I have never taken my children for an eye test. Once Sadie learned to read, pointing at far-away signs and asking her to read them seemed to suffice. My husband is really long-sighted - I'm pretty short sighted. I hoped that this combination would ensure that the kids met somewhere in the middle, resulting in perfect vision.
But, just on the offchance that this wasn't scientific enough, I made an appointment at my local Specsavers to be on the safe side.
I've always had a slight issue with opticians. In my opinion, there's potential for a massive conflict between providing a medical service and providing a commercial one. Previously, working in the West End, frames in my 'local' optician on Oxford Street started from £300. Add a dollop of salesmanship, 'choose' the super-thin, anti-glare, scratch-proof lenses... and voila, great glasses, but no change from £500. I'm also really curious as to why so many children these days wear glasses. Looking back on pictures from my primary school, there wasn't a single glasses-wearer in my class. In my daughter's class, there are at least six - a significant 25%. Better testing, or more pressure from opticians??
My cynicism was unfounded, however. The Specsavers optician was fab, really patient with the girls. Sadie has learned her letters, and was really excited to show off how much she can read. Poppy doesn't know her letters, so she got shapes... She wasn't very accurate - sailboat became rocket, and airplane was arrow. But even allowing for error, they both have better than 20/20 vision. Hurrah!
Me, not so much. Despite frequently lying about my age, apparently that doesn't improve my rapidly worsening eyesight. But the good news is that I got to choose new specs. The fashion for frames seems to be much more fast-paced these days. From the wire-rimmed (2000-2010) to the plastic (2011), geeky (2012) to the round (2013), I'm dying to try a new look...
I'm terrible at choosing glasses. Without my contact lenses, I'm forced to squint into the mirror. But Specsavers have a genius solution, with screens to take a pic of yourself in the glasses, so you can try on a selection, and then specs back on and decide (note to Specsavers, there should be a tweet and vote option on the screen...). Their range all seems to be great value too. I'm told, (by someone on the inside) that their Osiris range is designed by someone who used to be at Dior. And whilst I'm not normally a massive fan of Gok Wan, his range for Specsavers is pretty good. Anyway, I've been dying to try out a Jess/New Girl style, and Gok had just the thing. In total, the new frames and lenses came to well under £150, which is under half of what I spent last time.
A week later, here's what I want to look like...
And here they are...
