Four years ago, we received a letter from North Hertfordshire Homes, who we rent our property from, advising that they were going to send a sub contractor in to change all the plug sockets & wall light switches in the apartment, to meet European health & safety standards.
They also changed the bathroom lighting to an energy efficient 2D fluorescent tube similar to the pictures below.
All was fantastic until yesterday, when the tube blew. Firstly finding somewhere in Letchworth that sells the tubes was a nightmare, none of the supermarkets or high street stores sell them, so as my last port of call I went to Wikes, which is a building suppliers, as we don't have any DIY stores in the Garden City.
Unfortunately Wikes can be more expensive than the like of B & Q (U.K.'s equivalent of Home Depot) & the retail price for one of these fluorescent tubes is £9.99 ($16) each. I cannot see how North Hertfordshire Homes can justify fitting this type of lighting when the tubes cost so much. People on benefits or Pensioners would find it difficult to pay these prices.
Fitting one of these fluorescent tubes is not the easiest of operations either, when like me, you are 5'5".
Our bathroom is quite small & there is not much room to put up a step ladder without taking everything out of the bathroom first (which I be-grudge doing, just to change a light bulb), so I had to rely on a dining room chair. Trying to balance on the chair, hold the protective cover & removing the three screws that hold it all together is not easy, so imagine what it would be like for a senior citizen.
What were North Hertfordshire Homes thinking of when they decided that this was the best design to be fitted in their properties?
Way To Go!!!
Unfortunately Wikes can be more expensive than the like of B & Q (U.K.'s equivalent of Home Depot) & the retail price for one of these fluorescent tubes is £9.99 ($16) each. I cannot see how North Hertfordshire Homes can justify fitting this type of lighting when the tubes cost so much. People on benefits or Pensioners would find it difficult to pay these prices.
Fitting one of these fluorescent tubes is not the easiest of operations either, when like me, you are 5'5".
Our bathroom is quite small & there is not much room to put up a step ladder without taking everything out of the bathroom first (which I be-grudge doing, just to change a light bulb), so I had to rely on a dining room chair. Trying to balance on the chair, hold the protective cover & removing the three screws that hold it all together is not easy, so imagine what it would be like for a senior citizen.
What were North Hertfordshire Homes thinking of when they decided that this was the best design to be fitted in their properties?
Way To Go!!!