I made a brief visit to the Lake District the other week. More lake than district there as ever, and walking slightly hampered by alternating sideways rain and hail showers. I spied this detail in the beautiful east window of Jesus Church, Troutbeck. The window was designed by Burne Jones on the theme of the new creation in Christ. The angle was awkward to photograph and the sun was streaming in, so I don't know how easy it is to make out the detail which delighted me - the leaping fish in the floodwaters either side of the Annunciation. A little further along Noah appears, clutching a model of his Ark.

Last month I had an opportunity to visit the Gutenberg Museum in Mainz, and one of the display cases concerning book production before Gutenberg's printing press contained a reproduction of some medieval spectacles. Photography was not permitted, so this picture is of realy medieval specs on display in the Museum of London. We now know that sight-corrective eyewear was in common use much earlier than the historic record suggests. At has to be admitted that we have today achieved a better level of comfort and convenience than our forebears enjoyed: what a ridge in the nose these contraptions must have made!