Wednesday, January 19, 2011

JUST A LIGHT BULB

I switched on the kitchen light tonight, there was an immediate bang.88| Not a genteel 'pop'. It made me jump. Half the house lights went off as a result. Just what I needed when arriving home with arms full of bags and items of shopping...and the bunch of flowers I treated myself to. 

A poke around for a torch, a visit to the fuse box, which is in an awkward place, with the ends of two full size oars resting on it, revealed two fuse switches were off. That job done, I discovered when I gingerly switched on the lights again, I need to replace one little light bulb! ..... All that for one light bulb.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

we do tend to take them for granted but what a nuisance it is when just one little bulb goes pop...or bang, in your case.

ZACL said...

I wonder, as time goes on, if I will continue to 'enjoy' light bulbs that give me light and not a faded version of it.

Anonymous said...

life is indeed in many ways getting dimmer and dimmer, less illuminating than ever before.

i vote for a return to candlelight!

ZACL said...

Do you favour any particular type of candle light?

keiko amano said...

ZACL,

That bang startles me every time. Yes, inside of me jumps. Why only a small bulb has to make such exaggerated crushing noise? It's like a sound effect belonged to the movie production. When the house and the neighborhood are quiet, it almost sounds like the end of a mini world.

Years ago, I went to Detroit and made a visit to a historical museum and saw Edison's house. It could be his workshop building. Probably you know and most people know, but I had no idea about inventions or light bulb or all the related business. Anyway, there I learned that the light bulb Edison invented never broke. "The light still turn on," my guide told me. I couldn't believe it! Then why do we have to keep buying more bulbs? I thought of employment and unemployment, and moral dilemma. So I shut up.

A few years ago, when energy saving bulbs appeared in the U.S. market for a few dollars for six, I bought many and changed all in my house. Because of your blog, I checked the package. It said it lasts 7 years, and it contains mercury. Mercury?! I have to think about this. Anyway, old 100 watts bulb now uses 23 watts energy, it said. Meantime, the energy saving bulb costs 6 or 8 dollars or so each in Japan. The leftover bulbs I have in the U.S. probably cannot fit to the Japanese sockets, so I don't bother to carry any to Japan. So, my energy saving light bulbs should be quiet for four or five more years, but I wonder what kind of sound they will make at the end of their life. I hope it won’t cause us a heart attack.

ZACL said...

It will be interesting to find out what the refuse people make of the growing mercury stocks obtained from modern long life light bulbs. There is always an offset to anything presented as 'the best thing since sliced bread'. I have experienced one or two long life bulbs dying. They haven't been unduly noisy, but they too can initiate the fuses to flip off.

The other major problem with the new low energy lights, is that the majority do not give out a good light. For some people who need something like daylight replication for their work, the new bulbs are a disaster. For others with sight problems, they can increase vision strain.

After a year or so, (maybe less), the long life bulbs take a long time to reach their full light potential, if they do, and they do start to fade in intensity.

keiko amano said...

ZACL,

You don't have to show me, but I'm curious about the awkward place and two full size oars.

Anonymous said...

My light fuse blew the other week and I was surprised at how loud a crack it made when it did.
Thankfully mine is slightly more accessible than yours seems to be!
Flighty xx

ZACL said...

You're right about the accessibility of our fuse box. It has always been a bone of contention. I wasn't here when things like this were being installed in the house, otherwise it would have been much more sensibly placed, I can assure you.

Lights and kettles seem to die at this time of year. Our current kettle, the cheapest of the bunch, is now about 3 years old and going well. Lights, well....who can predict.

ZACL said...

Hello Keiko,

I did reply to you, the connection timed out, I was multi-tasking at the time, and, I had not copied what I had written.

The awkwardness of the situation is where the fuse box is installed, not in the house. Another awkward element is that I had to go out with a torch, then I have to go into what has become a stuffed up workshop-stuffed almost from ground to ceiling- ease my way through to where the fuse box is. The next awkwardness, is reaching up high to the box, from an angle,(because of all the clutter) to find that the cover cannot be lifted because two full sized oars are resting on it!

At least, in the past, when the space was more spacious, I could face the box, reach up and open the cover, when I had to go out to switch the fuses back on.

TG said...

This was rather tragic, but also showed how well skilled you are in fixing such things in no time. Bravo!

ZACL said...

You gave me a moment to giggle, thanks.

The skill all lies in negotiating all the awkwardness attached to getting to the switch on job.