It's Electrifying!

Power, electricity, whatever you call it, it's everywhere and we all need it in these modern times.  But over here in America, IT'S BLOODY DANGEROUS!!!  In the UK we're brought up hearing "Don't take anything electric into the bathroom or you'll get electrocuted and die"

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Sounds kinda harsh huh?  That means no hairdryers or straightening irons in the bathroom, nothing.  You want to beautify yourself in the UK?  Do so in the bedroom or someplace else with a mirror.  Otherwise, you'll die, I tell you!

UK plug sockets are strongly fixed to the wall and grounded.

You plug something in, it's in.  You can't wiggle it around, it's safe and secure.  If a child sticks his little finger into the socket, nothing will happen.  It couldn't be safer over there.  Unless of course, you get water near it, then INSTANT DEATH!!! 

Now you've got the background, you can imagine my shock when I arrived in the US and saw not one, but several electric outlets (plug sockets) in the bathroom.  Not just in the bathroom, but right next to the sink.  Water + electricity = instant death right?!  My heart jumped and my instant reaction was "There's no way in hell I'll ever plug my hairdryer in to any outlet in any bathroom."   No sir.  The husband, who luckily is used to my verbal tirades, patiently listened as I ranted on about how dangerous this was and how in the UK...blah blah blah.  You get the picture.  To make matters worse, American outlets do not seem to be sturdily built or attached properly, but the worst thing is, when you plug something in or unplug it, you see sparks!!!!  SPARKS!!!!  It always makes me think of this song: 

Love this video :)

Not once in the UK have I ever seen sparks come from an outlet.  Here, it happens every single time you use one.  Although I've lived here for a long time now, my anxiety hasn't lessened every time I plug or unplug something.  America is a modern country, why aren't the safety standards for electricity as rigid as they are back home?   I will probably never know as I'm not very technologically aware and I probably wouldn't understand anyway, but it just doesn't seem right!  I have to confess though, nowadays, my hairdryer is plugged into the bathroom socket.  I guess beauty comes first people :)  But I am sure to dry out the sink before I use it so that no dangerous water drops find their way towards it causing a catastrophic explosion or electrocution resulting in my death.

Ironically, when I was writing this post, we had a power outage.  Perhaps the 'powers' that be weren't amused ;)  Till the next time people, just as long as I'm not electrocuted first...