Several days ago Amy walked into the bedroom and flipped the switch on the bedside table lamp. A bright flash and loud “pop” was followed by darkness and a groan. We had blown yet another light bulb. This not infrequent occurrence creates an adventure of epic proportions. Quite seriously, no two light bulbs are the same anywhere in our apartment unless they are in the same fixture, and even then it isn’t guaranteed. One side of the light in our kitchen glows blue while the other is more orange.
While it is true that there are enough lighting options in the US to take up an entire aisle at Home Depot, there are even more here in Italy. Nothing is standardized. There are at least two different sizes of screw in fixtures. You have frosted vs. clear. You have various wattages and even within the same type of base, wattage and coating you can have physically different sized bulbs depending on what fixture you want to put them in. Throw in fluorescents and LEDs and you have an even wider selection of options. The next layer of fun comes in finding a store that carries the bulb you need. Lots of places sell bulbs, but it usually means several stops to find the exact one you need or even one that will do the trick. Then, to add insult to the whole process, there is the cost. A typical 60W incandescent bulb runs $3.25. Bump that up to a fluorescent and it hits $8. We usually blow a bulb every few months. Is it any wonder that Italians don’t bother to replace them?
Our friends the H-P’s discovered over a dozen blown bulbs when they moved into their apartment last year. The school graciously agreed to pick up the 40+ euro tab for replacement incandescent bulbs.
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