Fuses are still bits of wire that take a while to get hot before melting (=fusing). A short surge is expected so they are designed to fuse in an inverse current/time characteristic. Indeed a standard UK 13A fuse will blow at 13 Amps given enough time and the thermal confines of the UK plug and the way some people use it. Probably 100+ hours. Most fuses are rated at 13A - few people fuse at lower values becuse they don't know better. so yer 60watt bulb at 240V is 1/4 amp and surge is 3.75A. even a 1A fuse would most likely not fuse.
John in Kansas. The whole point about end of life is that a loo light that is switched on at every visit of a 6 man company drinking coffee all day is that the weakness will be found sooner. UK traffic lights were given soft-start electronics 40 years ago, and that definitely was found cost effective. As an Electronic Engineer I was always told at Uni that frequent switching affected "average" (read mean) life, and on the basis of finding the weakness sooner it is un-arguable. But I was given the explanation why it shortened life at a molecular level and involved crystaline structure and voids (and maybe age hardening) but it has been a long time. The numerical significance of life-shortening is what I don't have. The 750 -100 hours figure is from Wiki and stated as average. The evapouration of tungsten is a function of the vacuum which has improved over the years. The reason i asked was a discussion at work about "THE LIGHT BEING ON" (that kinda discussion) and the damn thing went pop - which turned-out to be the fitting! And had we got a light bulb? and are we allowed to mend it ourselves?