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Monday 6 May 2013

Update

During my last ramblings I mentioned a forthcoming eye test, so to keep my readers up to date I have two new pairs of glasses, one for sunshine and one for most of the time. Of my previous specs, there were two problems with the rimless pair, the lens had become tilted, no wonder I thought my eyes had changed; the other thing there was a tiny crack where the arm is joined to the lens. Apparently the lens could have shattered at any time! So whilst awaiting my new frames I resorted to the heavier framed glasses and found my vision much improved whilst I consider I looked like the librarian that I was! 

New specs are a compromise, rimless at the lower edges of the lens with the frame extending from the arm to the nose clips. The sunglasses have heavier frames, in fact I need to go back and have them loosened for the arm is tight on my skull.  I should be used to these problems, I have worn specs since about the age of eight but rimless styles are a relatively recent choice for me since technology has made compatible  with a thicker lens.

This week I went off to London for lunch with librarians all of whom have worked at Ministry of Defence libraries, as I was a little early I sat in Whitehall Gardens. I was struck how much the area had changed, the gardens were much more colourful, not just municipal bushes but colourful displays.


Hungerford Bridge for pedestrians too has been rebuilt, it was on the eastern side of the railway bridge, very narrow, dingy, the new bridge is a great improvement. The views always made up for the shortcomings of the bridge, I used to think the Shell-Mex building looked like a giant 1930s fireplace with a clock on the mantlepiece.


Last Tuesday was one of those days when all felt right with the world, a feeling that didn't extend to the following day when I heard my American cousin, Pauline, had died.

Pauline was 89, had been ill for a while but she was part of my life and of the Bailey tribe, her mother was my father's older sister, at just 20 in 1944 she married George, an American she met at the Lyceum ballroom in the Strand. They were married for 65 years. The annual letter my parents sent each year with their Christmas card is a tradition we have continued, hers was usually the first Christmas card to arrive with her letter "the hardy annual" she called it. Gradually as air travel improved, she and George visited regularly to stay with her brother so we knew her well. She leaves a son and two grandchildren.

Just realised how late it is, so another day, another blog. may follow.

1 comment:

  1. Sorry to hear of Pauline's death. It is amazing, isn't it, how much someone is part of our lives even though they do not live nearby and we don't see them for years.

    Hold fast in your mind of last Tuesday, when everything felt right for you - it is days such as that which keep us strong for the less "right" times in our lives.

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