Recently in At home with the Editor Category

Yesterday marked the passing of cycling legend Laurent Fignon from cancer. He sprang to prominence in the early 1980s as one of the youngest winners of the Tour de France and went on to become famous for losing the three week-long, 3,000km+ event by just 8 seconds to Gred Lemond in 1989.

He was a private person who wore glasses and this may well have helped him win the nickname of the professor " Le prof". However this was at odds with his less than glittering academic career.

The quiet Frenchman was a superb cyclist and perhaps one of the very few internationally-renowned sportsmen to wear glasses. This not only brought a new level of cool to spec wearers around the globe but gave TV commentators something to mention when filling in the long spells during the classic races. This affectation  also  made him instantly recognisable to millions of fans.

It's amazing what you find out if you talk to your children. I was chatting to my son recently about school when the subject of teachers cropped up, not liking them mainly. He then proceeded to tell me a story about the day everyone took a magazine into school to discuss."I don't remember that", I said. He went on to tell me that he hadn't taken one in, " err forgot".nPresumably that is why the teacher was on his case. But what he did say was that the girl who sat next to him had taken in a copy of Optician and he had taken great delight in pointing out to the class the fact that  his dad (me) was the editor. I naturally quewstioned if anyone believed him at which he said my picture was in there (above the comment) and enough of his friewnds recognised me. It was such a momentus occasion that he hadn't bothered telling me!

It's surprising what you find down the back of the drawers when you move.

Someone has just handed me a copy of Optician ( and the photographic trade journal as it was known) from March 22 1912.

One of the largest articles is a report on the seventh meeting of the Institute of Ophthalmic Opticians at the Holborn Restaurant, Wednesday last. The piece is entitled ' Medical Views of the Optician's Status', Plus ca change.
Well almost, at the a time a subscription to Optician was Eight shillings with a 2 shilling supplement if printed on art quality paper.

I have taken a close up shot for those looking for a little light reading over the weekend.

I will post a fuller version on Optician Space for those who wish to down load it.

Those of you who have read this column for a while will be familiar with  friend, running-mate and all-round top dog, Henry.

I have to report that sadly Henry died yesterday.

Henry started his career as a deer stalker with the Forestry Commission in Dorset and retired to the Optician Editor's house five years ago where he lived out his final days in comfort.

He was a well-known character around Great Bookham village and had many friends, young and old, four and two-legged.

He will be sorely missed.

Our assocaition masters have spent, possibly, millions of pounds trying to get optics into the limelight. they've set up Health hotels, employed lobbyists, set up levies for support funds, created DVDs to get you MP onboard.

And then it happened. On a TV programme with possibly the biggest audience seen since the Queen's coronations there is a dispensing optician, jacqueline Salmon with her lips at the microphone.

Sadly for optics she lives in Burnley and simply wanted to know what could be done about all of the burglaries in the area.

It's probably all those Clarets fans distraught at being kicked out of the first division (or the McDonald challenge cup, whatever it's called these days) .

~~~~~~~~~Warning contains political content~~~~~~~~

Mrs Optician Editor is a little put out today. We were supposed to be enjoying a seat in the audience at the BBC's question Time in Woking tonight. The nice man from the Beeb had phoned over the weekend and just needed to confirm.

The announcement of the general election seemed to have changed the rules somewhat. Despite filling out a comprehensive questionnaire and getting the nod over the weekend by Tuesday we suddenly had to be Labour stalwarts to get on the show. Being a floater wasn't what they wanted.

It is interesting that it is assumed that anyone who won't guarantee they will vote Labour are assumed to have moved to the right. I don't see a lot of Socialism in  New Labour presumably the BBC thinks Gordon brown is as far left as politics goes.

Either way it doesn't say a lot for political debate.

It's always great to get out into practice and see how the theory of eyecare and dealing with patients is put into practice.

I recently accompanied Mrs Optician Editor to the optician  so she could have an eye exam and buy a new pair of specs, I badgered her into going as it had been over two years.

 She went into the practice alone and I was requested to join her later on to give my verdict on her eyewear choice. Not something I was looking forward to, I could just imagine the conversation: Her: " What do you think of these?" Me: "Yes, they are lovely darling."  Her: " You're just saysing that to hurry things up." 

She spent much longer in the consulting room than I expected and when she came out she was absolutely delighted by the treatment she had recieved. She was surprised that the optometrist had been so interested in her wider health experiences and she was impressed by the thoroughness of the eye examination.

I had a chat with the optom as we know one another ( he didn't know that his patient was my wife) but I saved him the embarrassment of  telling him that she had been so impressed.

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.

All right I admit it, it's my fault.

After months of using orthok I decided at the weekend to call it a day. Needless to say the very next day the heavens opened and the wind started to blow.

On Sunday morning, with no hope a of a decent cycle with No2 son becaue of the weather, I was sent out to walk the dog and fetch the newspapers. Fifty yards down the road the rain was running down my lenses and the rain was soaking in pretty much everywhere..

Henry wasn't too pleased either and he doesn't even have to wear glasses.