A Nod Is As Good As A Wink

If seeing is believing, then, I am a man of little faith.  All of us who are longsighted or shortsighted need glasses.  We live by estimates or approximations and spend much of our lives in corrective mode.  The sun was too big and a sliotar was too small, but the sun always kept its distance.  With a bigger hurling ball or a ball with lights many of us, or so we thought, would be wearing all-Ireland gold medals.  We had rehearsed “Is mór an onóir domsa an corn seo a ghlacadh” and had been conditioned to the exposure of the Hogan Stand many times, but it was so hard to get all our ducks in a row.  I am reminded here of a day when many ducks were flushed into a shore at Lady Well and some ducks did not make it to the other side.

Despite my poor sight, I once provided security for an Abbey Parish Priest on a Sunday visit to Duniry.  The good man had failing eyesight and my job was to advise him of upcoming road turns, bicycles, traps or sidecars.  It was a case of ‘the blind leading the blind’.

On a day when our sight was being tested in Abbey school, my hurling friends tried to prompt me to the correct interpretation of the alphabet; my friends exceeded in volume and so did the teacher, later!  When passing the lake in Loughrea, on my way to get the appropriate spectacles, I remarked to my uncle about the expanse of lime to be seen.  We are told that we go from the known to the unknown but this was a jump too far.

A Selection of Specs

I must tell you of my sight deficiency when on a visit to Ballybunnion in 1961.  My good friend, Tony, who provided the transport in his Volkswagen for the Whit weekend came to my rescue there.  I left my glasses on while having a midday swim and a big wave took advantage of my stupidity.  Completely dependent now, Tony coaxed me to accompany him to a dance in Ballybunnion that Saturday night.  He kindly took responsibility for guiding me across the dance floor to each dancing partner, whom he had previously selected for me.

Soon, I hope to have similar professionalism when I come under the lights for cataract removal.  I must put a drop in my eyes now.