Bulby You Light Up My World Like Nobody Else
1 GoodGymer made their way to help an isolated older person in Hounslow.
- Thursday, 13th of May 2021
Mr Y was in the dark about something, until an angel in a red shirt turned up on his doorstep one Thursday afternoon. Angels, as a general rule, tend to have halos, which are rings of light. As a GoodGym angel, I was here to light up his world!
Mr Y had a few issues with his lightbulbs - out of the five in his bathroom, only one was actually still emitting any sort of light. It wasn’t just the bathroom that was causing issues, as s bulb had gone in the hallway too. Mr Y was struggling to see to get around, and with his mobility restricted anyway, it was making things quite tricky.
First of all, I had to do some investigations into the type of bulbs that would need replacing. Mr Y had a spare, but it was the wrong fitting. Perhaps this task would have been suited to someone slightly taller, as even with a chair and the help of the bathroom fittings, I was struggling to reach up! Nevertheless, I managed to take out the bulbs from the three different types of fittings, and in a stroke of good luck, they were all the same!
The next part was to get some replacement bulbs. I whizzed off from Mr Y’s into the town centre and took a tour of Wilkinson’s. I’m not going to lie, I’m not an expert on any sort of household tasks, and I was a little bit blinded by how many lightbulbs there were. I knew the fitting I had, and that they had been 40 watt, but I wasn’t having much luck at finding the same ones. After much deliberation and the advice of several Wilko’s colleagues, I settled for some 50 watt which would just be slightly brighter. Mr Y had been in the dark for so long, I’m sure they would do the job!
I paid up, and like a lightning bolt down the Hanworth Road, I was back at Mr Y’s front door. Mr Y watched on, as I stretched up to the hallway fitting to do a swap of the the bulbs.
I told him that the name Lucy comes from the Latin word lux, which means light. The name Lucy means light of the world, and at this moment, he switched the lights on and the flat was lit up! ‘You really have lit up my world’ he smiled, overjoyed with being able to actually see again!!
The bathroom was a trickier beast. The light fittings were obviously much older and worn (perhaps with some water issues), and despite changing them all, we ended up with a mixed bag. Some of the lights worked. Some didn’t. Sometimes it was Blackpool illuminations and sometimes it was a little flicker from just one bulb.
I thought it best to leave be, as I didn’t want to cause a blow out, and what with being in a bathroom, I didn’t fancy electrocuting myself or indeed Mr Y.
Nonetheless, at least Mr Y had some lights now! It was been lovely to chat with him, and he was so thankful for what I had done. It was nice to be able to brighten up his day - in both senses of the phrase!
Report written by Lucy Hill
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