It always amazes me how many home made bodges last such a long time.
I was asked to come to a house in Old Town to sort out a couple of problems for a lady who'd been referred to me. Dismantle an old gate, fit a door bell, mend a light and replace a broken electrical socket. The small stuff that I enjoy doing. Gate ten minutes. Door bell ten minutes. Socket replacement ten minutes minutes. Light fitting -- now that was an entirely different ball game.
Years ago, long before the lady had lived there, the room had been "modernised" with a suspended ceiling with concealed light box. Paint had been applied many many times and any sign of entry to the light box was completely covered over. After quite a while, more by luck than anything else, I managed to get the panel undone and the light .assembly' was exposed.
Take at least three standard fluorescent tube lighting assemblies, dismantle them for no apparent good reason, and screw the component parts together on to a piece of wood. Madness or what? I can only assume that the perpetrator had cannibalistic tendencies and had butchered two or three old fittings to make this 'new' contraption. It made absolutely no sense at all. I just wish I had taken a photo. Needless to say, I took the bodged light out and replaced it with a proper single unit.
The bodge had lasted for decades until I came along and then it was gone. What should have been a simple five minute tube replacement turned into an hour of muttering and grunting. But at least now the lady is safer in her own home.
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