Lost things

Lost things
10

I was not going to post today but something happened today to remind me of my Keratoconus. This is not a topic I address too frequently because I don’t like to be defined by my disorder. But sometimes it gets very frustrating.

As per normal I hurried to catch my morning train. I use an electronic card (called an Opal card) to pay my train fare and I keep the card in my Samsung Phone case. Hence I can just swipe the phone over the reader at the station’s entrance as I rush on in.

So I did that, leapt onto a train, and found myself a seat where I unshouldered (is that a word?) my backpack and placed it on the seat beside me.

Hey! Where’s my mobile phone?

Somehow between swiping my train fare and placing my backpack next to me I had misplaced my phone.

Hmmmmmm.

So I checked my pockets.

Nope.

Checked my backpack.

Nope.

Looked around my seat.

Nope.

My heart began to race. That was an expensive phone.

So I checked all three a second time.

Nope.

By this time I realised that I had less than ten minutes before the train hit Hurstville where a crowd of people would board and make searching impossible. So I stood up and looked around the carriage floor. Other passengers gave me passing glances.

Next I got down onto my knees and peered under my seat and nearby seats. This caused intently concerned looks. Perhaps they thought I was a deranged man seeking a lost battle axe, because their looks in my direction conveyed something like that.

I stood, and addressed the carriage. “I have lost my phone somewhere here.”

Had I expected instant smiles and offers of help then I would have been sorely disappointed. Luckily I did not expect this. Instead I just kept receiving uncomfortable glances.

So I fiddled with the seat mechanism (it was one of those that rolls over). I thought I saw something. So I went and

10 Comments


  1. One would never become aware of your eyesight issues through reading your written word or looking at your wonderful images. It’s admirable how you cope so well with your vision impairment. Your family and friends must be very proud of you. I for one admire you.


    1. Thankyou so much 🙂 In all honesty I am not worthy of admiration. I am merely selfish and stubborn and don’t like doctors telling me that I can’t do something 🙂 There is a guy where I work who is quadriplegic. His has a motorised wheelchair that he operates with his mouth. He comes to work and, using only his mouth and a stick-like object, types away on his computer. Now that is admirable! By comparison I just have a frustration. Nevertheless, sentiments truly appreciated. 🙂 Thanks 🙂


  2. So glad you found it. Perhaps you should have pointed out that you have visual difficulties – if no one is going to be helpful and offer to call you from their phone so you can locate it by sound, you should at least make them feel super super bad.


    1. I suspect that most people don’t know how to respond when suddenly faced with the unexpected. And if I had enough wits about me I could have suggested someone ring my phone and I am sure someone would have obliged. But I did not think of it. DOH! 🙂 Thanks for the concern 🙂


  3. Gotta love those KC eyes! I know exactly where you are coming from, Been there many times. Glad you found the phone ?


    1. I suspect that the most common phrase that exits my mouth is “Damn I hate my eyes.” I must mutter it at least 20 times a day.


  4. Yes… shadows are enemies for sure! Ignore the fact of my screen-handle, I created it before my KC got this bad. I’m glad that you’ve found your phone! If I were there, I would have tried to help, then it would have been two blind people searching for an item to gain the stares. =p
    Thanks for sharing, as it makes me feel less crazy about that problem with shadows, no one seems to believe me about it and keep pointing to my thick glasses, as if that means I should see perfectly.


    1. LOL – quite an image if two of us were trying. I don’t know whether the other passengers could have handled the sight.

      So then that’s you and I that hate shadows. And yes, no one I know outside of cyberspace really gets it. I also actually get fed up with telling people at work what my disorder is and just say “short sighted”. Some people I have tried explaining it to over and over again – and nothing! They don’t understand.

      Damn stupid disorder. 🙂


  5. Hello Greg. I just wanted to say that my daughter has Keratoconus and stigmatism. I wonder if her eye problem and yours are from the same same source. Darn those genes!


    1. I reckon we can be certain of that. It’s funny I received this just as I was finishing off a bit of research on Ancestry.com. 🙂 Just about to go to bed. I felt that I had let it go recently. Did you know we are popping over to the UK in September? I know you’re in North America, but at least we’ll be in the same hemisphere for a while 🙂

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