Thirty Thousand Streets

Saturday, November 22, 2008

I can see!
























So I wear glasses now, which I picked up the other day, and have been wearing, somewhat tentatively. I became aware I might need glasses when I found myself squinting to read the subtitles on the Godzilla DVD that came with the Guardian one week, along with bus destinations, shop signage, stuff like that. The thing is, I didn't realise just how accute a difference having a couple of lenses in front of my eyes would make – upon exiting the opticians it was like viewing the bustling Covent Garden street scene in hyperreal Imax format – everything appearing surreally closer and sharper.

The magnification also knocked my depth perception for six, and approaching a kerb I attempted to circumnavigate it as one might a stile in the countryside – with huge steps that seemed to connect with the pavement a moment after I expected them to. I started to feel a bit queasy, and took off the specs.

I wore them home on the bus though, as the afternoon turned to evening, and found myself gawping at familiar scenes, sliding past in the twilight – street signs, office interiors etc – and thinking "that looks like that? whoah". Because the difference it makes to my mid-to-long range vision is striking in terms of clarity.

I guess the gradual rate at which my vision degraded – however slightly – meant that I acclimatised to the changes as they ocurred – boiled frog syndrome basically. Now, everytime I remove them everything looks like it's had a bit of Photoshop's Gaussian Blur whacked on. Blurrier. Fuzzier.

Anyway. I'm kind of enjoying my enhanced vision, though it's odd to think that I'll probably be wearing glasses in some form from now on in. They look alright though. I was going to go for some Large frames, but it was all starting to look a bit Maurice Saatchi, so I toned it down.

Next time, a hearing aid perhaps (or zimmerframe).

5 comments:

mountainear said...

Surely a small price to pay for the ability to see this amazing world in all its glory?

Your description of 'hyper reality' reminds me of your grandfather talking about his first glases (he got them c.1926 aged 6ish) and the realisation that there was life on the other side of the road. Presumably he'd never been able to see as far in his life and assumed his limited vision was normal.

sigh9 said...

show us a pic then..

alan said...

Well, you might be able to see but you seem to have lost the ability to write. A visual of the bins and some news from the capital would be most welcome here in Wales.

fluidmotionhouse said...

Wow, you've got glasses :)

Get back on facebook mate, just ignore the sheep and unecessary applications. Is a good way to keep in touch, venga!

Zeno Cosini said...

UPDATES Eyechild, updates. Where's the rest of your dead roleplaying characters for starters?