The eyes have it

In the past couple of years, early November has seen some lovely days, chilly but dry and clear. This year, however, the month seems unable to make up its mind as to how it is going to treat us, and Monday morning, whilst it was clear and sunny, had an added twist for us in the shape of fierce winds. So fierce were these that mid-morning saw the house take on a gloomy aspect despite the brightness outside as I closed all the shutters against them. Fortunately the house escaped unscathed, which is more than can be said for the trees around and about, including on our road. When Stephen was returning at lunchtime he had to stop and move, to the side, a large branch that had come down, and which we have an eye on for kindling - as long as certain pair of brothers don’t beat us to it.

The winds had lessened by the afternoon when we drove the twenty minutes over to Corridonia for the quasi-appointment with the ophthalmologist. We didn’t actually have to wait that long, considering, and following a thorough examination the doctor said that the pressure was fine and that there was nothing significantly wrong with my eyes apart from indications of the early stages of cataracts developing, particularly in the right eye. This situation would need to be monitored and he suggested I make an appointment for a check up in six to eight months, and in the meantime he gave me a prescription for something called Vi3, a soluble medication designed to improve the general health of the eye.

I bought this the next morning from the local chemist (and they do actually seem to be having an effect), when the wind had dropped and the temperatures had turned oddly balmy – though I’m not sure how the two things are linked so why I mentioned them together is anybody’s guess. What I will mention is that we returned to Giorgiottica in Corridonia on Wednesday morning, now that I had been given the go ahead by the ophthalmologist, to order some new glasses with the prescription from last week’s vision test. I chose (with Stephen’s help, both as my personal stylist and because he could see what I looked like whereas I, without my glasses, couldn’t) a new black pair but I also wanted new lenses in my existing pair, which I am quite partial to.

It transpired that if you bought two sets of lenses then you got the second for half price – as long as they were a different kind of lens. Not being currently in the market for a set of prescription sunglasses, we were a bit stumped until Stephen asked if the new ones could have transition lenses and the replacement ones standard. The optician checked and said that yes, this was possible, and the slight increase in the switch to transition lenses made the overall package much cheaper. Of course, cheaper is a relative term, for when you are as blind as I am, any lens doesn’t come cheap, but there is no point in bemoaning how unfair it is that life is so much more expensive for the myopically challenged than it is for all those smug people with 20/20 vision who can fritter away their disposable income.

Having given up most of his morning to my spectacles Stephen was at work all afternoon, though not necessarily in the Carellis’ factory. He was, for the most part, out and about with Meri, the daughter of the family, as they sourced various items such as ultra violet bulbs. These are needed to go with the special pens used to mark on the components where the shoes need to be stitched, and which only show under an ultra violet light thereby leaving the leather blemish free. What will they think of next? Not every stop off, however, was a success; when they called into the cutting factory it was to find the owner bereft of his small workforce. Apparently they were all away, olive picking, and had been so for the past week; in Italy, man shall not live by bread alone, you need a decent olive oil to go with it.

As if spending money on eyes was not enough, on Thursday it was the turn of our teeth. This coincided with a morning so beautifully sunny and clear that as we drove over to Ripe San Ginesio we had a stunning view of the first snow-topped mountains of the season. The good news for me, once we reached Claudia’s dental practice, was that after she replaced three small fillings she gave me the all clear till next September, when I have an appointment for a good clean and polish. I may be back before then, however, if I choose to go with the implant for the gap in the top left of my mouth, though this will require two interventions. The first would be to build up the bone so it is thick enough to take an implant, and then the work for the implant itself. This does seem to me a lot of bother – and expense – to go to for something that I have managed without quite happily for many, many years, but Claudia, I think, wants to see me with a full set of glorious choppers. We will have to see.

As my work was finishing, Stephen’s was just starting as he is beginning the process of being fitted up for a brace. This is to realign the teeth on his top jaw, which are crowding in on each other, especially the front ones, and looking like they all want to head east. On this occasion, Claudia made a start on the preparations needed ahead of the actual fitting of the brace and whilst I have been given a ten month sabbatical he is back in a couple of weeks for more of the same.

To complete a week that was all about getting stuff done, the final three days were just as unexciting but nonetheless busy. This got off to a flying start on Friday morning, while Stephen was at the factory, when I set a new world record by driving up into MSP, having a haircut, then posting a letter and driving back home all in less than forty-five minutes. I was helped in this as at neither Rocco’s nor the Post Office was there a queue, which just left me wondering what was going on that I didn’t know about.

Having got done what he needed to do, Stephen was back in time for us to head to Civitanova for a spot of lunch at the Synbiofood, the ethical option where I can recommend the paccheri con ragu alla Bolognese, before the adventure of shopping at the newly opened Lidl store just along the road from the centre. As is the nature of chain supermarkets, there wasn’t anything different from that stocked at the Porto San’Elpido branch but we did have the excitement of shiny new everything and playing hunt the product in the differently configured store.

It was a quick turn around when we got home, and while Stephen put the shopping away I took Bella and Harry for their evening walk before whisking them off to the vet’s. It is some time since we have needed to visit there, but November is the time for their injections and, moreover, we have been a little concerned with an angry patch of skin at the base of Harry’s neck by his left shoulder. We had been treating it with mercurocromo, something had been prescribed on one of our previous trips, but this had had scant effect other than giving his fur a henna vibe. The vet didn’t think it was anything of concern and wrote a prescription for some skin cream. We stopped off at the chemist for this on the way home, and have been applying it twice a day as instructed; I’m not sure what effect it has had on Harry, but it’s worked a treat on the dry skin around my eyes.

We also took the opportunity while at the vet to ask about worming tablets. We have been used to giving Drontal to Bella and Harry, which we have previously bought on line but now is nowhere to be seen cyber-wise.* The vet explained that this was because to purchase the medication you need to have an electronic prescription, which you obtain from your vet. Yes, he said, when we asked, he could supply us with one after laughingly saying that when he was training to carry out the process it took him ages to get the hang of it. All I can say is that I’m glad he is now trained as it took him long enough, as he bent over his iPad, muttering to himself and having to re-enter the information several times in different formats. Eventually, however, he scribbled down a code and pin number on a piece of paper, handed it to us and said we just needed to take it to a pet shop that had a dispensary. We duly thanked him, but I couldn’t help feeling a little underwhelmed by what appeared to constitute an electronic prescription.

Anyway, to wrap things up for this week, yesterday was another shopping outing, this time to Acqua and Sapone to stock up on household goods, followed, to Bella and Harry’s delight, by Stephen lighting the first log fire of the winter. As for today, after such a busy week I had to give my time to preparing my lessons for the week ahead, not that I begrudged it for, like Miss Jean Brodie, I am dedicated to my students in my prime.

* While the Drontal packet proclaims that the tablets are beef flavoured, this does not fool Bella and Harry who both try to sneak away when they spy it coming out of the cupboard (and they say dogs can’t see very well). What I actually mean by ‘giving’ is smearing the tablet in a bit of honey to mask the flavour, one of us forcing and holding open the mouth while the other shoves the tablet as far down the gullet as we can before clamping the mouth tightly shut and massaging the throat to encourage swallowing. This usually works with Bella, more or less, but more often than not it takes two or three attempts with Harry, who is a master of holding the tablet somewhere in his oesophagus and then spitting it out when he is released. What larks.