I’m a keen swimmer, but getting progressively short sighted since my teens, it’s been a challenge to stay safe in the water. I was only a bit short sighted when I learned to swim, so squinting madly helped then.  As it got worse when I got to my twenties, I relied on friends to hold my hand and lead me to the steps, and wearing a bright swim hat helped them to find me – and kept other swimmers out of my way!

Then came the day when I grabbed the hand of a complete stranger and asked her guide me back to the changing rooms, which led to some confusion although I made a new friend! I tried goggles over my contact lenses, but this was tricky as I was wearing hard contacts then and twice I dislodged them when removing the goggles. Finding a contact lens on a wet changing room floor dressed only in an M& S swimsuit is not the most dignified way to spend your afternoon.

I then tried prescription swimming goggles, but as I have different strength lenses in each eye these weren’t that good. By now I’d got soft contact lenses.  You can’t wear them in the water as there’s a nasty bacteria that can contaminate them. I tried daily lenses, which I had to remove as soon as I got out of the pool.

I got fed up with remembering to keep a stock of disposable lenses though, so after all this trial and error, nowadays I have a cheap pair of specs I got from my online optician and I just wear them in the water. I don’t make as many new friends but at least I don’t crash into the sides of the pool!