So, what are you supposed to do if you break one the new Gormley-special light bulbs? I spent a few minutes this morning looking for advice on the Department of the Environment's web site, but there's nothing obvious there. Wouldn't have mattered because I had already dealt with the broken CFL bulb long before I thought I'd have a look.
I'd warned everyone in the house that these bulbs could be dangerous and to be careful not to break one. However, in real life these things happen and when they do you don't have time to think or worry about what is the "right" thing to do. I just went into my daughter's bedroom, picked up the big pieces of glass and the base, threw them in the garbage and vacuumed up the rest. Oh, part of the bulb landed on her duvet so I took the cover off and threw it in the washing machine.
I was aware that there is mercury in these stupid bulbs, but my daughter needed to get ready for school. What are we supposed to do, stop living when we break a light bulb? I opened the windows because I knew that was a good idea, but if it had been raining I'd have had to forgo that bit of safety advice too.
Let me tell you, I was incandescent as I raged about our Minister [NOTE: I edited out some less than parliamentary language] for the Environment. These stupid CFL bulbs are just inappropriate for normal family living. If I had his home phone number I would have called him right there and then to give him a piece of my mind.
I found a 100W bulb in the attic and put it into the fixture in my daughter's room. She'll be good for a year or so with that.
It's bad enough that we're all going blind trying to read by the poor light these CFL bulbs generate, but we're also being poisoned by them. Oh, and one broken bulb more than wipes out the savings the government is touting in its stupid ad campaign.
I'm going to check around to see if the UK has the same stupid ban. If not I'll be heading north to stock up on traditional 100W bulbs.