All Change

This morning’s straightforward task turned into a bit of a brain teaser and full body workout as I visited Ms T in Knowle.

Ms T struggles with mobility as a result of a fairly recent diagnosis of MS, so is now unable to do certain tasks herself, and needed to change some spotlights in the kitchen and move a desk in her office.

A recent energy survey had recommended that she replace the fifteen spotlights in her kitchen with LED bulbs, which would save her much money with the ongoing energy price hikes.

Each spotlight had a metal surround that needed to be unscrewed in order to remove the bulb but these seemed to be fastened tight and impossible to move using fingers only. Discovering a small notch on either side of the surround cap, I tried screwdrivers and open scissors to no avail and had just started to look online for a suitable tool when Ms T discovered a metal object with two small protruding forks at either end, which fitted the notches like a glove! This had been left in a bag by the previous owner when Ms T moved in to her new home 6 months ago.

It was now down to business or, more accurately, up and down to business as I climbed up onto a stool removed the metal surrounds, took out the existing bulb, attached the new LED one and screwed the surround back on and then stepped back off the stool to the floor. A good workout for the legs and glutes with lots of repeats.

Ms T kept me company and gave me a most welcome cup of tea and eventually all the spotlights had been changed - hurrah!

Moving into the office/study, Ms T needed to move a desk, but first needed to remove two shelves which were each attached to a metal bar screwed into the wall. Ms T found me a screwdriver set which did the trick and a short while later the shelves had been removed and replaced by her desk, giving the upper body some work to do this time.

It was great chatting to Ms T and even better to see her happiness and gratitude when the task was completed.