My name is Bruno. 25 years ago I was a lone traveler 19 years old, trying to explore the world. Before starting to travel I had worked 2 years as a gardener in a small gardening company and saved money for my time on th roads and rails. While strolling through Europe I came to the Greek island of Chios in September, where I met 2 friendly ladies, that spend their holiday there. They came from Paris and had jobs as professors at the Sorbonne university in Paris. We met every day for a week, spending a lot of time on the beach and having extended suppers in the taverns. We talked a lot though my french wasn’t all that good and their English as well. One of them Helene told me, that she lived in an old house outside the city, that she had inherited from her grandparents. This house had a big garden that she was unable to maintain without help, so she invited me, that if I needed a job for some time, she would be glad to employ me as a gardener for as long as I liked to. “Well if you pass by in Paris, we would be glad to see you and maybe you take care of the garden” they said, when we parted. 6 months later in late March after stays in the Middle East and Africa I came back to Europe through Mauretania and Marocco, passed through Spain and arrived in Paris by the end of March. I met my friends from Greece. We had a couple of nice days together in Paris and I visited Helene in her house, which was more like a little castle in a beautiful old village near Paris connected to the center with urban trains. It had a big vegetable and flowers garden that needed some attention and lawns with big trees. Looked like a good and enjoyable job. Helene offered me accommodation, a good pay and the chance to improve my french. Next morning, Helene left for her job and I was by myself in the house and garden. I just started to check out my workspace and get a picture where to start. The day was bright and sunny and unfortunately I didn’t have my sunglasses anymore. I had lost them near Salamanca while hitchhiking in a lorry. As the sunlight really started to become annoying, I thought about what to do and decided to phone Helene at her job to ask if there are sunglasses in the house that I could use. I reached her and she told me to look in a wardrobe in the bathroom, there should be a collection of all sunglasses that she ever had. But she was not sure if there were sunglasses without prescription lenses. Helene told me, that she was very shortsighted and usually had contacts. Until then I hadn’t known that she was shortsighted. I found the wardrobe and there were 8 different glasses cases with sunglasses. I checked them and there was none without prescription. What a pity. I continued working outside with the sun even becoming brighter and the thought came to me, that maybe it would be better to have sunglasses with prescription than nothing in front of my eyes. So I went in and got the one of the glasses that I supposed to be the weakest. Outside in the garden I put them on, they seemed to fit ok and I looked around. The sun shading effect was a big relief, but I could not see very good with them on. Everything seemed to be smaller and bend to the sides of my visionfield and quite out of focus. Looking in the distance wasn’t all that annoying, but looking close was really difficult. It was hard to see details. But the shading was so nice, that I left them on. Trying to clear out the weeds it was sketchy to distinguish between the ones I wanted to keep growing and those that should be torn out. I was fluctuating between taking them off and being annoyed by the bright sun and by keeping them and feeling impaired by their optical power. But in the end I kept on wearing the sunglasses While working and made pauses with just looking far away, which felt more easy. So in the end I worked the whole day cutting brushes, tearing out weeds, repairing walls and ways with Helene’s prescription sunglasses on. I had to move my head more often with the glasses, because my view was kind of centered by the optical effect, but I kind of got used to the power of the lenses. After initially feeling quite uncomfortable with the optical impairment, my eyes and brain seemed to adjust to the glasses more and more. In the evening, when becoming tired I sat down under a tree and relaxed still wearing the sunglasses and looking in the direction of the setting sun. My vision in the distance was now almost clear and I was amazed, how my eyes had adapted that good to the glasses. Later I got up and walked around a bit, to check out the surroundings of Helene’s house. The experience of walking with prescription glasses was fascinating. The glasses had the effect of focusing my view in a strange way, as if I had a camera in front of me. I kind of liked the effect. I had taken off the sunglasses after coming home, my eyes had a couple of seconds problems to see clear again. Helene came late at night, she was tired from a long day. Helen asked me how I liked her garden. I told her what I had done and about my plans for the following days. She said, she was glad to have me around. She went to bed soon , me too. Next morning we met short for breakfast, Helen gave me some money to buy stuff for the garden. Just before she left I asked ” Hey, Helene can I use your sunglasses again today, it should become sunny like yesterday” “You can keep them, do they fit you?” “The size is OK…” There was no time to tell that there unfortunately were no nonprescription glasses because Helene had to rush to her train. So I spend another day working with the prescription sunglasses on. I had the impression, that it was no more such an impairment as the previous day and looking at close things was a bit easier. I also got more used to the fact, that I had to make more moves with my head to find my directions. Helene again came late and left early next morning complaining, that she had so much work in Paris and that it was a pity, that we were unable to spent more time together. So I had another day with lots of sun and wearing the glasses all day. I needed stuff from some shops and took Helene’s bicycle to get there. Cycling with glasses was a new challenge but doable. I started to really like my new sunglasses. My vision through them improved continuous, though sometimes my eyes felt strained and the glasses seemed to cause a slight headache. Another short stay of Helene and the fourth day with the glasses in the sunlit garden. Meanwhile I felt a strange attraction to the moment, when I put on the glasses in the morning and feel my eyes adjusting to the strength of them. Taking them off in the evening made me feel a bit sorry and my eyes needed a bit more time every day to readjust to seeing without them. My eyes had learned to see very good now through the glasses and I had the impression of seeing much sharper and with more contrast than without them. On the sixth day of working in Helenes garden- it started to look more and more like a real nice place, new plants were in the ground, cabbage, carrots, peas were seeded, the old roses were cut in shape - Helene came home in the afternoon. We had coffee in the garden together, Helene was very keen on the development in her garden. We talked a lot about the garden, her work and things happening in the world. After about 2 hours of spending time together Helene took a closer look at my face and clapped her hand at her mouth in surprise ” Bruno, you are wearing my old prescription- sunglasses, how can you see with them? As I remember these must be quite strong glasses! ” I felt embarrassed and stuttered ” oh, there were no nonprescription-glasses in the wardrobe and I needed sun-protection so bad, so I tried these. My eyes needed some time to adjust, but I can see very good with them by now, its no problem.” “ But these glasses must have -4Diopers or more, Bruno, you will hurt your eyes wearing them, better take them off” “but I like wearing them, really, it feels good to me, my vision is sharper than ever before, meanwhile I can read without problems with them” “I can’t belief that Bruno, here is a newspaper, please read to me…” I read to her fluently, Helene shook her head and asked if I ever had worn glasses before. I told her that its my first experience of wearing glasses and that I was surprised how easy i had aligned myself to the glasses and that I liked the feeling of wearing “real” glasses. We kept on working and discussing the garden without mentioning the glasses theme anymore. Sun went down and it was time to take off the sunglasses. Helene looked in my bare eyes “Your eyes look normal, I expected them to be red, worn and consumed by this burden, how does it feel without glasses?” I stuttered again” Well, I instantly miss them and long for the next day when I can put them on again” I said and becoming more confident “I’d be glad to have a pair of glasses with the same strength with untanned glass. Don’t you have an old pair with this prescription for me?” Helene was like frightened by that and laughed insecure: “Bruno you can’t mean that really, you would become dependent on glasses if you do that, that’s no toy.” I replied “no its not like a toy to me, I can’t say why, but it’s a pleasure to wear glasses for me, I didn’t have that wish a week ago but now its there like a strong wish” Helene looked at me for a minute without saying a word and then asked: “Are you sure Bruno?” then got up , went to the bathroom and after a while came back with a pair of glasses, the rims dark cat-eye style with clear lenses. “OK Bruno, these must be in my remembrance the glasses with the corresponding prescription to the sunglasses you wear. I found the recipe in the case -4,0 right -4.25 left, try them out, but don’t exaggerate.” I thanked Helene took the glasses and put them on. It took 3 Minutes of adjusting and my eyes were in tune. I walked to the bathroom mirror and looked at myselfe turning the head from left to right, they were a very feminine style, but corresponded very good with my blond curly hair. Helene came to me and watched me: “They suit you well Bruno I must admit. If you wear these for longer time your eyes might become shortsighted, don’t forget that.” I didn’t want to think about that I was euphoric :”When do I have to give them back to you?” “I don’t need these anymore, you can keep them if you want, but think of the consequences..” From this day on I wore the glasses constantly. After a couple of days I walked through town with Helene and we passed an opticians shop. Helene stopped and looked in the windows at the glasses. I saw a sign saying:”If your glasses need to be customized, come in please.” So I asked Helen, if it would be OK to let them adjust the glasses better to my face. She said its your glasses anyway, I don’t mind. An older lady took care of my glasses and after a couple of slight bends she asked me, if they fit good. Very good I answered, because the glasses now felt much more comfortable. From then on I wore glasses constantly without even thinking about them. I put them on after waking up till falling asleep. I loved the garden. The first seeds started to sprout. I had repaired the broke-down greenhouse, it looked really good again. I installed some old pipes with holes and experimented with a self created watering -system and after I had the impression,that it worked, I bought plants, tomatoes, eggplants, pepper, cucumbers to make them grow. I feeded my plants with a brew off chickenshit, stinging nettles, compost and other plants. My plants grew, the flowers budded and bloomed, I was in a garden flow. And I was constantly wearing my glasses. On shady or rainy days the clear ones, through sunshine I changed to the tanned version. There was no moment, where I consciously used my bare vision. Helen spent most of her time with working and came to the castle only scarcely for weeks. I didn’t really mind living on my own. Helen had made an appointment with three older ladies Liz, Marry and Beth, all around 70 years old, that I could spend one or two evenings a week with, eating, cooking and playing cards to improve my french. What I really did. At least 2 hours a day I listened to french radio, watched french TV and read french magazines and books. Better and better, almost fluently I spoke french. In high summer Helen came home for a longer weekend. She was out of her mind how the garden was growing, glowing and humming with bees and birds. We strolled long down the narrow paths I had put back to life, and in the end sat on the bench, watching the setting sun through the trees and roses. Helen hadn’t said a word about the fact that I constantly wear glasses now, but now as we sat in her living-room opposite of a big mirror that reflected our faces, she smiled at me and said” I just cant recall how your face looks without glasses, I feel almost as if these glasses have always been a part of you. You look very good with your glasses. I hope you never regret” …to be continued