Let There Be Light!

Another miserable dark and damp autumn day. On the way home we stopped of at a DIY shed to get a pair of clamps to clamp a display board together (we have a community orchard planting on Saturday) and a halogen lamp.

Most of the lamps (light bulbs but apparently lamp is the correct term even if I've never heard it used) in our house are compact-florescent lamps (CFL), except a few halogen lamps and LEDs. Modern CFLs are a lot better than their first generation relatives, they have pretty decent colour, don't flicker, start quite quickly and last for ever. We only use halogens where we are forced because of a funny fitting or a dimmer switch.

Tonight I had to get a halogen to replace a CFL, the fitting was always tight for a CFL and the problem was that when you pulled the light switch the ceiling flexed a little (it's an old house) and sometimes the somewhat heavy CFL moved breaking contact with the pins (which isn't good). Putting in a low-wattage halogen means it doesn't come lose when you pull the switch on or off now. It's not as efficient but you can now see what you are doing when you go to the loo!

As a tribute to the lamp, I blipped a halogen candle lamp from the living room. I don't really like them but we haven't decided what to replace them with yet. They are also on a stupid dimmer (that we never use). As you can see they also get dirty and it bakes on! I read somewhere that you can lose a lot of light to dirt but I can't find the reference now I need it...