When bulbs were simple

WHEN I talk about bulbs nowadays, I am rarely talking about the wizened yokes that people plant in their gardens to bring light and colour into their lives in the spring.

No, I am normally speaking loudly and angrily about the glass globes with fragile internal filaments which bring the necessary fundamental light into our lives during these long dark months. We cannot do without them.

A little while ago, and for decades before that, the world of lightbulbs was so simple, and so cheap. There was a standard bayonet fitting, and even a fool like myself could confidently replace a blown bulb. They were cheap and widely available, in even the smallest country shop.