A waiver and you see
Every once in a while, I get one of those Eureka moments. Nothing to do with my tent. Tonight, I’m being called by the barre. Or to the barre. I’ll have to work that out as I go along.
We’re in the world of learning guitar, and although my finger is not (yet) strong enough, it appears that players have this secret weapon. Allows getting around those hard to remember “real” chords, by emulating a capo. I’ll save that for another time; it has nothing to do with organized crime. In the barre strategy, you pretend that your finger (the index) has moved the nut (nothing to do with the player). Suddenly, a whole new consonance. Dissonance is a bad thing, when playing chords. A new language! My hat (if ever I find it) is off to the instructor (video).
Apart from my new found enthusiasm for learning, today had it’s down side. Somewhere in that period before lunch, inadvertently, I managed to break my glasses. That is not a good thing, believe me. Already at a disadvantage in a sighted world, I regressed to the “hopeless” state. Nothing to do but walk up the street to a local optometrist to plead my case.
There’s some kind of rule that says ‘No prescription, No glasses.’ No argument. I pointed out that I had functional lenses, with a need for a supporting framework. Not good enough. A doctor could see me; several days from now. My rebuttal that retirement was still some time off in my future didn’t matter. There was a second option; go to the neighbouring jeweler and arrange for a quick weld.
The jeweler laughed. His backlog might be cleared if I had ninety days to wait. I don’t. Back to square one.
By this point, we were ready to try the long distance approach. We called the Island, and arranged for the fax of a medical waiver. Signed and witnessed. Done, back at you. Within minutes, a rather dated but valid prescription for my limited vision. No correction possible, but at least I would be able to get on with my life. $500 is not enough to buy that kind of happiness.
By tomorrow afternoon, I should be back to reading bus numbers with the best of them.
