Nathan VanderKlippe
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Feb 15/02) - If you're blessed with eyes that only work properly with a little help, you've probably experienced it.

You've been outside walking. It's cold, but coddled by layers of duck down you hardly feel it.

The world looks a lot different through lenses like these. - Robert Dall/NNSL photo

Until you walk into a building.

Immediately, you're plunged back to AD 1000, before the Venetians came up with the bright idea of mounting curved glass in lenses to improve sight.

As the fog, and then the ice, obscures your lenses, you're left with only one perspective on the world: a blur of unfocused light that looks like a malicious Monet.

You stumble about, navigating around larger objects and wondering whether the stain on the floor is just dirt or someone's spilled coffee. In the elevator, you either call out your floor number or press your nose against the buttons to find out which to press. And you hope you don't pass anyone you know, because chances are you're not going to wave hi. Whoever it might be is just a blur of skin and hair.

So is there anything you can do?

The answer, sadly, is no. A number of manufacturers make anti-fog sprays and creams, but they are no good in Yellowknife temperatures.

"There really is nothing we can do," said Terri Froment, who works at Polar Vision. "They have anti-fog sprays, but for us, we don't think they work."

In fact, Polar Vision doesn't even carry any of those solutions. Imperial Opticians does ($3 a tube), although they warn the solutions only work for warding off fog, not ice.

But Andreas Tesfaye recommends a more non-technical solution to getting rid of fog: as you walk inside, take your glasses off your nose, hold them by the temple tip (the part that goes over the ears) and wave them through the air.

If all else fails, though, a little Red Green-style solution might be in order. One of the opticians at Imperial recommended drastic measures. After all, your vision is at stake.

"Put in a rear-defogger," he said, "and use a battery pack."