Wednesday, November 17, 2010

It’s called progress

Since the beginning of the year we can’t buy the old type of light bulbs. I’ve been replacing old with new low energy ones as they stop working. The new ones are awful, not as strong as they say they are and take three minutes to get up to power. My retired student says that she and her husband have one on their stairs, very dangerous for elderly people (they are both in their 80s). Before we always turned off the light when we left a room, now we tend to leave them on. The worst part is knowing that I shouldn’t have to change them until 2018.

Secondly, our region of France has now switched over to numeric TV. J-M very kindly fixed us up with his old box and an internal aerial. Up until the change over we did have more channels and then they went strange on us, but I discovered that this would be normal in the days prior to changeover. Since the changeover we can get 3 of the old channels (there used to be 6) and two new ones. That means 5 out of the 19 we were promised. We do have an old telly. Fortunately, Rob watches the news and that’s about all. I watch Cold Case (on a channel we still receive) but I can’t watch Medium or N.C.I.S. anymore.

Oh well, there is always ironing to do I suppose.

7 comments:

Caroline said...

The wonders of the modern age , one step forward, two steps back.

Our uncle laid in a large store of old style 100 watt bulbs and has just died, going to put in an inheritance claim for them.

Caroline xxx

FreeMoneyMaker said...

But new cfl technology and LED technology has more energy saver lights.They are as powerful as old were and saves energy too.
Anyway anji thanks for your test for my site about pop-up.I will expect you regular in my page.

Véro B said...

I hope LED lights become more widely available. Better than CFL.

In the Law of Unintended Consequences department, switching from old-style incandescent bulbs to any of the new, cooler ones means slightly more heating must be done to maintain the same indoor temperature. :)

Drama Queen said...

I'm really not impressed with the new "energy saving" light bulbs and switched back to the old. I honestly don't think they last longer in the least, and we've had to replace the hall light a few times. The one outside doesn't always turn on right away either, which is annoying when you need it.

Anonymous said...

You've touched a sore spot. I loathe and detest the new light bulbs. They're slower to light, they give a colder light, they need replacing just as often as the old ones, they cost five times as much or more, and they don't give as much light as incandescent. My son has RP and needs bright light to see. Luckily I stocked up with as many 60W bulbs as I could find when Miliband decreed that we had to switch over.
Rant done. Thank you.
x

Jan said...

We had a contest to see whether the new "energy saving" bulbs or the old ones lasted longer by putting each in the same overhead fixture.

The old ones lasted far longer. I can't help thinking that it is going to take more energy to make the new ones than they will save.

I think it is just another scam.

Anji said...

Caroline: If you get them, treasure them.

FreeMoneyMaker: I know they are supposed to be good, but i have to get used to them. Glad you sorted out the pop ups!

Véronique: Thank you, everyone thought that I was nuts. You've heard about the heating too.

Drama Queen: The old ones have been taken off sale here. I'm waiting to see how long the new ones last.

Graham: Glad you enjoyed the rant. I haven't met anyone who likes them yet.

Jan: That's not good news at all, they are so expensive to replace.