A floater, flashes and a magical wood

On Saturday a large spider-like floater appeared in my right eye. It was accompanied by disconcerting lightning-like flashes in the corner of the eye. On Monday both symptoms were still there so I rang the opticians and they advised me to come in for a check since – at worst – they can be signs of a ‘detached retina’, which sounds terrifying.

    Part of the check involved putting drops into the eye to dilate the pupil so that the optician can see through it to the retina behind. I was pronounced OK, and told that such symptoms are more likely as you get older (oh dear, something else) and if you’re short-sighted (which I am). Frog then had to drive me home as the vision is disturbed by the dilated pupils, and the effects take four hours to wear off. And I couldn’t read my computer screen either for the rest of the day.

    So that was Monday.

    On Tuesday I went back to the opticians to order some computer glasses as recommended by the optician on Monday. Computers cause a lot of eyestrain because of the glare and because they sit at an awkward place between reading distance (when I don’t wear glasses) and the far distance (when I do). This strain can cause migraines, she said. Special glasses worth a try, I thought.

    So that was Tuesday.

    I brought forward my contact lens check to this Friday as my eyes are very dry and I wanted to be sure this wasn’t contributing to the above symptoms.

    So that will be Friday.

    Today (Thursday) I have two pre-arranged appointments (which I should now be preparing for) so it looks like that’ll be today gone.

    Which is all preliminary to letting you know that I may not be posting another chapter of the novel this week. I do have half a chapter done (yesterday) and, if I find some time in which to finish it, I will. But it doesn’t look likely.

    In the meantime, here are some pictures from a small nearby wood which is totally magical at the moment.

Only a neighbour and I visit the wood and she goes to a different bit from me, so I can be pretty sure of having it to myself.

Just me and the bluebells

As the wood grows around a valley cut by a small stream

This tunnel for the stream is one of the few signs of human interference in the wood

lots of it is too steep for me

A near-vertical bank down to the stream

but Ellie leaps around all over the place like a mountain goat.

Spot the dog

I spend most of my time just sitting on the ground among the bluebells, feeling happy, and sometimes Ellie joins me.

Ellie looking wistful. ‘Why can’t we do something? Why do we have to just sit here?’

There hasn’t been much sun during the wood’s bluebell season so far this year, but here is the wood at the same time last year in sun, looking equally magical.

The wood in sun this time last year

As I sit, the birds and butterflies return to going go about their business, ignoring me, and I start to see strange things – a dormouse looking at me from a branch, a hairy-legged satyr striding along the edge of the wood, a little man in brown trousers standing watching me. When I look again, I realise they are illusions created by the tangle of fallen trees and ivy (but I haven’t photographed them because it seems intrusive) . . .