The light poles in our front garden and in our backyard were in a sorry state: they were probably from the 80's when the house was built, and the fiberglass spheres were literally being reclaimed by nature. I kid you not: I don't know how that's even possible, but moss was growing on them and one actually had holes under some of the moss patches:
It goes to show, given enough time, nature will eventually digest even the most inert man-made material...
We got lucky actually: the holes weren't directly above the electrical bits, so the lightbulb sockets didn't get corroded.
I went to the local light store, and after some rummaging around in the old stock, the lady found two slightly smaller translucent plastic spheres with the right size openings. She said the manufacturer didn't carry the old, larger size anymore, and the two smaller ones she had left weren't made anymore either.
So I bought them, and they weren't cheap: 160€ per sphere. Jesus H. Christ on a corndog!
The lady said she didn't set the price, the manufacturer did: it's the only one left still making replacement plastic spheres for light poles, and they price the spheres below what it would cost someone to replace the entire pole - which entails digging up the old cement foundation and pouring a new one, redoing the electrical wiring and having it re-certified by an electrician, which of course nobody wants to do - but not so much that someone might be tempted to undertake the complete replacement anyway because it would make more sense. Clever them!
So yeah, I paid 320€ for a couple of plastic spheres, but it was the least expensive option. Still, it kind of stings...
Actually it's not quite true: I could have 3D-printed new spheres out of lithophane. But then I would have had to waterproof the prints somehow anyway, and it would have been a whole lot of work. So ya know.. oh well, now it's done.
I also pulled out the old light bulbs and I'm glad I did: one of them was one of those old folded neon bulbs that looked like it could break and release nasty mercury in the environment any moment. The other still works and is a large, oval 160W incandescent bulb that some collector wants to buy from me from some silly amount of money.
Maybe I'll keep it until it's truly valuable. I missed out on the stupid retrocomputer craze: maybe I can cash out on my old incandescents if I wait long enough for collectors with more money than common sense to beg me to sell them when they're truly rare 🙂
Anyhow, now we have shiny new balls in our garden and they will look warm and inviting this winter when our guests come visit us!
