Not strictly gardening, but ....

At this time of year, when many people like to put up outdoor Christmas lights, please be aware that although Homebase are selling loads of lights (both indoor and outdoor) - they DO NOT stock any replacement bulbs whatsoever.

The reason for this, so I was told earlier today is ... "We're only selling LEDs and they don't need new bulbs". When I pointed out that, far from selling '.. only ..' LEDs, the shelves were positively groaning under the weight of what I refer to as 'normal' lights, the drip that was laughingly referred to as a 'sales assistant', merely shrugged and shuffled off down the shop dragging its knuckles along the ground.

Anyone thinking of buying lights (unless you specifically want LEDs) avoid Homebase like the plague.

 

Very true about them selling non-LED lights.

Be nice about Homebase employees though!

 

Replacement bulbs are a joke when they do sell them in my experience.

Couple of years ago I went to get spares and they were a couple of pound for a pack of 3, Instead I could buy some new lights with 90 bulbs - of the same sort for around £6.00. bought the new set and replaced all the dead ones out of 3 other sets and I still have loads of spares left.

edited Forgot to hit the shift key - now changed to correct price of £6.00 not 36 as originally stated

 

The man what planned my new Homebase kitchen was brilliant. The 'bits' arrived when I was told they would and each box was carefully checked against the parts list to ensure everything needed had been delivered. The fitters arrived on the day they said they would. They started work at 8.00 a.m., finished at 6 p.m., had 45 mins for lunch and constantly (but politely) declined my offers of tea. It rained the whole time but not once did they come back from 'popping out to the van', without wiping their feet. At the end of each day they swept up, left their tools tidy. The work, which I was told would take 'about a week', took 5 days and they came back on the Saturday morning purely to clean everything, they even polished the wall tiles and washed the kitchen floor. :ntwrth:

How could I not be nice about the majority of Homebase employees?!!

 

Of course I've no idea in this instance, but I doubt if they were Homebase employees.
These things are usually contracted out to a number of fitters, how many they need each week depends on how many kitchens they sell. So it isn't economic to have them on the payroll 52 weeks a year.
Then it becomes a bit "pot luck." Some fitters are obviously going to do a better job than others. Glad you were pleased with yours.

 

I too had my doubts about them being Homebase 'owned' fitters, but no, they assured me they were Homebase employees.

 

Oh well, accolades where they're due then, F. I do like to see fairy lights outside people's houses in December - it brightens up the darkest time of the year. A few have gone up in our locality already and look very nice, I think. I shall have to get OH to scramble into the attic for ours and hope all the bulbs are okay.

 

The house opposite us (occupied by 4 adults - the youngest of whom is 22) put up their lights on Saturday 28th December. Taking full advantage of their multi-function, random flashing, they'll be draining the national grid for the next 5 weeks - now, where did I leave that blindfold?

 

You don't need that do you?
The problem, is that Christmas lights are relatively inexpensive, doubly so at the moment as the sheds are selling lots at half price.

It's OK to be "Christmassy," especially when there's young kids in the family but it's a question of balance and some don't know how to strke it. Fortunately, modern Christmas lights don't use a lot of leccy.

 

The house opposite us (occupied by 4 adults - the youngest of whom is 22) put up their lights on Saturday 28th December. Taking full advantage of their multi-function, random flashing, they'll be draining the national grid for the next 5 weeks - now, where did I leave that blindfold?

Fidgetsmum did your neighbours really put their lights on on December 28th? because by my reckoning we have a few weeks to go before we get to the 28th?:flag::D

Some of the families in our village had theirs up since the middle of November which to my way of thinking is way too early by far and they are all now having a competition to see who can spend the most money and have the biggest sets going.It is starting to look like Blackpool Illuminations now round the village but I do love to see them when we go out for our evening walk:D

By the way,my sister used to work for Sainsbury's{not the Homebase part} for 14 years and she was always friendly and helpful to all the customers {she was on Customer Service},it was the customers that often were gormless and very rude:p

 

I assure you Kandy, those lights did indeed go up. Personally, I don't give a flying fig if their idea of relieving the boredom of guessing the next flash of lights is to watch their electricity metre spin - what does annoy me is that for the next 5 weeks these random flashes will be projected onto my bedroom wall up until 2 am, especially when I get up at 5.30!

You're right about gormless customers though. My middle daughter's boyfriend had a Uni holiday job at Homebase last Christmas - his favourite customer was the man who intended laying his laminate flooring over the existing carpet!

Mind you, his employment with Homebase was shorter than expected. When, after a long day of dealing with the terminally stupid, one customer said 'I want a metre stick', and Alex (obviously not his real name!) replied, 'Come with me madam, I'll introduce you to one', and she complained, the manager agreed that his attitude was '.. unnecessarily fasecious..' and decided Homebase could rub along without him :lollol:

 

I think your son was well out of it, but it reminds me of an incident many years ago.

We were on holiday in Brixham and went into an art gallery as we wanted to buy a couple of paintings we'd seen there the day before. There were a couple already in there looking at a small painting, it wasn't particularly expensive, just a local artist. They spent a lot of time debating about whether to buy it or not. In the end the woman i8n a very affected voice said; "We want this painting but we'd like it in that frame." pointing to another picture.
The couple continued with their conversation for a bit and then she turned to the owner who was obviously getting a bit fed up and said "When will it be ready?"
He with a completely straight face, but winking at us, said "Well, if we start at dawn tomorrow...."
It went completely over her head.

Digressing...
We bought two small oil on canvas originals by an artist called George Horne for a few pounds each. He's mentioned now and again on art message boards. So I don't think we'll have lost money on them.