I was at Boots Opticians on Princes Street on Friday to get my lesson in putting contact lenses in and taking them out. I’m benefitting from recent developments in toric lenses to have daily contact lenses. This suits me fine as my plan is to use my glasses most of the time, with the lenses to make life easier on the motorbike. The other option of monthly disposables would have been a bit of a waste.

The session at Boots consisted of putting lenses in, taking them out, then doing the same another couple of times. A bit easier than normal for me because I’m not squeamish about poking myself in the eye (note to self – maybe I should be a bit more). I’ve still to get the total hang of it, but now that I’m on day 3 things are pretty good. I have a bit more difficulty with my left eye blinking the lense out, and taking the lenses out is a lot harder than putting them in.

Wearing them is a pretty good experience so far. They aren’t bang on the same prescription as my glasses, a compromise to benefit from the daily lenses. This means I’m suffering a bit from the classic astigmatism responses – surfaces sloping away from me a bit, so I’m ever so slightly wobbly when walking. Not much of a problem driving, which is good. It is excellent not having bits of glasses getting in the way of peripheral vision, which is a great benefit to driving. I haven’t tried them on the bike yet, this weekend was spent doing family stuff, but I think the lenses will be just the thing. The downside at the moment are the wobblyness while I get used to the different perspective, and I feel a bit like I’ve got a mild case of hayfever when I’m wearing them. I’m therefore blinking a lot. So beware the big six foot in a half guy wandering up and down Princes Street staring and blinking a lot….