I'm a cynical old hack but I recently had the pleasure of joining the Garmin Transitions pro cycling team at their training camp in Calpe, Spain.
I think it is going to be hard to avoid pro cycling this summer but already firms such as Shamir are looking to engage practitioners in the programme.
The latest move by Tesco is sure to draw some fire from its competitors but have we been living on borrowed time?
When the universal free eye exam was removed many expected the optical sector to swallow the cost and simply pile the loss onto the price of contact lenses and spectacles. The profession, since then, has been trying to achieve the exact opposite and get the value of the professionals' time valued as a stand alone element of an optometric visit.
Neither side has won in this bizarre tug of war over professional fee vs commercial come on but the move by Tesco has the potential to derail the progress made by those keen to see the professional paid for their time.
ASDA is likely to be the first to respond, the rest of the profession will have to hope that Boots and Specsavers hold their nerve.
Tesco has its own reasons for doing what it has done but given the size of its network it isn't setting a new benchmark just yet. Unless your practice is close by of course.
Barbie has started wearing specs its seems ( see Optician Feb 26) and those style gurus at Mattel have even consulted women's engineering agencies in the US to make sure she is authentic.
A vote ( not sure among who) decided to make modern Barbie a computer engineer. Apparently she has all the 'stuff' blue tooth earpiece etc to make her look like the real article.
I can so the likeness between B and our own IT guys --not.
This is David Millar the cyclist, but what has he got to do with optics?
It's really nice when work throws up an unexpected opportunity. So was the case when Transitions recently invited Optician down to Calpe, Spain to see its professional cycling team in action. Transitions decided to sponsor a pro cycling team late last year a move that has the potential to put optics on a much higher plane of recognition among the public.
The Garmin Transitions cycling team is one of the best in the world and its members compete with the likes of Lance Armstrong in races such as the Tour de France. Transitions' sponsorship will put it name in front of 2 billion people worldwide which gives an idea of cycling's appeal abroad. Read all about the team and this ambitious opitcal project in the Feb 26th issue of Optician.
This is the sun rising around the rock just off Calpe and the first sight that greeted me when I woke up in the morning. Roll on summer.
The Optician Awards really gets into swing about this time of the year. Shortlisting the entries this year has been really tough due to the number of entries and volume of quality words.
Practices and individuals have really got the knack of entry statements making selection harder than ever.
Judging day is on February 12 so when you get the call telling you that you have made it to a shortlist don't delay in getting your entry in.
The really hard work starts now --choosing the entertainment.
I had the pleasure of attending opti-Munich at the weekend and very nice it was too. Among the great and good of the boutique frame business ( get your pictures in if you are reading) I came across Whiteout & Glare. It is great to see something that really gets you excited as so much of the product is the same. Just proves that great looking frames don't have to to be whacky.
After struggling to work today on my son's mountain bike across the snows of Surrey to be greeted with newspapers proclaiming the return of the Blitz spirit it's as well to remember just how easy we have it.
By coincidence the following letter
Arrived in the office. This letter is from the final months of WWII and highlights just how tough things were.
Little did they know it but this generation would also have to live through the winter of 1947 three years later.
I could get used to this working at home lark.
No there hasn't been a power cut at Vision Aid Overseas' offices. This was the strange meeting between myself and VAO's Jeremy Jalie last week. After discussion of where to meet the two of us decided Ryka's cafe at the foot of Box Hill was a good venue.
I arrived by bike and Jeremy by car just as the two young ladies running the cafe decided it was time to close. We decided on an al fresco meeting by the light of the headlamp on my cycling helmet.
As the Optician triathlon team's fundraising efforts were on the agenda its seemed a fitting, if somewhat chilly, choice.
The GOC's council meeting last week was a bit of a one off.
Henry Fonda may have managed to change the minds of his eleven fellow jurors in Lumet's classic 1957 court house thriller but the feat wasn't repeated last week.
Everyone at the table made positive noises about the two professions working hand in hand and that nothing should be done to drive a wedge between them or reduce the incentive for DOs to remain registered. But different levels of fee proved an intractable issue with those on both sides often citing the same issues, such as division between the professions, to support opposing arguments.
The GOC needs more money if it going to do what it says it wants to do. The chairman was left in an uneviable position of trying to seek agreement on a topic for which there was no agreement nor is ever likely to.
How harsh the various parties will be, not just on the GOC but on each other, in their condemnation remains to be seen.
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