I was ten years old when I had my first pair of glasses. I can remember being absolutely stunned by the difference when I came home with them. Suddenly the face of the clock was so incredibly bright! I hadn't realized just how dull it was before or that the numbers should be that easy to read.

My mother expressed the same sense of wonder when she had her first pair of glasses made. She said that she'd wanted to call out, "Come and see!" But then she realized that I couldn't very well see the difference her glasses made to her view of the world around her.

As the years have gone by my astigmatism has worsened. However, when I was in Year 10 of high school I refused point blank to wear my glasses. I had daggy old cats-eye style glasses, which were most unflattering. Being a 15-year-old girl, who had just lost a considerable amount of weight, I was very conscious of my appearance. I remember in Social Science I used to sit down the back of the classroom with a certain girl I knew from primary/elementary school. More particularly I wanted to sit with the spunky boy she knew better than I did. Because I was too far from the blackboard to read it myself I had to copy from my friend. Obviously this was far from sensible - but being attractive to the opposite sex is far more important in Year 10 than being able to read what the teacher has written on the blackboard!

Eventually my mother took me back to the optometrist to get some more trendy glasses. I remember her telling him that I'd become vain - and he said that was perfectly understandable. I was very happy with my new gold-rimmed glasses and never again did I worry about being a daggy "Four Eyes".

In fact my mother used to comment that I looked much nicer with my glasses on and that I didn't look right without them. By that stage I had to agree. More recently, when my little boy saw me without my glasses one day, he made a very similar comment - that he liked me best with my glasses on.

There are, of course, people who are very reluctant to wear glasses and will avoid it at all costs. Who could forget the episode of "The Brady Bunch" where Jan rode her bike into the garage and smashed into the family portrait hidden there for Mike to give Carol on their anniversary? All because she didn't want to wear her new glasses!

It's not only young girls though that feel as self-conscious about their specs as they would about wearing braces on their teeth. I can remember my mother

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