Looking back I have to say I rather enjoyed my PC project. For those curious readers I can tell you that Lain is working very happily. Undoubtedly one of the more inspiring aspects of the whole game was not just the end goal, but also those little sparks of achievement along the road. To that end I found myself almost lamenting her completion. For sure there will be more bits to do along the road - upgrades, peripherals and so forth, but I find myself in need of another 'something' over which to muse.
A couple of months ago I finally made the trip to our new local IKEA here in Sheffield, and far from just being the sum of its reputation it's actually become something of a little wonderland to me. I'm not a bits and bobs kind of bloke, preferring a lack of clutter where places such as IKEA can easily undo such notions in a single trip. Armed with mindfulness however, such visits can become a treasure hunt rather than a credit card savaging basket nightmare, and treasure indeed was discovered, informing my next project - solar lighting.
This all came about as a result of my wish to replace my Chinese lantern light shades, which had both seen better days, and due to a lower than normal ceiling were admittedly somewhat in the way. Happily for me IKEA stock an unusually squat version of the lantern design which could have been made for my apartment. Yet the real basket gem turned out to be an afterthought, my attention turning to some subtle yet intriguing eastern style solar lanterns. I've had a tiny non-replaceable battery powered lantern from Manchester's Chinatown hanging in one of my windows for a while now. In light of its lack of, well.. light these days, I thought that perhaps a solar lantern would be just the thing to replace it. I didn't expect much for my investment as these things go, but why not try it? I had no idea how much solar lighting might have improved over the years, never having owned any, but I thought for £4 a pop it had to be worth a giggle.
I grabbed two.
Much to my surprise they are quite capable. Only a subtle low light to be sure since each is a singular warm kelvin LED, with a similarly singular battery to carry it from one charge to the next. Yet they're happy to recharge hanging in the window under very average UK skies, I've yet to see them expire over an evening's use and the hippy in my blood does enjoy such a candlelight atmosphere as they exhibit. Indeed under a typical evening's activity such as enjoying a good film I've enjoyed their lovely cinema-esque circles of light, each hanging from the underside of the frame of each ceiling light (yes I know that will mean that they are primed to hit me in the face again after all that effort of finding shades which didn't, but it's convenient, and in all fairness you don't normally run around the room when watching a film). Also since they ARE lanterns, unencumbered by power cables, you can move them around at will. For example they sit very nicely in the bedroom, again with one hanging under the light shade and the other from the door handle, or even over the shower rail in the bathroom, complimenting a nice candle. No, this whole purchasing afterthought had created something altogether more interesting, and based upon the fun thus far I've elected to expand the idea to the next level.
You see it isn't so much that I think I use a lot of electric - to be honest I don't think I do, and neither does my bank account. It is however unavoidably logical that if I can formulate an effective, basic atmosphere of solar powered illumination, particularly if it can be creatively done, then I can forego the use of the regular lights excepting those circumstances when you truly need that much presence. It probably doesn't seem like much of a gesture, but should it work then the sums seem to rationalise this into a decent investment. Of course you don't just get the lights.. you have to add a little something. Enter a bamboo plant. IKEA just happen to do a nice artificial one (real plants die on me very easily and I wouldn't inflict such a tangle on a living thing). Combined with a nice base, their 24 LED solar light string and a couple of packs of matching small lantern decorations, the idea might just fit the bill. To look at the basic concept (I'd buy the plant anyway) you have what amounts to a reusable light stand in keeping with the Asian theme of the apartment, and a set of LED's which claim a 25,000 hour life span. On a typical reckoning of six hours use per evening and a mildly conservative estimate on their life expectancy (say down to 20,000 hours) we're still talking a potential lifespan of around nine years. An initial investment of just £12 makes that a running cost of about £0.11 per month, plus a pack of replacement batteries over that same period (£5.00) and maybe a little effort to ensure a reasonably optimal charge every night.
As with the typical style of these blogs I will let you know how it goes, planning as I am to make that purchase this weekend. I may initially restrict my experiment to the set of lights and save the plant for later, depending upon my ambition and how benign the tram conductor is probably feeling on my way out there. Nevertheless I think I may be onto something fun, so wish me luck and let's see if I can help reduce that footprint, my bills and bring a bit of fun to the cave.
