OVER 2 YOU 222 (15/03/05)

SPECS ON THE WEB

I recall reading somewhere that you could order spectacles over the Internet at greatly reduced prices by supplying the company with your prescription. There seems to be quite a number of organisations offering this service, has anyone used one of these services and can make a recommendation?

Eric North, via email

Following a mention in The Daily Telegraph I tried www.glassesdirect.co.uk. They have supplied my wife with a pair and me two pairs of glasses at exceptionally reasonable cost. They are not cheap rubbish and the very professional service returned them in about 10 days. Very careful selection of frames is recommended, looking into the supplied details of dimensions before ordering. They will supply sample frames to try at a reasonable charge, so they can be tried at home. I'll certainly use them again when the need arises.

Phil Simmons, via email

Needing a pair of glasses ASAP, I investigated www.spex4less.com. The range of frames is limited, but they can order designer frames for you if you know the name and code of the frame you want.  I ordered a similar pair to my current frames for only £20.00 including delivery.  These arrived within 3 days of ordering! All you need to know to buy online is your current prescription and the Interpupillary Distance (IPD), your optician can give it to you, or you can measure it yourself fairly easily), and the type of frames you would like.  It’s a bit of a gamble buying glasses without trying the frames beforehand, but for such fantastic prices it’s worth it.

Sally Kershaw, Shrivenham, Swindon

Have a look at www.myoptics.co.uk. They offer a similar service to the other companies in this market, with a wider range of frame choices.

C. Cheung, via email

May I commend the following excellent contact in India: www.DrishtiOpticals.com. I have purchased several pairs of spectacles for my family and myself.  Delivery was very quick and the items included sunglasses, varifocal and bi-focal glasses. They are made to a very high standard and cost a mere fraction of the UK price.

June Nickless, via email

As a first time spectacle buyer, I decided to try buying on-line from www.bargainspecs.co.uk.  I entered my prescription, chose the frames and checked-out using my debit card. Ten minutes later an ophthalmic optician 'phoned me to confirm the details of my prescription. A week later the specs arrived. Perfect lenses and apparently quite stylish frames and all for under £20; a first class service, I was quoted £175 in the High Street.

Steven Latter, via email

Economeyes at Cleveleys, near Blackpool (www.economeyes.co.uk/) sell specs over the Internet. After searching the Internet I came across this company and they even took my NI voucher into consideration. I achieved a huge saving over high street prices and you can visit their shop; whilst in Cleveleys also try the superb fish and chips from the shop next to the bus station.

Sam Worth, via email

Your prescription is not enough to get a well fitting pair of specs. The distance between your eyes needs to be measured to make sure the lenses are properly centred and, if you're having bifocals or varifocals or anything similar, other measurements need to be taken. You also need to make sure the frame fits you properly, on the bridge and behind the ears. I urge you not to go down this route but let the person who tests your eyes do the whole job.

Eve Morris, via email

BADMINTON PLAYLIST

A crowd of 16 to 25 of us OAPs play Badminton doubles.  We like to randomise the doubles so everybody plays with and against everybody regardless of ability during our hour or more sessions.  We play men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles on up to 4 courts. We find it very difficult to keep track of who has played who or with whom and how to ensure continued mixing of teams - the boss for the day usually goes barmy... Can anyone help?

Tony Lake, via email

I am not surprised that you find it difficult; picking 4 groups from 16 people generates 1820 possible matches. It gets worse if you pick 4 from 25 when it increases to 12650 possible games. This result comes from using the COMBIN function in Excel, which counts the number of combinations of 4 people from 25. What you did not say was whether you only wanted mixed doubles or could cope with more variations 2 males playing two females for example, try:  =INDEX(players,MOD(MMULT(games,column),17)) in a table 16 by 16 where players are a column of 16 players named, games is a named column of numbers from 1 to 16 and column is a named row from 1 to 16. This will generate at least 60 matches for you.  All this is in Excel and is not an attempt to generate all those games. By the way you must use Ctrl Shift Enter to create your 16 by 16 array.

John Hooton, via email

I also play badminton in a mixed group, the way we mix up is to use a peg system, everyone has their name on a wooden spring clip washing clothes peg, these are attached to a board on arrival, ensuring nobody loses their place the first four play. When the game is over those four pegs are moved to the end of the board in the order in which they were on to begin with.  This way nobody misses a game unless they choose to rest, in which case their peg is placed at the end of the board, or exchanged with another player further down the queue.

Nora Witter, via email

There is no need for a computer here, only a crayon and a very large sheet of paper. Simply list the possible team pairings horizontally and vertically to create a fixture table, and then colour in the completed matches to create a visual record. However, consider that with 25 OAPs each OAP would appear in 24 pairings out of a total of 300 such pairings. To complete the fixtures a total of 44,850 matches would have to be played. This would require each pair to play 299 games, with each individual OAP playing in 6,900 games! As an OAP myself, I am not sure that I could stand this pace!

John Kemp, Hadfield, Glossop

Although created for tennis and not badminton I have written a book 'Revolutionise Your Social Tennis Tournaments' which provides score cards and orders of play etc., which would meet your criteria that everyone plays with and against each other. The format could easily be adapted to badminton and full details can be found by clicking on: http://www.socialtennis.com/about_new.htm.  The book can be ordered online and costs £15.99

Ralph Wylam, via email

CAN YOU HELP?

Does anyone know of any software or a website, which can help someone to write plays for TV or radio in the correct format, setting out how to present dialogue, scene details, movements and so on.

Roslyn Ousey, via email

I use Windows 98 and a Canon printer. How can I print white images on dark coloured paper? Does anyone know of a manufacturer who can supply cartridges filled with white ink? 

John Beaumont, via email