I  hurried through the day's chores and managed to get everything done before we left the house at half-past twelve. So that was good. I don't enjoy these appointments, it's why I put off having my eyes examined for as long as I did. For one thing, the pandemic intervened and it just seemed inappropriate.

Well before we left the house Jackie knew something was afoot.  So we were treated to his usual wary querying look.

Worse, their collective chorus of howls as we left by the back door. We've learned to inure ourselves against their pathetic claims of dire abandonment. When we returned several hours later they exprresed their gratitude for our return by leaping manically all over us. And we expressed our appreciation for their stoic suffering, by giving them little treats.

 

We had gone off for my appointment at the Eye Clinic to have my right eye punctiliously measured so that the corrective lens to be inserted could be tailored specifically for the dimensions of my eye. This doesn't happen when a standard lens is used, only with the newer more advanced lens that provides both near- and far-sighted corrections, though they don't take the place of corrective eyeglasses.

Little did I realize that the biometric measuring required the use of so many electronic photo-measuring machines, five in total. And nor were we prepared for the number of sessions we were exposed to, minutely explaining all the details about the cataract surgery I will undergo on April 20. Much less the covenants of understanding and permissions that had to be perused and signed; like legal documents (which they are in case of litigation) and witnessed as well.

 

This clinic is incredibly busy, people coming and going continually. People of all ages, though the ones that took our notice were the elderly and the infirm; people barely capable of crossing a room at more than a turtle's pace, others requiring walkers or being pushed about in wheelchairs. It's a modern, new building with all manner of corridors and specialized rooms, not all of which are occupied by the clinic itself.

Unsurprisingly, the establishment employs a lot of staff. Each and every one of whom must have been hired not only for their accomplished professionalism but as well for their demonstrable mastery of the social etiquette of cheerful kindness. They have unlimited patience, and go out of their way to make people comfortable in these surroundings. Mostly they are young women, knowledgeable and obviously well-schooled in the use and purpose of these sophisticated diagnostic machines.

 

We were glad to finally leave the premises, taking with us all the instructions that strive to ensure that everything will go well. It's a far more complicated process than the one I recall going through when my left eye underwent a similar operation in hospital, but without all the complex interviews, instructions, and preparations.

 

Later, out in the ravine with Jackie and Jillie, we shed all the stress of the earlier afternoon interactions.

It should have felt warmer than the atmosphere we found on the forest trails, but there was a harsh and cutting wind that did its best to ice over the 7C high of the day. Which didn't stop the ongoing diminishment of the snowpack, filling the creek with snow and ice meltwater.

 

A more pleasant way to spend a few hours is hard to imagine. Just watching Jackie and Jillie immerse themselves in the pleasure of strolling the paths lifts our own spirits. As does the presence of other dogs taking their own afternoon runs through the ravine who come by to visit now and again. They hear Jillie calling to them and often in the far distance looking through the forest to other trails, we can see a dog or two speeding their way through to join us briefly before heading back to apologize to their human companions for temporarily abandoning them.