Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 24 March 2019

Heather: Oh dear, there are days like that: One pesky thing after another. Sounds like a glass or two of wine might not go amiss with dinner.

Lindybird: Not boring at all to go back to the same place. Known quantities are nice, especially when it comes to cafes, parks, places to putter or just sit and people watch.

OG: The surgeon left so now they have to find another one and fit J into the schedule? That's bothersome. How much does his condition affect his daily routine?

Call me a masochist, but I've got Parliament's Brexit debates going in the background. Very little heckling or interruptions, which helps understand the various views.  Well, it is raining here too.....   :-)

re transition lens. I meant the kind that change from dark to light (sunglasses to clear) as one goes from sunlight to inside. NOT the combined distance/reading/etc glasses. OH said his were too slow to change colour when he came inside and he was stumbling around “in the dark”.

Nanny duty had its moments. MissL was tired and cranky, Dau ditto. Summer is trying its last fling today with expected 27 C. Cool 18/20 and showers for weekend. Yeay.

I wondered which kind you meant, AQ, as at first I assumed you were talking about the ones which change colour. I usually have that kind, as my blue eyes are sensitive to bright light. My optician told me that if you have these, the way they change can take longer, the older the glasses get! So your OH could be wearing some old ones.

As I said, I need dark glasses so you can imagine that I take sunglasses on holiday. This time, I took:

One pair of "normal" glasses, on my nose. One pair ditto, in a box, in case I break the 1st pair! One pair of middle distance glasses, which at home I use to sit at the desktop screen. One pair of ordinary sunglasses. One pair of sunglasses with a prescription lens. One pair of special "fitover" sunglasses which fit over an ordinary pair of specs - these are new last year and I'm finding them invaluable (I use them for driving and it works well).

There was still room in my suitcase for some shoes......

EDIT:  No mention of reading glasses as I just take off whatever I'm wearing! Then I squint at things. I used to have some "varifocals" but eventually they made me dizzy so I had to give up on them.

AQ: Always helps to be on right track re lenses. I've heard the same complaint about dark-to-light transition sunglasses - too slow to change, especially going from light to dark. And they can be expensive too I believe. I have polarized sunglasses that don't so much clip on as slide on - they have an expanding bit between the eyes and grips on the outside of each lens so you just hook them on one end of the frame and extend them so they hook on the outside at the opposite end. They're made by Solar Shield and cost about $US14. They also make clip-ons, which I don't like, and extending lenses with plastic or metal grips with soft tips (I like the latter). All shapes and sizes. I usually buy two at a time and keep one in the car.

Spring is definitely on the way here - I was just out in the garden and wondering what smelled so wonderful, then realized it's the orange tree, which is bursting with blossoms - the most I've seen in years thanks to the rain :-) Wish I could bottle it up and send you all some.

Just caught up with all your news, thanks.

Not a lot happening down here. Weather overcast but dry and mildish but it says its going to be colder for the weekend.

Good Morning. Cloudy here but dry.

Annette, I can almost smell your gorgeous orange blossom!

The Brexit saga rolls on. We try to keep up with developments but it's so frustrating that there's little agreement, and almost everyone, including the MPs and the public, have differing opinions.

Thank you ALL for your comments on lens.
LINDA – My OH had his years ago and has since changed back to no colour. Optom lady declared that modern ones aren’t slow to change, but she would say that, whether or no!
ANNETTE – I have added so-called “clip-ons” (actually they have a wee clip in centre & slide on) that I can flip up when I drive into an indoor carpark. At a mere $20 I think I shall stay with them.

Once upon a time I was involved with a group that was trying to change their constitution. To pass, it required 2/3 or ¾ majority ( I forget which). Now if the original Brexit vote had such a rule, rather than “first past the post”, so much angst would have been saved.

I agree with your thoughts on referendum, AQ. Too close a call, reflected in parliamentary 'discourse'......

LINDY - my OH was the same, spare specs in case of breakage etc. In vain did I point out all the opticians shops in Tenerife and other places ! He would carry all these spectacle cases but if left to his own devices, not enough shorts, shirts, etc. I expect he thought that the laundry fairy was going with him.

Hope you have a better day than yesterday, Heather.

The sun has now come out here and I'm doing yet more laundry....

My OH would travel with minimal stuff if I let him.  And we are soo different. Here is us, unpacking at our destination:

HIM  -   Find "best" evening trousers and put them wonkily onto the thinnest, wiry coathanger available.  Jam shirts onto hangers, without bothering to do them up so they're straight. Stuff sweaters anyhow into drawer, so that you can't see what you have.

HER  -  Unpack travel coathangers with stuffing in them, first, and then carefully hang up blouses etc.  Put t shirts on hangers with "beach" identity on the left, those with "going around the town" on the right....  Put all trousers on hangers. Neatly lay sweaters and tops into drawer, divided into "daytime" and "evening" right and left side of drawer.

One boon we have found is to put all our undies into two zip up light carriers, which you can then unzip and put straight into the drawer at your destination. You can see what you have, and you don't even have to decant them.

Thanks, LINDY! I'm going to town, probably to raid M and S food hall.