The soft curve has an obvious appeal, and yet the subtlety of curvature juxtaposed with hard edges is a rare sight. Except for me, because now that my eyes are dim with age, (see Tim and the Brave Sea Captain by Edward Ardizzone) most objects take on a softness of form that is only brought into stark relief when I can be bothered to wear glasses.
The opportunities for misidentified things or people are endless, and mostly humorous. My transformation into Mr Magoo has been gradual. It started when I could no longer read the street names in the London A-Z, or the phone numbers in the BT phone directories. My prescription glasses are fine for reading, but I can’t get on with varifocals – all that moving the head to adjust the focus to the relevant spots on your lenses gets on my nerves.
Luckily, there are poundshops with an assortment of non-prescription glasses of varying magnification. I take a +3 for reading (maybe +3.5 in one eye), and a +2, I think, for distance. Forgetting my +2s can be bothersome if I’m at work and there’s a powerpoint presentation, or I’m at someone’s house and everyone’s watching TV.
Sometimes I prefer obscured images. The sensation of being only loosely connected to my environment provides a kind of bubble space, that I can easily escape from, as long as I remember my glasses.
odespinner 