A FUN MORNING!

I knew today was never going to be Tiny Tuesday as both Mr HCB and I had optician appointments and he had a hearing appointment - so I had decided yesterday that my today’s Blip would be part of our day.

We love going to our opticians because all the staff are so much fun - Dawn, the lovely receptionist/optical assistant, Kirsten, another optical assistant, Raman, the Optometrist and last but not least, Lee, who is actually the Area Manager but covering for Kate, the Manager, who is at present on holiday.  When I took the photograph with the bowler hat on top of the display stand, I think Kirsten thought I was rather eccentric, until I told her about Blip - then she probably thought I was even madder!

Nothing is too much trouble for any of the staff - and it was like a half day out for us - we got there at 9.15 and didn't leave until almost noon - so it was almost like a party!  While I was having my eye test, Mr. HCB saw Beth, the audiologist and had his eye test later.  I was just sorry I didn't get to see Beth to have a chat - she got married in February and I am still waiting to see her wedding photographs!

I had to have drops in my eyes as Raman said my pupils were rather small for the test he needed to do so my vision was quite blurry for a while but thankfully when he re-tested my eyes later the pressures they had gone back to normal.  He did raise his eyebrows when I wanted to take a selfie, but he knows about my daily Blip, so I don’t think he was that surprised.  

Then we both had OCT scans - short for Ocular Coherence Tomography - a non-invasive imaging test that uses light waves to take cross-section pictures of the retina.  Raman decided that he would like a second opinion from an Eye Consultant for an issue with my left eye but it's not urgent, so hopefully that can be sorted out before too long. 

We hadn't had a cup of coffee since breakfast so I did mention to Lee that a coffee machine would be a good idea - that has gone into his Suggestions Box!  By the time we left, we were feeling rather thirsty so decided we would go for coffee and lunch - well I decided it would be a good idea to have lunch then I won't need to cook this evening, so off we sent to our favourite coffee place, Jack’s - and enjoyed an omelette and salad and two cups of coffee. 

As we were walking back to the car, I had a call on my mobile, but didn’t recognise the number, so didn’t answer, but one minute later I had a text from Lee to say “Hi - Lee here from Leightons - coffee machine in white with pods on its way!!!”  Now that’s what I call brilliant customer service!  Just hope it’s there when we go to collect our glasses - and if not, then we will have to pop in and sample the coffee another time.

We discussed the fact that Raman had said because of the issues with my eyes, it might be better to have sunglasses or “outdoor” glasses as they term them, and decided that as “shrouds have no pockets” we would go for it, so we went back in (a) to thank Lee for ordering the coffee machine and (b) to order some sunglasses for me.  Lee was at lunch but came back soon after we got there with a packet of chocolate biscuits for the staff, so we shared those too - when their coffee machine arrives, they could even open an “Eye Café”! 

All in all, a good morning and although it has made a big dent in our bank account we realise that eyes are very precious and need to be looked after, particularly as we grow older more mature.

“Sometimes the most beautiful things 
     are in front of our eyes, 
          and we don’t even notice 
because we’re either too busy 
     or too afraid 
          to take a closer look.” 
Katja Michael

P.S.  My new glasses won't be quite as trendy as those in the collage but Raman wouldn't let me bring them home!