I can see!

On Saturday, I picked up my new glasses from Specsavers (Lenscrafters is probably the closest U.S. equivalent).  I am very excited to have glasses that aren’t broken.  Needless to say, it became tiresome to keep trying to fix the broken ones.  I am also pleased that they gave me a 50% off coupon for the next 6 months.  I suspect that I’ll get a backup pair given the annoyances of going without a back up pair.  Surprisingly, the glasses were cheaper than a comparable pair in the U.S.  This pair was about 2/3 the cost of my last pair, although the frames are not a name brand (the pair that broke were Fossil).

In general, we have learned the hard way about modern conveniences and the inconveniences of doing without them.  For example, on Friday night LBJ (“Da missus”, as she prefers) wanted to make a simplified version of coq au vin.  However, this task was complicated by the lack of a peeler (for the carrots) or a can opener (for the canned – “tinned” – tomatoes).  I don’t know how she improvised.  In the case of the can opener, I don’t think I want to know, especially after seeing the top of the empty can!

“Now for something completely different”: recycling is a bit different than the U.S.  Curbside recycling accepts fewer items.  At least I assume it will – we’re still waiting for them to bring the bins so we can start recycling, etc. rather than our current strategy of putting everything in the 2 bins that were left by a previous owner.  Sprinkled throughout the area are containers for recycling glass, with different container for different colored glass: clear, brown, and green.  It appears that our closest glass recycling spot is near a nice playground – the playground will be the topic of a future post.  I am not sure where cardboard gets recycled, but my father-in-law offered to take our cardboard with his as he was driving to the cardboard recycling.  He was convinced that he had a large load until we showed up with cardboard from bunk beds, another bed, a futon, a small couch, and two lights from Ikea.  And we still have some of that in our living room because the kids are using them as toys.  Who needs toys if you have giant cardboard boxes (if you’re 2 or 4 years old, that is)?  I still haven’t figured where to recycle all the Ikea plastic wrapping (admittedly, we’ve used the unripped bags as trash bags).