The joys of polystyrene.

Hi there

A standard lamp gave out on me the other day.  The 'pop'  took out most of my lights and electrical equipment.  Like a good little wanna-be electrician, I went to the electrical box attached to the side of the house, armed with a screwdriver and a stool (I hate being short.  Why wasn't I born tall and ever-so-statuesque?).  I pressed down a couple of switches and the house was back to normal. 

Except my standard lamp which now had a sort of burnt-appearance up its whatsit.

I had to buy a new lamp.  Instantly.  Otherwise I couldn't read.  And reading is pretty much up there as one of the main passions of my life...  awfully boring, hmm? 

"Does the lamp come ready-assembled?" I asked the guy in Lighting Direct.

We both peered at the tall box.  "Seems like it," he said.

It didn't.  When I got home and opened the box, all I could see was a large sheet of polystyrene, jammed in tight against the outside packaging.  I gave the polystyrene a tug. Uh oh.  I had a fistfull of it.  

Another tug.  Another fistfull of the stuff.  I angrily clawed at it, like a demented gorilla.
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 Curse you, standard lamp, and curse you polystyrene manufacturers.   White 'snowflakes' flew around me, clinging to my clothes, and just-vacuumed carpet.   As I tend to vacuum my carpet on rare occasions that are so prized and, yes, gloated over, I was devastasted that I might - no, I would have to vaccuum again.   I'd cleaned up most of the stuff before I thought to take the above photo.

It took almost as long to get the polystyrene out of the box - so wedged in tight was it -  than it did to assemble the  darn lamp.  And the lamp-assembly seemed to take forever.  The instructions were hopeless. 

But, finally, job done.  Not very well - the lamp is a bit wobbly and leans a fraction to the side, but I can live with that.  I guess ...

Oh, on another note, J and I have completed four swims for April.  It's our minimum monthly goal for winter.  Yaaaayyy!