My wife is about to see me with 20:20 vision for first time in 12 years – Vladimir McTavish

The publicity shot at the top of this page was quite flattering when it was taken a few years ago.

Anyone who knows me personally, or who has sat in the front row of the audience will know as much. It is a fairly accurate representation of my face, but one that looks as if the photograph was taken in soft focus. Or observed through half-closed eyes.

Tomorrow morning, I will be driving my wife to the Eye Pavilion on Lauriston Place for the first of her two cataract operations. For a number of years, but particularly over the last 12 months, her eyesight has been declining. However, due to the miracles of modern ocular surgery, she will have perfect 20:20 vision in both eyes, after her second procedure in a fortnight’s time.

A number of people we know have had similar operations in recent years, and say how it has transformed their lives to have perfect vision restored, to see the world once again in its full-colour detail. A friend who lives in the United States spent several thousand dollars on her cataract op, and says it was worth every single cent. Fortunately, due to our marvelous NHS, my wife’s will cost us nothing.

Nonetheless, given that she is due to have surgery carried out on her eyes, my wife is understandably somewhat apprehensive. As for me, I am absolutely bricking it. One of the first things she is going to see with her new perfect vision is going to be my face, and she is going to notice just how much I have let myself go since she could last see properly.