The Unbearable Lightness of Bulbs
Political correctness under a new light.
Last week I stopped in at London Drugs to buy a 40 watt bulb.
They had none.
Or should I say, they had none that I could recognize as familiar.
Rather, there was a ready supply of the new twisty, twirly thingamajigs that are supposed to burn for a millennium or two. So I bought a 2-pack.
Took the creepy thing home, put one in the wall sconce above the watercolor in the hallway downstairs and behold - ugliness on display!
A light that pauses before it comes on and then glares a sheering hospital corridor brightness that changes your home into an institution.
The twisty, twirly that I put in one of my living room lamps burned out last month, long before it claimed it would.
"Bull," say I.
Whose cousin owns these godawful things? Does the Premier's uncle own the franchise.
I went into the Home Hardware on Salt Spring Island earlier this week and bought me a gross of the Old Familiars and smuggled them back on an unsuspecting BC Ferries crew.
Well, they'll never see the light, will they?
My new old bulb's casting a lovely soft glow above my painting again.
No doubt I am minutes away from the Invasion of the Correct Lighting Commitat.
Send chocolate and a saw.
6 comments:
David, need a old fashioned 40 watt bulb, contact me - I'll be on the third park bench, on the left - the guy in a trench coat holding a plain brown (politically correct and bio degradable) paper bag.
Inside my coat is 60 & 120 watt bulbs.
HaHa I've been stashing "normal" light bulbs for many months. I'm almost certain that those sickly yellow twisties could cause depression - not to mention the mercury problem should one shatter in your home - and then there's the disposal of the wretched things.....
Ever tried a GE Reveal bulb? - imitates natural light and brings out colours beautifully - pricey, but worth it.
June
I'll be the guy in the Hawaiin shirt and muklucks...the passowrd is "afghanistan bananistan."
LED bulbs are getting better and cheaper all the time. I love them.
We tried the awful twisty things once (they were giving them away some years back).
Ugly as sin, sickly light that can't be good for health and the stupid things started fading after two weeks (I thought my eyes were going).
Absolute crap. No, thanks.
I came to Canada at the age of twelve, and had perfect 20/20 vision.
After one year in a classroom lit by fluorescent lamps, I needed glasses.
I remember a doctor at that time (sixties) linking poor vision with fluorescent lights.
It does seem more people than ever need glasses.
I just have to make a comment about the environmentally "friendliness" of these cursed "twisty" lights.
My dear husband bought a bunch from Costco. They were completely sealed in some weird hard plastic molded form. I don't want to think about how many chemicals and carbons went into the making of this uber packaging. Egads!!!!
Linda Yuill
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