have to sit at the very front of the cinema.

The problem for me is that I can't find a pair of glasses that I like. I don't even know where to begin. Today I took the first tentative steps towards getting new glasses by actually entering my local Vision Express. There are lots of expensive designer frames in Vision Express and boy do the designers want you to know that the frames are, in fact, designer. 'That's a cute pair of plain black frames', I think to myself but, as I remove them from the display stand, I notice that there is diamante logo taking up most of the arm. Obviously I could go for some hipster frames but then I worry that when I go to the movies on a Sunday morning, my hip faux-nerdy glasses won't really fit with the rest of my outfit, which will probably just be an extension of my pajamas, and I don't want to spend lots of money on pair that are going to look pretty lame in a few months. Plus I have a really small face, which makes it even trickier. Maybe I should just get laser eye surgery. Or I guess I could get contact lenses but they seem kind of tedious and I'd still have to get a pair of glasses for the times when I'm not wearing the contact lenses. Maybe I'm making a mountain out of a molehill and I should stop squinting and just go buy a pair of glasses. After all, according to this Simon Chilvers article, they're totally hot. LE