Friday 7 September 2012

Proud Brit

Incandescent bulbs are banned in the UK for domestic use by the European Union. Major supermarkets stopped stocking them a couple of years ago, though you can still find them at some independent shops.

Once present stocks run out, that's it.  Or is it?

Heck no. for about £1-£2, half the price of their so-called energy saving alternatives, you can still by them if you ask for 'rough usage' - industrial use bulbs can be purchased online or companies like Maplin. Industrial use is exempt from EU regulations.

It's one the strengths of being British. Look at the rules and find a way around them.

Another example. Sprinkling coffee grounds around the veg patch to deter slugs and snails has been around for years, and it works. According to the EU though, if you are caught doing it you are open to prosecution. That's because they are being used as a pesticide, and unless it's on the approved pesticide list, it's illegal. Coffee grounds were never tested. So they're illegal.

The way around is the compost them. That way, it's legal.

In the vague chance that like me, you mentally automatically convert between 'new' and 'old money', (I'm not paying 15 bob for that!) or grams and pounds and ounces, you might wonder why everything is in grams, and if like me you use so-called old fashioned scales and you have to convert.

Legally, supermarkets believe they have to display grams. Not so. Pounds and ounces can be displayed, as long as its alongside metric. The real reason they don't is because it's cheaper to print out the labels in metric.

The bulbs? I started looking because I'm into preserving, and drying is a good technique. The commercial dryers are stupidly expensive (£100 ish), and I realised that with a 100w light bulb, a fan from a spares computer, a tiny bit of electronics knowledge for a fan speed controller, and a stacker box I could do my own. About £15 :)




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