And then there was (eventually) light...

I'd like to attribute this to more silly rule making by the noddy nanny state, but I know it's actually an EU thing. Even though I know that they will always come up with something new for me to rant about, it irks me not to be able to blame the government for this kind of thing - even though I'm sure one of the Millibands (and several legions of civil servants) were complicit in it.

But still, who the fuck decided that it should become more or less impossible to buy a lightbulb (and even more importantly, work out which kind of lightbulb can be used with which shades and lampbases) without a post-graduate degree in electronics??? We don't buy lamps or lightbulbs very often, and had enough in the cupboard to keep ignoring the fact that the lightbulb section of the supermarket was getting odder and odder. But this week we've had to get our heads out of the sand simply because moving stuff around, and a broken lamp, meant we had to go and buy several new 'bits' of lighting.

In fact, all attempts to find a simple lamp base and lamp shade failed, so one of our lighting problems - relating to the corner of the sitting room - remained unresolved. The others were just far, far more difficult than either of us imagined it was possible for them to be. The new lights for the husband's study have bulbs which are only about twice the size of Christmas tree lights, which meant that to start with he threw one of them out with the packaging. These are not bulbs I have ever seen in shops, and I have no idea how to go about finding a replacement. And when we asked an assistant in Peter Jones whether we had to go by the 'actual' wattage, or the 'this is what it looks like' wattage in buying bulbs for another new floor lamp, we got a five minute explanation of why it wasn't as simple as that - and were left with absolutely no idea what the answer was. Eventually the husband found a different assistant, presented him with the lamp and the bulbs we planned to put in it, and asked whether it would be OK. He said it would, although I'm not sure either of us was sure that he understood the question.

I can only assume that the end result of this - in addition to the toxins which the new-style bulbs contain - will be large numbers of light fittings being dumped into landfill. Very eco-friendly. And people installing a large number of small lights to get around the fact that they can no longer buy lightbulbs which actually light a room sufficiently to be able to live and work in it.

And does anyone know why John Lewis have started boxing lamps in such a way that they take ages to assemble - and it's almost impossible to get them back in the packaging (which you have to do to get a full refund if you return them) if you decide that they don't look right when you get them home?? I know that's not the EU's fault, but it did make the whole experience quite a lot worse than it needed to be, and has left us with a lamp which is about a foot shorter than it needs to be if it's not going to look as if it's been squashed.



(Not that lightbulbs actually look like that any more.)