Nicole 144

These Festival glasses were acquired in the Lausanne area in the French speaking part of Switzerland and they looked familiar straightaway. I got my first glasses at the age of twelve and aside from its size, the frame was identical to the Festival glasses shown here to great effect by Nicole. My glasses did not last long. The left lens was plano and the right lens about minus two. There was a bit of a battle going on between both images and this was annoying. So my decision was to live with mono vision as long as the left eye was still perfect. Nine years later I was a Physical Geography student and we got an introductory test for working with aerial photos. After failing the test miserably, it was clear that glasses were probably the remedy. The optometrist did the test and it turned out that my left eye was still perfect but the right eye was now around minus four. The new glasses were a disaster. The battle between the two images gave me headaches and worst of all, they did not get me through the aerial photo test. The next step was getting a contact lens for the right eye but even then I failed to pass the aerial photography test. Finally I was sent to a university clinic where they did a multitude of tests. It turned out that I had no 3 D vision at all due to some malfunctioning in the brain and this could not be cured by any visual aid. Needless to say, this was bad news for my prospects of getting a job in integrated survey mapping all over the world. But my overall feeling was relief and in many respects a rehabilitation for many unpleasant situations over the years. Even on a bike I seemed to make many errors of judgement in traffic and sports like hockey and baseball were a disaster. Much of this was simply put down as me being a dreamer without physical agility. Now it was proven that the cause laid elsewhere. It also explained why I was never afraid when climbing difficult mountains in the Alps. No vertigo at all. So my decision was to forget about ever trying to obtain a driver's license. Fortunately one of the professors at the university admitted me in his Masters program, albeit at my own risk. Eventually I managed to develop an alternative method to make integrated survey maps without the use of aerial photos. After obtaining the degree I was invited a job in the university administration and from then there was no nostalgic need to look back. If one door is slammed in your face, you simply open another door. And the funny thing was that I always received praise for my helicopter view at work.
Life stories.... High time to return to the alley and lovely Nicole.