Stiff upper lip:Siôn Simon writes about what it's like to go blind - because he doesn't want to embarrass his friends:
'Being British, I have a horror of making a fuss. In fact, I feel rude telling people that I am going blind. What are they supposed to say? All they can possibly offer is what they always do: ‘Oh dear. How terrible. You poor chap. I´m dreadfully sorry.´ Some women do the verbal hugging thing. Men, almost without exception, are mightily embarrassed. It´s horrible to watch. Notwithstanding the incorrigible hack reflex to get a column out of anything that waggles its tail, the main reason for writing this is to save myself 100 such conversations.' [Spectator].
