Auntie Mabel and Pippin are flying home at dusk and admiring the glittering lights below. When they get home Auntie tries to switch on the hall light but the lamp has failed. Pippin finds a torch and they put in a new lamp. Pippin needs her evening walk and while they are out Auntie Mabel trips over a bag of rubbish because the street lamp isn’t working. Next day they watch to see how the lamp is repaired and find out how street lamps switch themselves on and off automatically. Auntie Mabel tells a story about a Victorian lamplighter.
Recorded 04/02/1997
Of course, this is perhaps my favourite episode in the series, though I'm sure that I'm not alone in spotting that the Thorn Beta 5 lantern that appears in the 'repair' has a deep bowl in all ground shots; however, this transforms into a shallow bowl in all shots filmed 'up top'. Additionally, the GE SOX lamp that is replaced with a Philips lamp doesn't appear to be defective in the slightest, and the P42 photocell would never switch off that rapidly after being uncovered...honestly, I ask you...do they think that we're daft or something?!
I visited the location of the street lighting repair (Hill End Road, Harefield) in 2022; a video made during my visit is viewable here: [ Ссылка ] .
