Sunday, September 14, 2008

Prediction

When all light bulb manufacturers, by logistics or by law, have ceased making incandescent bulbs, a subculture of light purists will spring up. They will be derided as snobs, but they will maintain that no light is as pleasing -- or healthy, or nurturing -- as the light from super-heated filaments. There will be arguments based on how human retinas work and which pigments are used for interior paints and textiles, all with very little science. The sub-culture will trade knowledge and hints of where to go for the little shop that still has a stash, or which manufacturer still has tiny batches in their forgotten corners of storage, releasing them as the inventory systems catch up. Members will tell excited tales of stumbling on to a cache of them in dark corners of musty drugstores in the Dordogne or Mozambique or just outside Kuala Lumpur, with breathless descriptions of that moment where they open the box and they realize that yes, they got an original Phillips Soft Warm 40W in their hands and it doesn't ring when shaken! Many will be the plaintive ads for a 30W mirrored crown bulb to complete the 1970s period interior, and the few suppliers will ask for exorbitant prices.

I say this being seemingly unable, here in South London, to find a light bulb that I like. Every CF I buy at Tesco is just green hued crap, and the incandescents they stock are all of the most standard wattage and shape, which is not what I need for the accents.