The UK is of course strange in many, many ways, but today I want to focus on things they plug in. And how they plug them in.
Basics first, for those of you who are unfamiliar, the plugs used in the UK are roughly the size of your fist. They are three-pronged, with all three being rectangle-shaped, the two on the 'bottom' (when plugged in) are horizontal, and the top one is vertical. The plastic bit to which these metal things are affixed (if that makes any sense), is generally six-sided, with the bottom half being rectangular, then the two sides tilting in so the top is narrower than the bottom. All in all, the plug is about two inches by two inches. AKA, massive. The Anglos like to think this makes them sturdy, I just think it takes away the grace of all Apple plugs.
Next step: the outlets. Wall outlets again usually come in sets of two, only instead of one being stacked on top of the other, they are side by side. The key difference is that you can turn an outlet on and off with a handy adjacent switch. I think the idea behind this is that you don't have electricity surging through an outlet that isn't in use, but not having grown up with the option of turning outlets off, I generally just leave them on all the time. These days this is enough to get you labeled as unfriendly to the environment, but really it just doesn't occur to me to do so.
The one room where you never find these sorts of outlets is the bathroom. As far as I can tell, this is to ensure you have to dry your hair in odd locations such as the hallway. What you instead find in the bathroom is a European style outlet with two parallel rounds things. They will be paired with a little sign saying they are for electric shavers only. I imagine this is based on the idea that people are stupid and will no doubt electrocute themselves while making toast in the bathtub, but in my mind it's a case of the government taking things a bit too far.
Aside from those darn electric kettles, the appliances here cover the same range. Only there are some slight variations in how you might turn things on and off. When I turn off the tv with the remote, it goes by default into stand-by mode. If I actually want to turn the tv off, I have to get up and press the button on the actual tv. The Wii is on stand-by by default whenever you're not using it, unless you cut off the source of power by turning off the outlet. Needless to say, there's a lot of work involved, and these days a lot of guilt forced on you by the media and other green folk if you don't do these things. Plus your electrical bill will be considerably higher if you leave things on all the time!
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3 comments:
i dont really understand plugs in other countries - the UK plugs are sturdy so that you cant see any of the live contact and also contain an earth pin (as well as the two live pins).In my mind this is a good safety aspect.
The switches on the plug sockets also mean you can leave things "pluged in" but off at the same time - making life a little easier!
You cant have any electrical plugs in a bathroom - all switches should be outside and if they are inside must be on a draw string (i.e. something you pull from the ceiling) with a special attatchment to stop moisture.
the only thing you can have is a shaving attachment which runs at reduced wattage
Can't dry your hair in the bathroom? Is the UK run by men with flattops?
British crime show writers must be working their tails off finding creative ways to kill off their victims.
I never thought we'd scare visitors by having outlets in our bathrooms! But don't fear -- they shut off immediately if you should drop your toaster in the tub.
One thing that really bugs me about our plugs and outlets is that you can be vacuuming (Hoovering?) along having a great old time when all of a sudden it stops because you tugged on the cord a little too hard and the plug came out of the outlet far enough to turn it off. So, I invariable forget to turn off the vacuum when I go to plug it back it, and then I have to run back to it because it's sucking up the cat or scooting across the floor towards the stairs.
Yeah--you guys may have done that one better, though the switches on the outlets took some getting used to because we couldn't always tell if they were on/off or the applicance was on/off or not working.
I think manufacturers of electronics should give people options so that it's easier to turn things completely off instead of in standby mode--like make it the default. Think of the energy that would be saved!
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