… or at least I hope to, once I get used to my new varifocal glasses.

Finally I have had to accept that constantly taking my glasses off, or pushing them up into my hair is no way to continue with my crafting activities. Having been short-sighted and worn glasses since I was six or seven, it was a very strange experience to discover that, for some things, my sight was better without my glasses. Fiddly crocheting and threading needles were only possible with the naked eye, resulting in a strange sort of macramé involving yarn, my hair and my glasses and sometimes a hair grip and a crochet hook. It was all getting too much like making a shamble (sensu Terry Pratchett) and since my aim was wool craft not witch craft I finally decided that a trip to the optician’s was in order.

And so, this morning I came home with my new glasses and the hope that I will now know what characters look like on the TV rather than just what they sound like because I will be able to focus on the screen and my crochet/knitting without the whole removing/deploying glasses malarkey. Currently it’s going well – I am able to use my computer without undue head movement and I walked the dogs without tripping. I am warned that stairs may be tricky, but if I have problems with those tonight then things are really bad because we don’t have any and it will mean I’ve wandered into the wrong house!

What this has brought home to me is how marvellous technology is. It’s not all that long ago that my poor eyesight would have made me pretty useless – unable to see anything further away than my own hand and only able to do handicrafts in good light. Now, however, with the aid of modern lenses and a great work light with a ring of LEDs and a built-in magnifier, I can function as a productive human being.

Of course it’s not so long ago that my gender would also have prevented me from doing lots of the things that I now take for granted, and sadly this is still the case for many women. It strikes me that we all have so much potential to do good and make positive changes in the world. What a tragedy that not everyone gets that opportunity to fulfil their potential, whatever the reason – gender, colour, language, sexuality, physical limitations… Wouldn’t it be marvellous if we could all see the world through a lens that revealed everyone’s skills and abilities? And then, perhaps, we could get on and make the most of caring for this wonderful world in which we live.

We should all get a chance to spread our wings