Saturday, November 22, 2014

A Sad, Cold Lava Lamp


I watered our avocado plant this morning and got a bit too enthusiastic, resulting in an overflowing saucer and a wet towel. There's nothing like mopping up spilled water in your already moldy living room at 5:30 in the morning. But at least the avocado is happy.

I went out last night with some coworkers and had a good time, courtesy of my boss' boss, who stood us a couple of rounds at the local pub. I didn't attend the last of these occasional pub gatherings, but I figured it was important to put in an appearance so I came to this one. Fun, though when I left at the end of the evening I forgot my paperback book in the pub. I was a third of the way home before I realized it, and had to walk back to retrieve it, which was kind of annoying.

I also made it my mission to buy a new light bulb for our lava lamp, which has been non-functioning for a couple of weeks. On Wednesday I schlepped all the way to Homebase, a big-box housewares retailer that's not exactly on my way home from work, but was bewildered by the vast array of light bulbs. So I made note of the possibilities and on Friday schlepped back to Homebase and brought the bulb with me, and found a suitable replacement. Got it home, put it in the lamp, and BOOM -- the lamp still doesn't work. Which means there must be a deeper problem. Does one have a £25 lava lamp repaired? Or does one knuckle under to the crass resource-wasting profligacy of overseas manufacturing and simply buy a new one?

Ridiculous modern problems.

Speaking of which, today is lawn mower delivery day. Allegedly. We shall see if it arrives.

(Photo: Dog on a balcony on Edgware Road, Colindale, North London.)

7 comments:

  1. Why is it that home mishaps (even small ones like an overflowing saucer) always happen when you don't have the time or personal clarity to deal with them?
    Love the photo - each post brings me a glimpse of Britain.

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  2. Lonely dog.
    Ah, life. It's the little moments of annoyance which add up to cause the biggest frustrations, isn't it?

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  3. You could do what we do - buy a new lamp, but keep the old one stashed somewhere just in case. In case of what, exactly? I ask, but never get a clear answer...

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  4. I'd buy a new lava lamp, I think. But then maybe I'd never get around to it.

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  5. Don't you know anyone who tinkers with electronics? Or you could tinker with it yourself since it already doesn't work. I hate our disposable culture. So short-sighted. Sometimes though you just have to buy a new lava lamp.

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  6. It seems to me that unless something happened to the contents of the Lava Lamp (unlikely, but I supposed it's possible), there really not a whole lot to "break" with a lava lamp. You need a lamp to provide heat make it work, but not too much.
    So, my first question would be: did you buy the exact same wattage as the original bulb? Is the new bulb incandescent and not a newer flavor of bulb? Is it a high efficiency bulb?
    One thing you might want to try is to place the glass portion of the lamp into some warm water to see if you can soften up the waxy stuff. Then, see if you can get the lamp working at that point.
    Good luck!

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  7. Its just a lamp. Pop it open and fix it. You've done it before.

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