So after Gareth inflicted another crushing defeat on me at the snooker club this afternoon, he and I wandered to the Gallery with the intention of playing a board game or something. What we actually ended up doing was playing Pin The Tail On The Bathroom Light Switch, after I pulled on the cord in the usual way and it came off in my hand.

So, turn the lighting off at the fuse box, remove switch from wall, take it apart, work out how it fits together, re-thread cord, put back together, replace on wall, put fuse back in. No joy. Pulling the cord made a satisfying switching noise, but the light stayed persistently off no matter how many times we did so. Just to avoid looking silly, Gareth took the light bulb and put it in another light, in case that had gone. It worked fine, so that wasn't the problem.

So we took the switch apart again and found a piece that looked as if it ought to be the other way round; cut the cord, reverse the piece, knot the cord, put back together, replace on wall, put fuse back in. No joy. Once again, pulling the cord made the switching noise, but the light stayed off. We were on the point of despairing, and I even suggested calling in a real electrician.

Then Gareth did something outstandingly clever. He put the bulb back in. :-)