Arse

Yesterday was Mother's Blackmail Day and I forgot to ring/send card/send present... Ah well, I'll have to ring tonight and grovel and promise to bring a present at Easter.

Just got back from the opticians where I was told I have 20-20 vision yet need glasses. My eyes are physically fine, but they're not very good at maintaining focus close up. My brain therefore has to compensate for this and that is why I've been getting headaches. I've been prescribed some glasses for VDU work/reading etc which, I am told, will take me a while to get used to. As soon as I do, though, the headaches will stop - sweet relief!

His words were "I'm not at all surprised you're getting headaches." as my eyes are so poor at holding focus. Turns out that this problem should have been diagnosed and dealt with before I was 9 (I went to the opticians every 6 months, they had plenty of chances to detect the problem) but after the age of 12 the eyes get set in their ways and there's nothing that can be done. Great. My thanks go to Bowler and Charlesley Opthalmic Opticians, Shelford Road, Radcliffe On Trent, Nottingham. Never mind. At least it has finally been diagnosed.

Spent ages trying to find some specs that actually suit me. Looked all through the Men's section where the glasses are all HUGE for some reason. They're all very typical of old men sitting in front of the fire smoking a pipe and moaning that their new slippers aren't as comfortable as the slippers they had the year before last but are a little bit warmer than the ones they had before. Looked all through the Unisex section and eventually found a pair that looked OK in the cheapest section. Shocking. They were the only pair I didn't detest, so went for it. At £37 for frames and lenses I can't go far wrong with them.

Now to struggle with imagemaps some more (the bloody things. I hate them!)