Another little job.

It's been many a year since the last time we were "cliff dwellers",   which in the modern sense of that term is an apartment dweller,  but I do recall that any apartment that one moved into was at least equipped with light fixtures.


Not so in Austria.

 

That ridiculous looking thing hanging down from the ceiling is pretty much the extent of any kind of lighting one can expect.
Since this was a brand new place,  we were probably fortunate to even have that kind of arrangement.
I know you can get those "apartment style"  dish type of light fixtures most anywhere in North America for just a few bucks,  but the most inexpensive fixtures I've ever seen in any of the home outfitting kind of places around here usually starts around €10,  so to put in an entire apartment full of even the cheapest fixtures gets to be pretty costly.

So let's just pass that cost on to the tenants then,  shall we?

Not only that,  but the "cost effective" (read..."cheap")  light fixtures that are at a decent price point are BUTT UGLY.


What that means is that,  one by one,  we're having to go out and painstakingly try and choose something that doesn't look like crap if it's reasonably priced,  or get something that we might like to later have shipped back to the homeland.

A painful process.  Let me tell you.


So fine,  every day on the Gürtel,  we've been driving by this one lighting store that sells Swarovski Crystal  light fixtures and decided to stop in on a Saturday a couple weeks ago.

As a side note,  this is one of the dangers of driving my travelling companion to work.  She has way too much free reign when it comes to looking in shop windows.  This is the secondary reason that I get huffy with the number of traffic lights on the Gürtel .
I've suggested blinders,  she wasn't at all receptive,  so I've just had to live with it.


She's been driving herself on a regular basis for a couple months now,  but it doesn't matter.

It's too late.


Besides,  they've been very cunning in the placement of this store, since it's right at a traffic light anyway.   Not fair.


Now,  as many of you already know,  I'm pretty gol durn cheap.
HOWEVER,   I don't mind something nice once in a while,  like a decent suit,  or nice fitting shoes.  There just has to be some practicality involved in there somewhere.


Really good,  durable woodworking tools or machinery would be something I would probably get a little more excited about but then again,  I already have a cabinetmaker's table saw.






So here's what we ended up with....

 

Oh wait....

that's what I had to lug up six flights.   The elevator is having some issues today, and the  Service Dude had his head in the control panel on the fourth floor when I left,  and was still mucking about when I came back with the prize.



Here it is installed..

 

They very kindly gave me a chunk of cardboard with three holes marked for a template,  so that helped.  And for just about the same price as the aforementioned table saw,  that was the least they could do.

Now that I think of it,  it was only due to the fact that the table saw came in at around 225 kg. (um, that's 495 pounds for the rest of us)  that it was delivered,  and even then,  I still had to wire it up myself.
It wasn't that big a deal,  and I never broke a sweat.


Can't say the same for installing the light.  Something about working over head,  holding the thing up with one hand and struggling to get the three screws in their plugs with the other.   Oy.

Not only that,  but it's kind of like finding yourself in the fun house at the carnival.  It's shiny,  there's mirrors,  there's light bouncing around....


I'm still seeing spots.

Here she is all lit up....

Go ahead and say it.  "oooooohhhh"