One of the deeply glamourous side effects of diabetes is blindness caused by diabetic retinopathy. This is where diabetes induced damage is caused to the retina. Over 80% of diabetics who have had the disease for 20 years or more will get retinopathy. Not all people with retinopathy will go blind thankfully. I have been diabetic for forty years since I was but a toddler. For some bizarre reason my eyesight is still intact. Every year I go to a special eye clinic where a nice woman takes a photograph of inside my eye, sends it away to a lab for analysis and issues the result.

This morning was my annual appointment, Fortuitously the clinic is very close to my house. I am working from home today so took an early lunch-break and trotted over.

I filled in a form absolving the clinic of any and all responsibility if I took any adverse reaction to the eye-drops. Eye-drops are required to make the pupils dilate so they can get a good picture of the retina. The effects last about four hours.

I was in and out of the clinic in thirty minutes. I am now sitting back at my desk, typing furiously and hoping that I am not making too many spelling mistakes as my sight is all hazed and blurry. I have taken a selfie so I can witness for myself how drugged up I look, when my vision is restored to its previous loveliness later this afternoon.

I decided against reassuring the woman in the sandwich shop that I was stone cold sober, and my eyes’ condition is not as a result of a heavy duty weekend of opioids and hallucinogenic drugs.  That would have been inappropriate.

If you still have your eyesight then I encourage to come to the Pearse Centre from 7.45pm tomorrow until Saturday to see our lovely new play ‘Mother’s Little Treasure’. Tickets can be bought on the door or at the link.

(It has been pointed out to me that there is a distinct lack of subtlety in the manner in which I am shoehorning reference to the play into every blog post, regardless of how tenuous the link. However, I have been accused since childhood of having the diplomacy of a sledge-hammer, so please excuse this vulgar self -promotion – but still come to the play of course.)