Dear Travel Diary,
I had to buy some new reading glasses today. The pair I carry around in my jacket pocket is broken, but I only paid 99 cents for them and I’ve been carrying them around with me for months so I guess I’ve had my money’s worth.
When I’m working at my computer I wear the glasses I got from Specsavers in Durham, back when I was still living in the UK. One eye needs more help than the other and I think it’s wise to use the correct strength glasses when I am at my computer for extended periods of time. I bought the cheap pair to wear when I was working in the warehouse in the Netherlands. It was very physical work and my glasses often got knocked from my face. The cheap plastic pair was very resilient even though they often hit the floor several times a day. If they broke I was only losing 99 cents and my main pair of reading glasses was safe at home.
My cheap reading glasses were also the best option to carry around with me. I hated having bulk in my pockets and never put them in a case. Carrying them loose in my jacket pocket helped kill the bulk, but it made them more liable to become damaged. That must have happened at some point on Saturday night because one of the arms is chipped at the hinge and now opens up too far.
There is a big shopping center in Aldea. It’s called the Forum. I needed to go there anyway so I thought I may be able to pick up some new reading glasses in one of the stores. It turned out I could, but it was more expensive than I hoped. I went to a pharmacy and had to pay just over €17. That was more than I wanted to pay, but I have to say the quality is extremely good. The lenses are made of glass, not plastic, and they come with a nice case. Although the quality is much better than that of the cheap reading glasses I bought from the supermarket, they would not last five minutes If I was still doing warehouse work. The glass would probably break the first time they hit the floor. Sometimes the best quality items are not the best ones for the job.
My new reading glasses look a lot nicer than the old ones and they will be in my jacket pocket most of the time, so I’m happy with my purchase. It’s been more than two years since I had my eyes checked though. That’s not good. Later this year I will have to find time to have an eye test. I’ll probably do that when I go to Ukraine. The price of an eye exam and new glasses (if needed) will probably be cheaper. Yep! I’m a cheapskate, but I’m a typical Yorkshireman and I’m not going to pay more for something if there is a way that I can pay less.
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