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A Vision Splendid

Back in 2005 I purchased a CCTV System. It has successfully allowed me to continue reading, despite my now very limited vision. My failing eyesight is due to a degenerative condition known as Fuchs Dystrophy. Like most resources for a disability, the reading system did not come cheaply.

So when it began playing up last week, I became somewhat anxious for I use it every day. However, a telephone call to Vision Australia soon put me in touch with one of the few technicians in Australia specialising in the repair of low vision equipment. His workshop, would you believe, was located in a neighbouring suburb. He checked my system over and I had it back the next day. Touch wood, it’s going great guns!

The workshop where my machine was sorted out reminded me of my father’s little office /workshop which he had for his specialist, mechanical engineering business. His workshop was situated right in the heart of Sydney and ceased operating around 1970.

The result of all this is a very satisfied customer . . . prompt, friendly (not forgetting convenient) service and the revival of some fond memories.

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Eloise and the Giant Cave

As we toddle through our early years, life seems to throw up challenges, “little Everests”, to keep us on our toes. Watching my granddaughter Eloise over the last few years I have been reminded of this.

I lived near Milson Park on Careening Cove in North Sydney. In those days there used to be some play equipment in the park. I particularly remember two metal ladders. Although fixed to the ground, these ladders had enough flexibility to swing slightly as you attempted the climb. To a little boy they seemed to disappear into the clouds. Next to each ladder was a metal pole. The challenge was to climb to the top of the ladder, manoeuvre yourself across to the pole and then slide down with a beaming smile. For some time, this became my “little Everest”, challenging me every time I played in the park.

By way of a bit of trivia, these particular playground ladders appeared in the 1960s ABC television adaptation of George Johnston’s novel My Brother Jack. From our backroom window, we could see the filming of the park scene. It was at night and they had rigged up a system of overhead pipes to simulate a rainy evening. For the best part of our fine evening, we watched Jack, played by the late Ed Devereaux, get wet as he repeatedly courted his drenched girlfriend on a damp park seat adjacent to the ladders.

My granddaughters Eloise and Caitlin live in Victoria so their visits are very special. When Eloise was around three years old I took her for a bush walk down behind our property in the Blue Mountains. There I showed her a large cave. I climbed my way to the back of it, before returning to sit with her at the front of the cave. We gazed into the valley and listened to the birds and the creek. Very soon we were on our way back home at Eloise’s rather anxious request.

Easter 2010 again saw us both sitting at the cave front. Eloise had asked me to take her back but there was no desire on her part to venture into the cave. She was very comfortable sitting and chatting at the front of it. She was more than happy with herself when we returned to the house and told everyone about her adventure. During a short stay last month Eloise asked me to take her again to the cave. This time she scampered up to the back of the cave a number of times, told stories there and asked me to video her climb to the back.

That night we all sat and watched a very proud Eloise do her stuff. She had just conquered one of her “little Everests”.