Ren---I made the circuit that you posted and was able to get the loop closed by using an earth ground on the base of the small transistor. I discovered a strange thing at the end of the day when I was charging up the battery while running the system. The amp draw went to zero!! I got all excited until I realized that it must have just been the wall wart but when I unplugged and disconnected the charger the thing went to zero again if I touched the CFL!! . I made a quick video of it and showed a scope shot of the wave form. It may have just been "stray current" going through my body but it sure was weird.

YouTube - Ren's two transistor CFL circuit

Lidmotor