vision for the future

I had an optometrist in New Zealand who, when asked whether he thought a person needed to get new glasses, would say, “Well that's up to you. Me, I'm addicted to clear vision...” Well, my birthday parcel has arrived at last (a little late for the actual day)—a high quality pair of Pentax binoculars—so I will finally be getting some of that clear vision, of the birds we try to see on our various outings.

I put the binoculars through initial paces this afternoon and they are truly most impressive... to be seen (through) to be believed. They are phase coated, nitrogen purged, all sorts of Star Trek-sounding superlatives, but so far they appear to live up to the excellent reviews they've received. They're clearly well made and this is is a 30th birthday present that I expect to still be using on my 60th. I was reflecting I have few if any other possessions I expect to last that long.

My ex-supervisor Nancy and her husband Tim hold a wealth of ornithological expertise between them. A while back Tim took a look at our (latterly much neglected) bird page on this site and said to Nancy, “They don't have binoculars!” Well at the very least we hope to be able to add some of those common but less obvious birds real soon...