Friday, December 05, 2008

Exploding lightbulbs and other mishaps

Yesterday, my life was being its generally chaotic self. The children are all involved in the local high school's play --Return to the Forbidden Planet and had all gone down for the performance. My dh was busy dying from a cold and I was attempting to clean the kitchen, when the lights went out and there was a loud bang.
The street lamp was on, so it was us. I figured my dh must have switched something on that was not earth properly. I began to isolate things on the circuit board as he swore he had not done anything. I go to switch on the hall lights circuit and there is another bang. My dh who is trying to get the head torches swears there was green flash from one of the hall lights.
Right I figure -- time to blame the light bulbs as one of the hall lights went this morning. It must be the other one as lights with dead light bulbs do not work. The first light is very hot and I use rubber gloves. The second light ( the one that went out in the morning), I change and then go to put the glass light shade back on. The new light bulb explodes in my face, literally jumping out of the socket. Luckily all the shards go into the glass light shade. I swear at the terribleness of light bulbs, go and get a new packet and change the bulb, making sure it is firmly in place.
Then I turn on the hall lights. Another explosion and a green flash of light.
We go to plan B.
I keep the hall lights off and go to the play -- planning on calling the electrician in the morning.
My dh stays home, nurses his cold and makes supper. I arrive back to the news that the refrigerator is off. Was the motor blown by the fun and games earlier? Were we faced with eating a ton of smoked salmon? This is easily solved when I check the circuit board and see I hadn't switched on some sockets. This is after I change the fuse, read the manual and swore...
A hurried phone call to the electricians this morning. They come out and discover that somehow the wiring has worn away and the earthing wire is now touching the live wire. For some reason it burnt through. It has now been rewired and I am thankful that we did not have a fire!
Moral: if a light bulb explodes, or you get a green flash and the mains is tripped, it is probably serious and best left to the experts.

In better news,
I had a lovely review from Chrissy at Romance Junkies for Viking Warrior, Unwilling Wife. Among other things she said: 4.5 ribbons Ms. Styles’ storyline depicts much of the lifestyle present during this particular time period including some folklore and Viking laws. Incidentally, the laws regarding children brought tears to my eyes – but I’m sure you’ll understand why when you read this book. VIKING WARRIOR, UNWILLING WIFE is a book I’d highly recommend for fans of historical tales – especially if you enjoy reading about Vikings.
You can read the rest of the review here.

I am blogging today at Totebags about cyber holiday traditions. Basically I blame the exploding lightbulbs if it doesn't make sense. There is a contest with it though.

4 comments:

Donna Alward said...

Oh my word! I would have sworn my house was possessed. Glad it is sorted.

And thank you for the mention of the 12 Days on your totes blog!

Unknown said...

I know I shouldn't be laughing because it was potentially a horribly serious situation... but the fact that I am is a tribute to your writing skill!

Glad you're OK. How was the play?

Nell Dixon said...

Oh my gosh, thank heavens you weren't hurt!

Unknown said...

This sounds horribly familiar... last week my building had the same problem but it was from the electric cable that supplied it to the whole building. My router plug exploded as did my neighbour's TV. Oh and every motherboard in every boiler also blew (along with some electricity meters!) And yes... very scary and best left to the professionals.