Scary situation while driving tonight

[fcgamer]

I was driving my scooter to my other job.  I get off my first job in the late afternoon, and then on days that I have my night job (20:00 - 21:30), I drive my scooter to the 7-11 near my evening job, and sit and write / format the Famicom book I am working on, for a few hours.  I can usually get about two hours worth of work in on the project.

Tonight I was about twenty minutes out from my destination, and my eyes began to feel extremly dry, probably since I had been wearing my contacts since early in the morning.  I made the mistake of rubbing my eye and voila, my contact fell out!  So I slowly drove ten minutes into the town, and then parked, and walked down to the nearest eye shop to get a replacement contact, before getting back on the scooter and cruising to the 7-11. 

Sadly, that means my time for working on the book tonight took a major hit, but I'm just thankful the whole ordeal occured when I was so close to town.  Otherwise, I would have had to stop and call one of my friends to help me, since my vision is not that good without corrective lenses.

[prince tomato]

i wear glasses, and while that is easier and less hazardous than contacts in many situations, it introduces a set of new ones.
so, i was riding my 1999 Gazelle biccycle to work the other day, at a steady cruising speed of about 20kmh, (15mph?) at 7:30 in the morning,
when the sky opened up and an ocean poured down from the clouds above.
i was drenched in minutes, but what was worse, my glasses turned into a caleidoscope instantly.
so it is practically ptichblack here at that time, and i only have streetlights to navigate, but when water is streaming down my glasses all i see is flickering refracting lights, and nothing else unless i am almost on top of it,
which is pretty scary if you've only had your first cup of coffee 5 minutes earlier and are still trying to wake up.
add to that the fact that i was running a bit late already so slowing down was not an option, and you have a recipe for a very interesting commute.
still haven't found effevtive windshieldwipers for glasses...

[P]

Hmm I don't think I ever had that problem. I wipe them off on the shirt. I usually have an umbrella if it's raining that much though.
Only problem is when it's cold outside and then going inside the glasses becomes foggy, effectively disabling my vision for some time.

[prince tomato]

i wear buddy holly style heavy rimmed glasses, which may be more of a problem in heavy downpour.
(and i mean the sort of rain that the Netherlands suffer quite a bit in autumn, instant heavy rain, big heavy drops, that soak you in 10 seconds.)
an umbrella would solve that, but the few times i tried to ride a bike holding an umbrella i regretted it within half a mile, especially when there is a bit of wind.
once i tried anti-fog spray for helmet visors, initially as a joke (we had some at the bikeshop where i work) and it seemed to help a little.
the drops slid of the glasses faster, and didn't form as much vision-distorting drops on the glasses, i think that spray breaks up the surface tension of the water making it less of an issue.
it's rainy season now, so i might try that trick again.
but yeah, being slightly visually impaired and losing a contact or a bit of your vision in another way while moving through traffic can be very "interesting" as the Chinese might say.