Four Eyes – A Story of Bad Eyesight

This post is also available in: Français

“Olivier, look!”

“What?”

“Here!  Look at this!”

“Where?”

“Here! ”

“I don’t see anything!”

“You don’t see anything?”

” No.  I don’t see anything!  Damn, I see nothing!”

And yes, there’s no doubt, like most of us in our fifties, I need glasses!

In fact, I’ve been wearing them for a while now because my vision has been worse since I was 40 years old.  Before, I didn’t need them to read, but when I started to have trouble deciphering the titles of the songs on the CDs, I equipped myself with reading specs, as they say, just to read the fine print.  It’s been enough for quite a few years, but in the past year, it has been getting worse and worse, not only for my near vision, but it’s also become a problem to see from a distance!

Flashback

As a child, I had one eye that was worse than the other, but nothing serious.  And at around the age of 10, astigmatism was diagnosed.  My mother then took me to an optician and got me a pair of glasses.

Naughty kids

As you know, kids are mean to other kids, especially ones who have problems with their vision.  And when I went to school for the first time with my new glasses, and my friends saw me, they laughed at me, and made fun of me!  I was so ashamed!  I looked like a ‘goody goody’, the kind of kid who always puts his hand up because he knows all the answers!

Perhaps among you, dear friends, some have experienced the same situation.  Then you’ll understand very well the discomfort that I felt.  Or, if you were part of the other group, the bad guys, maybe reading this makes you feel guilty?!

However, after a while the mockery stopped, and life became more or less normal again.  Except it was not me who made the decision to wear those glasses, and I didn’t want to have these things on my nose all the time!  Because of how I looked, on the one hand, but also because of them, I couldn’t run, play football, jump, climb trees, do stupid things! Especially since I wasn’t really short-sighted, I just had a small visual weakness in the left eye!

But how can I get rid of them?  My mind then set out to find a solution.

Lose them? – My mother would scream at me.

Break them? – My mother would scream at me.

Say that I broke them by fighting at school? – She was would scream at me, and worse!

Put them on only when I was with my mother? – The teacher would most likely tell my mother!

So, finally, there weren’t so many solutions.  I was doomed to live with them!

Some luck

While I was wracking my brain to find an effective solution that would allow me to get rid of these unsightly things, a stroke of luck came to my rescue.

By constantly pulling on the arms to put on and take off these glasses from my face, one of the tiny screws that hold the arms on came out.  And so I ended up with a pair of glasses with only one arm!  I was made fun of at school even more then, I went home that day very upset.

The next day, with the agreement of my mother, I went to school without my one armed glasses.  I rediscovered the real life!

My mother had to take care of going to the optician to replace the missing screw.  But overwhelmed by her work and the education of her four children (me, my brother and my two sisters) she didn’t find the time to do it.

So much the better.

Time passed, and as she saw that I could see well enough, she ended up forgetting about the glasses and left me alone.  And my one armed glasses stayed in their case forever!  Just because a small screw was missing!  Thank you luck!  And I became the Olivier of before!   The one without glasses!  A little crazy and happily surrounded by his friends again!

Getting older

As I said before, at the dawn of my 50s, my sight became shitty and I had to go to the optician’s.

If you wear glasses, you’ll admit it’s boring as a process.  You have to make an appointment with the optician, who is busy and makes you wait 3 months to do the tests.  Then you choose the frames, and finally, you have to pay an astronomical sum for two pieces of glass on a plastic or metal mount!

How it works in Moscow

Russia has a lot of flaws, it’s true, although Cheryl and I often class them as qualities!

For example, you can get almost all medicines from the chemist without a prescription.  You can also pay (attention, I didn’t say corruption!) a small sum to an organization to get a document faster than it would usually take.  It’s very convenient anyway!

And for glasses?

It’s also very easy. You go without an appointment to an optical shop, and you say you want glasses.  That’s all.  If someone’s available (and they usually are), you’re given the necessary tests immediately and you order your glasses.  You pay, and, depending on the model, they’re ready the same day in an hour, or possibly within a week!  It’s that simple!

It was so easy that I ordered two pairs!  One to leave at home and one to wear when I’m out.  All in less than an hour!

And today, I wear glasses to read, to see from afar and to swim.  Well, the ones to swim are swimming goggles of course, and they’re just to protect my eyes from chlorine!

When I was young I always hated glasses, but today I wear my glasses willingly.  It must be said that it’s very nice to be able to see!  I’m sure you’ll agree with me, especially if you’re short-sighted.

And because we can’t find a great song about wearing glasses, here’s something just for fun.

Did you like this article?  Did you read it with or without glasses?

Tell us your story about glasses in the comments!

Other posts for you to enjoy: 

• Sleeping in
• An adolescent Dream
• Me and Ian Dury

Want to receive our newsletters?  You’ll get latest news, events, and other goodies first!  Newsletters are sent no more than twice a month – we won’t spam you and we won’t sell your email details!