One of my daughters says we are not a celebratory family - she’s not wrong. We should celebrate more. It wasn’t a well thought out plan to invite some people for some fizz last week, but we were rammed and it was lovely. The meal after in the courtyard was great too. To be fair to us as a family, in the space of 8 days we are also celebrating two graduations (twins) as well.

The celebration was around my birthday, which feels more significant after my cancer diagnosis in January, big operation in February and subsequent recovery. It was also marking 10yrs since Eyeye started, 35 years since I first started testing eyes and 15 years since I re-entered the optometry world after a career in policy, research and politics.

It seems we have built a community and that’s something we feel proud of. Felt very moved at the people who came - with gifts too (not opened them, it’s tomorrow). We will definitely have another celebration soon - or will we? I hope so.

You will have heard us bang on about how too many eye test are rushed, to the detriment of patient and practitioner. The dangers of rushing of endless, but this particular danger is huge in our opinion.

Some patients want to know if they “need” glasses for driving. For a start, the fact that they are asking is a clue that they have some doubt. If the optom is in a rush, it’s tempting to answer this query in a legality orientated way. This will especially suit those people who love to state “I only need them for reading”, as a badge of honour. So, if they can see a modern number plate, in good light at 20m then the answer might be no. This ignores the fact that this is not a very stringent test and often it’s not good light - espcailly this time of the year. What we, as dediicated and caring professionals, should be doing is explaining how to optimise vision for driving. The starting question should be: Can spectacles improve the vision in the distance (we will come to close up in a moment)? This could be due to myopia (“short sight”) and/or astigmatism or hyperopia (“long sight”) and astigmatism … (dry eye, cataract etc can hinder too, but let’s (ahem) focus on specs here).

If the answer is; yes specs can improve the vision, then I can think of no reason at all why one would not wear them. Imagine bieng in court and admitting you had glasses that made you vision clearer for driving, but you decided not to wear them, when the accident happened - it doesn’t make sense.

At some point the issue of glare from modern headlights might arise and this is one of those examples in life where two things can be true at once - yes, some odern headlights are an issue and that needs looking at, but taking personal responsibility means optimising your vision for driving and glare will be reduced if you were the corrent glasses ….. with anti-reflection coatings (included in price here) and a nice clean window screen (inside and out).

Then there is near vision - to see dash info and sat nav on phone/integrated. If you find yourself putting your close work (“reading”) glasses on to see such things, when in motion, then you need a different solution too.

Your optometrist needs to be honest with you and not dodge these issues - explaining the why, how, when and what of specs wear. If they don’t then find a new one.

The idea of being an independent business is that you are in charge - you take credit for success and learn hard lessons from failure. Sleepless nights are guaranteed at times, but it’s nice not to be managed by a distant HQ or by Excel or by Investors.

One of the things we cherish is that we hand pick all our own frames - in multiples you get sent the stock and you stick it on the shelf - whether you like the style or, crucially, quality. We don’t have to stock anything we don’t rate - especially frames that are not robust, don’t have good quality hinges or feel cheap.

We have talked before about how the optical market in the UK is being transformed by the Hakim Group taking a 50%+ share in hundreds of formerly fully independent stores - the shop front and name stays the same and they appear fully independent, but they are not. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with this, but I wish they would be a bitmore up-front about the change, as we have customers who keep going to places thinking they are supporting a full independent business with local people owning and controlling. If you go on websites of places that have joined this big group you will struggle to see it mentioned - why not be open? In Sheffield we know of 4 well knowns businesses who are now with Hakim, but there may be more …

Anyway - when I was away recently (see picture) I was able to reflect on our 10th year and be glad that we still have full control!