Outlook restored

A terrible thing befell RantWoman first thing on Sunday morning. The claws of gravity reached out and flung RantWoman's spectacles hard against RantWoman's concrete floor, hard enough that instead of just a wiry bounce, RantWoman heard a suspicious plunk.

Okay, so gravity had help in the form of RantWoman's arm trying to move something else next to the spectacles. Mercifully there was only limited horizontal acceleration. Mercifully RantWoman fairly quickly found the battered spectacles, a splendidly intact polycarbonate lens riven asunder from a frame so discombobulated that RantWoman's first effort to tape things back together failed to hold in the sacred lens.

RantWoman cannot even guess why she did not try again immediately with the tape. Okay, actually RantWoman in fact was terrified. The last couple pairs of glasses RantWoman has have have been whisper light miracles of plastic and titanium especially compared to the ponderous things she has previously worn. The only tricky thing has been that these new high-tech wonders have whole new and sometimes more catastrophic ways to break and catastrophic ways to break tend to mean immediate need for large infusions of funds to replace them. If RantWoman had large funds to infuse into her glasses habit....

Before the age of high-index polycarbonate and titanium, RantWoman danced with various combinations of plastic and glass, heavy and ungainly in numerous ways. However, RantWoman would often lose screws and be able to do temporary repairs with a twist-tie. RantWoman also became adept at mechanical engineering involving scotch tape and then careful handling of what would no longer be a functioning hinge.

On Sunday RantWoman was reminded that her previous pair of polycarbonate and titanium glasses broke through cleanly shearing off in the middle of one ear piece. This time, RantWoman could not tell for sure what the canyons between different parts of her glasses meant, but the whole horrifying vision just sent her soul into a corner to curl up in a fetal position for most of the day. Luckily it was Sunday, the day of rest and in fact, not having functioning glasses SOMETIMES keeps RantWoman out of some kinds of trouble she might joyously wade into.

RantWoman did dutifully detour on the way to her house of worship to see if her beloved optical oasis might be open on Sunday. Alas no, though RantWoman found herself revisiting RantMom's experience with said emporium. Shortly after RantMom moved to town, she needed new glasses and asked RantWoman for a recommendation. RantWoman of course recommended her very own favorite place, a place where RantWoman has gotten several pairs of glasses, where the staff has been almost unfailingly helpful and always polite when the only cure was new spectacles. RantWoman has gotten a two pairs not quite for the price of one but at a big discount deal. RantWoman has dithered for hours with LittleSister trying to pick spectacles that would do for RantWoman's lenses, face, and other environments. RantWoman has gone there with her eyes and face in all kinds of weird conditions and the staff have always faithfully served her with politeness and respect.

Based on RantWoman's recommendation, RantMom bought her new specs there, but RantMom chose a discount discontinued frame. The discontinued frame kept losing nose pieces and RantMom kept going back and demanding that they be fixed. At first the staff charged her $10 a pop for this effort, but then RantMom complained and they stopped charging her. The nose pieces did not stop falling off and finally I think RantMom had another calamity, took her glasses to a different shop and got both a temporary fix for the other calamity and some kine of fairly durable fix for the nosepiece problem.

Now RantMom is actually trying to figure out how to get new glasses and RantWoman is again hearing much angst and anguish, much distress and dithering about matters optical including RantMom's experience with RantWoman's beloved shop, almost to the point of shaking RantWoman's own confidence.

Yesterday though, with the dawn of a new week and the need, oddly enough to demonstrate RantWoman's normal level of not reading the eye chart, RantWoman tried again with the tape and actually got to pretty credible and stable repair--just in time to beat a path from the eye doctor's to the optometrist. Even more exciting: the young woman who greeted RantWoman--and immediately undid all of RantWoman's mastery with the scotch tape--was able to fix everything with a simple screw! Whew!

RantWoman recommends: Davis Optical