My reason for the trip to Luton was for an eye test; as my right eye, which for most of my life had been dominant had shown to be suffering the onset of a cataract a year ago, and was beginning to show a further slight degradation. After last year’s update I began keeping two pairs handy at all times, to cater for the different priorities involved in my activities. For driving at night in particular the pair with that most recent prescription was essential, as the halo caused by oncoming bright lights was at its least and the long distance resolution was also at its keenest. The bifocal element was less than ideal for a glance at the dashboard.
However, this same lack of clear focus at shorter distances still, was a more severe handicap when using the review screen on the back of my cameras – it was this aspect that caused me the greatest concern and why on this morning I appeared at the Optician’s with a camera, an iPad and numerous earlier frames with a variety of earlier prescriptions to help me define those different needs to the optometrist Vijay Hirani, who had been so understanding of my eyesight and those requirements over several years.
The pair which had had the best overall balance for both distance and the dashboard was absolutely fine for daylight driving, as in sunlight the margin for distance was more than adequate. It also had the distinct advantage that viewing the images on the back of the camera was spot-on. I had a bright red spectacle case that therefore contained this second pair when driving most of the time, and then came with me when I reverted to using these for general use with the best long distance pair within.
My meeting with Vijay was somewhat protracted, but really helpful and the end result was the joint decision to arrange an appointment with Bedford Hospital for the cataract operation on the right eye which would, for the near future, resolve the balance between the two, with no immediate need for an operation on the left eye.
After a trip around the central Mall, I came outside to the area in front of the courthouse where my eyes took in another example of Luton’s ongoing planning failure – it provides an excellent area for people to congregate with initial good and attractive design, then spoils it with crass lack of thought thereafter – there are abundant and colourful flowers and in a curved area of bricks it has attractive insets, it then obscures three out of four of them with vast and heavy, unsightly bins, with no further thought for aesthetics of the initial design – the Planners need to visit the Opticians en masse, the verdict from this report is – Must Do Better! Also, there is absolutely no excuse for a broken moulded concrete step to be replaced by the laying of a ‘blob’ of tarmac – Come on, Councillors – Get your act together, set an example!
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