An Eye For An Eye
Anyone out there had ? I got talking about this to producer Jan Byrne today. A few years ago she'd made a programme on this subject and, at that time, most of those who heard it thought the whole thing was just a little too risky. I recall one doctor who appeared on the programme saying that this kind of surgery was very popular with golfers and he gave the offhand assurance that "your eye wont explode on the first green...but maybe the eighteenth."
I think he was joking, but it was enough to scare me.
Of course that was then and this is now and, let's face it, there have been no reports of eye explosions at any of the major tournaments. Unless they've all been hushed up by the sponsors.
Today, as it happens, I was looking for a new optician to supply my daily disposable contact lenses so I made my way into downtown Inverness at lunchtime. There was a branch of one of the big chains in the pedestrian precinct and a poster in the window promised "free eye tests". I went in.
"Yes, the eye test is free," said the lady in the white coat (who may or may not have any opthalmic qualifications) "but we charge twenty-eight pounds to fit the lenses."
Fit the lenses? I've been doing this happily for the past two years. You simply balance one on the end of your finger, open your eye and pop it in. It requires the same degree of digital dexterity as ringing a doorbell or picking a piece of spinach from between your teeth.
Twenty-eight quid! I think they saw me coming.
