They think it’s all over . . .

In March 2020, when it became clear that COVID 19 was going to change our lives, I remember wishing that I had a magic wand and could fast forward until it was all over. By November 2021, life really did feel as if it was getting back to normal. I’d had a much needed haircut, although I’d opted to keep it longer just in case things went pear shaped again. Parkrun was back. Races were back. Mark and Nicole had finally managed to get married. We’d even been away for the weekend to Witney and visited a museum. The real feeling that it might be all over, though, came with two long put off appointments.

The first was an appointment with the dentist. Commando had been in August, and now it was my turn. A visit to the dentist is not one of my favourite things, but I was pleased to learn that my teeth had survived unharmed by such a prolonged lack of professional attention. Of course, there was a lot of faffing about with masks and hand-gel to remind me that there was still COVID about and I shouldn’t start getting complacent. The slow and very picturesque walk home through the autumnal glory of West End Copse felt like a very big step in the right direction though.

The second appointment was with the optician. It was long overdue. I’d been due a check up when the pandemic began and I knew my sight was getting worse. Let’s face it, it never gets any better does it? I was lucky enough not to need glasses as a child, but, by my early twenties, my work in the British Rail Data Input Centre had taken a toll. We didn’t use screens in those days, it was all paper tape and punch cards, but the work was hard on the eyes all the same. Speeding through thousands of handwritten timesheets, train timetables and other similar documents every day and deciphering the paper tape or punch card holes is a recipe for eyestrain. By my mid twenties, I needed glasses all the time. Like migraines, bad eyesight runs in my family. My mother could barely see without her glasses. To be honest, even with them she struggled at times. I remember her flagging down buses to ask them what number they were, and on one occasion, despite loud protests from me, she tried to flag down a big yellow horse box because she thought it was a bus. My own eyes were beginning to let me down in very similar ways.

Before my eye test I arranged to meet my Estonian friend, Jelena, in town for a coffee. As we walked along Above Bar to one of the little independent coffee shops we spotted a steam engine outside Above Bar Church. There was a brief moment when I thought I was turning into my mother and seeing things that weren’t there. Luckily, Jelena saw it too, although neither of us had the faintest idea why it was there. The coffee date was another sign of normality, even if having to wear a mask to order our drinks was a reminder that it wasn’t quite all over yet. Another reminder was having to wear a mask for my eye test. Thankfully, I was allowed to remove it for the bit with the lenses and the ‘does it look clearer now, or now.’ This was handy because I’ve discovered that lenses steam up if I try to breathe whilst wearing a mask.

It turned out I was right about my eyes getting worse. Not only did I need new glasses, but I also needed a referral to the eye hospital for further checks. Apparently, I have narrow angles. This is common with people who are nearsighted but it can cause problems, especially in ancient ladies like myself. Basically, the angle, is where the cornea meets the iris. It is where the fluid inside your eye drains. If the angle becomes too narrow the fluid can’t drain properly, which causes glaucoma. It all sounded a tad scary, although the optician said the eye hospital was a precautionary measure and even if there was a problem they could treat it with a laser. Frankly, that didn’t make me feel a great deal better. * The walk home across Palmerston Park did help though. Something else that cheered me up was coming home to find the final proof of the cover of Plagued in my email. Suddenly, the book was beginning to feel very real.

As the month drew to a close I picked up my new glasses and Aleks delivered the first proof copy of my book. There was still a long way to go, but holding that book in my hand for the first time was quite an emotional moment. So many years of work went into it, it almost felt like a dream. November 2021 really had felt like the month when the COVID madness was almost over and life was starting to begin again . . .

* In case you are worried about my eyes, the eye hospital appointment in January concluded that my angles were fine and my eyes were in great condition. No lasers of any kind were necessary.

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