When there are significant gaps between visits (it’s been two years since we were last in the UK), there are things you remember but don’t really think about until they stand before you once again. One of those cultural oddities that our first few days in Preston has brought back in force is the strange British attitude towards electricity. Here, in a fully modern, industrialized, electronicified country, up to its ears in cell phones, one still runs across an attitude towards electricity and electrical appliances that is vaguely reminiscent of a remote tribe that appreciates that they have received the gift of fire, but doesn’t fully trust it.
So, at WeatherGirl’s Mum’s house we unplug damn near everything when we’re not using it. We fret over leaving something like a laptop charging while we’re away or asleep. I just had the guilty realization that I forgot to unplug the microwave after I used it, and had to run downstairs to fix the problem before my error was discovered. The light sockets for bathrooms are quite frequently outside the bathroom. One wonders how many kids have thrilled to the discovery that they can turn off the light while their sibling is in the bath, leaving them to either shout their heads off or make their soapy way to a wrapping of some sort, and then out to the hall to restore illumination.
One gets the sense that at least some Brits would be really happy if there was a great plug out in the front garden that they could go pull before heading to bed at night, separating themselves entirely from the horrible demons flowing alongside the electrons.
Not surprisingly, there are significant inconsistencies in this system. The fridge stays plugged in 24-7 since the alternative is neither odiferous or healthy. The electric oven/stove at Mum’s house is permanently wired, but has a big on/off switch on the wall next to it so you can effectively “unplug” it when it’s not in use. Ceiling fixtures are also permanent (but have switches) and, presumably because it contains even stronger magic (or that it’s a pain to deal with), the powerstrip that all the computer gear plugs into seems to be on pretty much all the time.
In fairness, I suspect this is to a significant degree generational, and I doubt that college students are nearly as worried about this as people my parents’ age. There are, as well, good reasons to unplug some things when they’re not being used, as many electronic appliances can still draw significant current even when they’re “off”. (I completely unplugged all the computer gear in my office before we left.) That doesn’t seem to be the issue, though. The concern I hear about is almost always one of safety. Presumably this means that either the UK’s electrical network is incredible unstable and dangerous or that many people are just paranoid. Given that I don’t see dozens of house fire fatalities splattered across the tabloids on a regular basis, I’m voting for paranoid. That said, this is a country of many old houses, where “old” means very different things here than it does in the States. That, plus the nasty Depression/World War 2 combo, may have slowed down development and modernization of much of the electrical infrastructure, which could explain why this nervousness about electricity seems at least a generation younger than any similar distrust I ever ran across back home.
Since initially drafting this, WeatherGirl fried one of the five or six circuits in the house we’re temporarily staying in by plugging in (without a transformer) an American appliance that wasn’t able to run on both 110 and 220 volts. Oops. Luckily, it just flipped the circuit breaker, so once I’d located the box (in the garage), it was trivial to restore to the back of the house. Just in time, too, as the milk wasn’t best thrilled about the fridge being without power. Damned convenient that nearly everything we brought with us that plugs in is designed to handle both U.S. and pretty-much-the-rest-of-the-world current straight out of the box, so all we need is plug adapters. There are, however, two or three things that need a transformer, and now there’s one less that works :-).
My wife’s house is over a hundred years old and there is a very real concern about the power usage in the house. Using a hair dryer dims the lights everywhere. They can’t use a window A/C unit (and there isn’t central heating so a household unit is out of the question). It is hard to feel comfortable with electrical fire in the walls a real possibility.
(Note to self: Remember to bring power and plug adpaters to UK…)
Our house (in Morris) is nearly 140 years old, but almost all the electrics have been completely redone since 1950 so it’s not really a problem for us. I do know of some older houses, though, with electric wiring that is really scary. The odd thing here, though, is that people are incredibly nervous in house relatively new house (1960′s, say).
As for adapters, make sure you check your AC adapters and see if they can handle 220 volts. Most adapters related to modern consumer electronics (laptops, cell phones, digital cameras, iPods) handle 100-240 volts and 50-60 Hz, which means that all you need is a plug adapter (U.S. prongs in one end and UK prongs out the other). Many (most?) plug adapters, however, don’t accept grounded three pin U.S. plugs, so you’ll have to make adjustments if you have any of those.
If you have anything that can’t handle 220 volts, then you’ll need a transformer or two. Be careful there, because there are higher and lower wattage flavors, and you need to make sure you get the right kind for your device.
Oh, and you have a heavy AC adapter, be prepared to to prop up the chain of adapters and such coming out of the wall, and they often want to all fall out, or at least tilt and expose the prongs in ways that aren’t real safe.
Frankly, it’s a pain, and I vote for international standardization!
I think all we have to plug in is a battery charger (AA size for the camera), the ipod charger, and maybe a cell phone charger (we’ll find out when we get our rental phone in the mail). I think we should be OK. The more I think about our trip the more these little details creep in on me.
My guess is that the iPod charger will be fine and will only require a plug adapter and not a transformer. The other two seem likely to be fine as well, but the odds are a little less clear on them.
Don’t sweat the details – these problems of electrics are reasonably easy to handle and peculiarly modern in nature. Books and sweaters work just the same here as in Minnesota, so most of your stuff should be fine. (And given the weather recently I’d be more inclined towards sweaters than shorts! They do claim it’s supposed to be nice next week, though…)