About 20 years ago, I was lucky to be among the very first people to take advantage of laser eye surgery back in Newcastle. Dad was skeptical at the time, but as a wise and careful medico would, if I was determined to go ahead, he advised me to at least trust my eyes to acknowledged and experienced ophthalmologists of the day. I took his sage advice and it has proved to be one of the best decisions I've ever made: I've had decades of perfect vision, unencumbered by the need for spectacles or other vision "assistants".
The docs at the time did manage to convince me to have their PRK treatment rather than the slightly more invasive scalpel and lift method which became the standard in coming years. My method involved the scraping of the eyeball to rough up the surface to allow the laser to penetrate to the back. This is fine in theory, yet meant my writhing on a sweat soaked sheet, like a junkie craving a hit, while I waited for my next dose of painkilling eye-drops every few hours in the post-op recovery: this lasted for a few days!
Obviously, my verbosity remains untamed, as all this was just meant to be a brief segue into Cassy's need for glasses to read fine print in most places we go! She can get away with the old "squint and reach" method of reading the labels at the supermarket at a pinch, but in the dim light of an evening restaurant, she needs to whip out the traveling specs. In the photo above, she's trying out her latest pair of "thinoptics" which seem to be very practical and very light and transportable. A real success! To finish up about the laser surgery: I'm not immune to the ravages of time, but rather still benefiting by the surgeon's suggestion to "over-correct" my vision so that I might stave off the effects of the aging eye for a few years after it began to take effect. Why, I even still have my magenta heavy rigid vehicle license, which requires 20/20 vision, for a few more years! Fingers crossed, as I tilt the head back to focus and extend my arm ever so slightly....!
I often have a few beers on a Friday night down at a local German style restaurant, Uli's, where Wal and I meet for a debrief of the week and are joined on odd occasions by a succession of visitors. Our erstwhile companion, Gurecki, was our other mainstay, but he's been gone for over three years now, although we still half-expect him to come and pull up a stump with a story or two! We got a shock last Friday to discover that "our" outdoor slab of wood table with its associated tree stumps for seats has been removed, along with the little garden shielding it from the street. We gleaned what we could from the staff, but they could only tell us that the owners had done it and they weren't sure what would replace it, if anything. In the interim, they moved a table and chairs from inside to sit on the quite barren and exposed spot, just for us. The beers were the same, but the ambiance destroyed: we're all hoping for a good outcome!
It was bitterly cold this weekend, and we both had the "puffy" jackets employed at various stages when we exited into the teeth of the wintery days and evenings. Inside we were warm and snug, with attentive cats on warm blankets and our new air-conditoner purring out some cosy heat, wafting down on all four of us cocooned on the lounge with tracky-dacs, rugs and ugg boots. It wasn't encouraging us to venture out....yet, venture forth we did, and we found the return trip from the cinema quite invigorating on the scooter!
John Wick Chapter 2 is not the genre of movie we'd normally see, but the "Kill Bill" cinematography and spare script of the original version was a surprise hit of a few years back. This sequel received similarly gushing praise for its sumptuous sets, lavish photography and incredible stunts. If one could look past the gratuitous violence and splatterfest nature of the developing "story", it was very entertaining. Cass gave it a B+: I might even nudge it a touch higher. We loaded up with a banquet of the usual quality at The Spice Shop before scootering home in the aforementioned arctic temps.
Photos: not much chance this weekend, but one of my fourth graders was displaying some trendy footwear, Cass modeled in front of the huge poster for the upcoming final chapter in the Wolverine franchise (of interest to us as Wal's son is also named Logan!), and she tries her new specs at The Spice Shop. I took a late shot today of some of my Grade 4 kids as well. Cass is re-reading parts of White Sands in preparation for her book club discussion this Friday, and I'm just starting All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
