Bright sparks that couldn’t be dimmed

2 GoodGymers made their way to help an isolated older person in Kingston upon Thames.

: Saturday, 16th of February 2019

Here's what Mr R of KT2 had to say about the mission:

'Thank you so much to the two lovely girls who came - they were very nice indeed, and very helpful.' He said he's going to contact Staywell for an electrician's number to change the LED bulbs, as the runners suggested.

Mr R of KT2, mission beneficiary

We so thought we had this: we can TOTALLY change lightbulbs. Right?

Surely, especially as Samia saw that there were GU10 bulbs awaiting to be used: “phew, I know how to change these”, she breathed a sigh of relief saying.

We’d been asked to change the light bulbs as the newly fitted ones were too bright. We were totally dazzled when they were momentarily switched on and could clearly see (if we hadn’t been dazed by the lights!) why they needed to be swapped.

Nicky braved the ladder with Samia ready to do the bulb exchange. But the bulbs wouldn’t come out. With spotlight experience, Samia took to the spotlight of the ladder goer upper, and managed to twist the fitting from the ceiling, but couldn’t get to the bulb. There was some kind of springy thing in the way and, after consulting YouTube (as all the pros do), managed to set the spring free.

Finally! But don’t get carried away... these turned out to be LED light fittings that couldn’t be replaced with the GU10s but needed the entire fitting to be swapped. So rather than feeling de-lighted with our work, we consulted with Google to shed light on alternative solutions, suggesting that they may be able to get an electrician in to fit a dimmer fitting instead and save replacing all the bulbs.

Mr R was keen to tell us about the lovely neighbourhood, with stories about the other houses and their redesigns, and showed us the grand garden that he’d landscaped many years ago. In the meantime, Mrs R remembered that she could do with us popping back up the ladder to check if a leak had caused their ceiling to be damp. With Nicky back up the ladder, Samia heard all about the sculptures that Mr R had created during his career and was shown Mrs R's top picks - wow! We enjoyed hearing about both of their careers and rich lives, before heading off on a grand tour of the ‘hood, as recommended by both Mr and Mrs R separately.

Whilst we didn’t manage to change the bulbs, Mr and Mrs R definitely brought brightness to our day. Shame the kitchen is still so bright!!

Report written by Kingston upon Thames runner