| lesley153
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Isn't a dioptre the reciprocal of your focal length in yards? My prescription is -9 and -8, which fits with my being able to focus perfectly at 4"-4.5"!
At the end of the test, he took my glasses and did an Eric Morecambe on them - rotated them about 15 degrees to the horizontal, and asked if that helped. Yes - how did you do that - it's magic. And that's when he said about the astigmatism. I haven't changed my prescription for a few years, and haven't had my eyes tested since about October 2010, so it's not too sudden. |
Reply #4841. Jun 28 12, 9:09 PM
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| lesley153
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Sprog and girlfriend booked a Maxim Vengerov concert in Paris, didn't make it. They spent seven spare hours sitting on a train in the snow, and got to Paris a couple of hours after the end of the concert.
Today they tried again. This time they've booked two nights in a hotel, and they're going to the ballet tomorrow night, thereby greatly increasing their chances of actually seeing the performance, which I believe is Firebird *and* Rite of Spring.
Ballet? you? You know as much about ballet as I do! Have you ever watched one?
"Yes, saw Nutcracker."
Do you have the first clue what's happening?
"Doesn't matter. It's Stravinsky."
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Reply #4842. Jun 29 12, 1:18 PM
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satguru 
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Since you asked...
The dioptre I'm sure is what you said mathematically, it was in my O level physics, but the analogue method uses the biblical cubit (or whatever the shoulder to fingertip is called), if you find a pair of parallel lines and hold the lens at arm's length it magnifies or reduces it by pretty near that amount, then rotate 90' for the vertical prescription (present in all astigmatism), and finally hold the lens up straight and measure the slant of the parallel lines for the axis. It really is as simple as that, although most people seem impressed every time I perform it for them as they don't know that.
There could also be a prism but too rare to get into now.
Reply #4843. Jun 29 12, 5:12 PM
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| lesley153
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I'm impressed!
It was probably in my O level physics too but I can't remember now.
Little darlings got to Paris in less than three hours, which is what should have happened last time. They're probably doing it on the compensation they got. Tomorrow they're going to see Versailles. Not sure if he was perhaps the tiniest bit surprised that I've been to Versailles. I think it was when I was 16 - (even) younger than he is now. No, I probably imagined it. :) |
Reply #4844. Jun 29 12, 7:09 PM
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Jazmee27
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Stranger things have happened
Reply #4845. Jun 30 12, 5:45 AM
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satguru
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Details, please!
Reply #4846. Jun 30 12, 8:21 AM
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| lesley153
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Details of my trip? Too long ago to remember - I was 16! Sorry, I know long-term memory is supposed to be better than short-term, once you're old enough to have a long-term memory, but there are limits!
Although, now I come to think of it, I do recall the journey there quite clearly, and the journey home very clearly indeed!
Or is that not the details you meant? |
Reply #4847. Jun 30 12, 8:31 AM
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| lesley153
|
No gardener this week. He's 18, just finished his A levels and left school. Seems his parents arranged a surprise holiday for him, which is very nice, he said, except it means he'll miss the end-of-school party and a few other arrangements...
Don't most people celebrate the end of school by going away with their friends? And does anyone else think 18 is a bit old for your parents to be arranging "surprises" on your behalf? |
Reply #4848. Jul 07 12, 10:28 AM
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| C30
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Well I have to admit..........."in the good old days".........on my 18th Birthday, I was onboard ship, roughly 2 days steaming from UK, heading home after 18 months in Far East...........and not a parent in sight!
Reply #4849. Jul 07 12, 10:44 AM
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Professer
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strange at 18 i was looking for a flat to live on my own do my own thing. No parents in sight
Reply #4850. Jul 07 12, 11:17 AM
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| lesley153
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We knew someone who was born in Hungary in 1928, and at 17 was smuggling food and guns in the siege of Budapest, with a bullet hole in his side to prove it.
I wonder if his parents would have checked he hadn't made any plans before whisking him off to the seaside. |
Reply #4851. Jul 07 12, 11:56 AM
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satguru
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Oops, missed the question, I was asking Jazmee's details of stranger things. I thought there may be some untapped material there. I wasn't doing anything unusual at 18, I'd just changed A level subjects and working in my grandparents shop when not at school.
Reply #4852. Jul 08 12, 1:07 PM
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| lesley153
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Good! I may have described my journey back from Paris du Nord to leafy north London suburbia, but not in public, because anybody who read it might have had kittens if they had teenage daughters planning to go abroad.
At 18 I was moving from school to work, in the hope and expectation that my father might not mind sharing his food and oxygen with me quite so much, and might shout at me a little less, if I were bringing some money into the household. Yes, I really believed that.
Earning made a difference to my wardrobe, though. I had a skirt with coloured squares on a black background, but nothing else with any black in it, and school uniform was mid-grey and bottle green. I wasn't allowed black - not even black shoes. No, dear, my mother said, not black, dear, it's too hard, dear, wait till you're a little older dear.
My first purchase, out of my first salary, was a black polo-neck sweater and a pair of black patent stilettoes. I put them with the black patterned skirt and felt very grown up.
Then the boyfriend of the day went to Paris and brought me back a pair of stockings in black Chantilly lace. They were added to the ensemble, and I turned heads, although I'm not sure it was in a good way.
Moral: be very circumspect when you tell your children they can't do something yet or ever. They'll do it when you're not looking, or they'll wait, and overdo it. Well, if they're anything like me they will. |
Reply #4853. Jul 08 12, 2:14 PM
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satguru
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I was allowed to make virtually all my own mistakes, and learnt first hand why something either should or shouldn't be done. Eventually. But it's human nature most children don't believe anyone who tells them something isn't a good idea, they have to prove it. It's amazing we're all still in possession of all four limbs and 20 digits. Let alone both eyes.
Reply #4854. Jul 08 12, 6:10 PM
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| lesley153
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| That's the best way to do it. You need to teach your child to decide! Making all your children's decisions for you robs them of confidence in their own opinions and judgement, and eventually destroys their ability to judge. I think your job is to watch from a distance, and to offer guidance, either when it's requested (ha!) or when the progeny appears to be getting too close to the edge. The rest of the time, keep quiet. Not easy to do. |
Reply #4855. Jul 08 12, 6:20 PM
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satguru
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That's mainly why it happens, my mother's parents both gave the orders throughout their lives, and made their two children nervous wrecks as a result. All it does is stop people learning things themselves and makes them scared of everything they weren't allowed to do.
Reply #4856. Jul 09 12, 9:22 AM
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| lesley153
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Exactly!
I knew of one set of parents who went one step further - they actively convinced their daughter that nothing she ever did without them would be a success. She is now programmed to anticipate failure for the rest of her life, and sees herself as an useless wife and useless mother. I wonder if she'll ever be able to shake herself free of the damage. |
Reply #4857. Jul 09 12, 2:00 PM
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| lesley153
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Something odd is happening in the outside world. Cold callers are becoming easier to get rid of.
A week ago, I answered the phone to a woman who gave her name and said she was phoning on behalf of something with money savers in the title.
Do I know you?
... silence ...
Have I asked you to phone me?
... dialling tone ...
Today a charming little voice identified herself, and said she was phoning about solar power.
No, thank you.
"OK, thank you for your time."
Crumbs! |
Reply #4858. Jul 09 12, 6:08 PM
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Jazmee27
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I sort of figured the question was for me, but I wasn’t sure (and I’m still not) quite how I wanted to answer (not trying to ignore anybody or anything, and with the past few weeks may simply have forgotten what “stranger things” meant. Then again… stranger things have happened! :-)
I was still home when I was 18, as I was still in school and, besides, not remotely ready for the world (I had nightmares just thinking about it).
David’s #4854: couldn’t have said it better
Right now the most exciting call I get is a recorded message saying “if you’re a senior citizen…” *Click!
Reply #4859. Jul 09 12, 11:05 PM
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| lesley153
|
There's a north American Indian proverb, something to the effect that every child must be allowed to touch the fire once. Sensible.
Another one this morning.
Ring Ring... Morning!
"Morning. Is that the housing association?"
No, it's a private number.
"Oh. OK. I wonder, can you please help me with an application form?"
No, I'm not the housing association. I'm at home...
"I just need help with a form... "
*slightly raised voice* No. I'm. Not. The. Housing. Association.
"Really? Then why is your number on the form?"
It shouldn't be, because I'm not the housing association. What's the number you dialled?
"Yours."
What's the number on the form?
"Yours."
It can't be, because I'm not the housing association. I have had all sorts of wrong numbers over the years. This is one of them.
"Oh bless you, that's not very nice, is it? Would you like me to tell them they've printed the wrong number?"
Yes please.
I wasn't sure what the "not very nice" was about - my getting wrong numbers, or my insisting that she had just added to them, in the face of her inability to understand that that's exactly what she had done, combined with my mounting incoherency in my desperate search for a synonym for "no" that she might actually hear and understand. Aaargh.
I checked the number after she'd hung up. It's a bit like mine but with a lot more zeroes. She'll be fine once she's cleaned her sticky zero key, and learnt to listen. |
Reply #4860. Jul 10 12, 5:40 AM
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