Spectacles in a week

So Mel travels to the other side of the world and uses the marvels of modern internet technology to express her thoughts about toilet water. Let's see if I can get things back on track.

Before I left Melbourne, Mick encouraged me to get a new pair of glasses. I was indeed encouraged, but I was not in any particular rush because, hell, I use those fangle dagle 24hr contact lenses that you sleep in for a month. So I hardly ever wear glasses. At best, I would say I wore glasses for 20 days last year.

But there is something in the air over here because my contact lenses are giving me no end of grief. My eyes are producing so much mucus underneath the contact lens that a mere three hours wearing them makes my eyes so uncomfortable as to render them almost unopenable. I have tried new lenses, old lenses, different batches of lenses ... so it is most likely a fault of my biology, not the lens. So I have resigned myself to wearing my glasses far more often in the short term. When I arrange a local optometrist, I will run him through my problem and seek a solution.

But back to the glasses. My current glasses are quite a daggy sight, a fact Mel is happy to remind me of. Frequently. So we went shopping for a new pair and indeed found one in quick time from a mob called SpecSavers - a large chain. So I rock in, pay 99 quid for a new pair of glasses including lenses. I was fairly well pleased with this price. But there is a sting in the tail.

Seven days. For what, you might ask. In seven days I could do a round trip to Australia from the UK at least three times. In seven days, I reckon I could just about ride from Melbourne to Sydney on a push bike. Hell I could grow a beard in seven days. Well that is a lie: the average man could grow a beard in seven days, but in seven days I would have a pathetic excuse for facial growth that could be whisked off with a dry tea towel.

No ... seven days is the time I will need to wait from the time I purchased these glasses to the time I will recieve them. Actually, it is seven working days. So I need to wait more like nine days to get these glasses. Now, I hate to do the 'Gee, back home they do things better ...' thing, but try to name an Australian opticians chain that will not do glasses same day. Hell ... I reckon that if you went to the smallest family run optician in an outer suburb you would still get a turnaround of no worse than three days. I suppose that is one of the benefits of the Americanisation of Australian culture.

So this experience has inspired me to do a 'what is hot, what is not' list for the UK v Aust. I am not quite there yet, but keep an eye out for it in the near future.

As an aside, apologies for not updating the blog as often as we would like. As soon as we get some decent, regular internet access we will do so far more often. In the meantime, keep commenting and keep writing.