Electrical Chat

At cousin Lee's request, I'm showing a few electrical items. He's an electrician and of course, has interest in how the Aussies are wired. At least, I think this is what he meant. The first photo shows a typical outlet. Notice there's only 1 place to plug in plus they all have switches to turn them off completely! This is a great safety measure as the voltage is 220 at 60 cycles and can ruin your day should become part of the complete circuit.

The second picture is interesting (not, reminds me of Uncle Bill in Viet Nam where if you left your camera out, you'd end up with a few strange pictures in it such as a toothbrush or a light bulb). Anyway, if you look closely at the base, it's just like an old car lightbulb. Soldered ends on a very old fashioned looking bulb. According to neighbor Mark, they do have new fangled screw type of light bulbs, too.

The final picture is the electrical panel in my flat. This is circa early 1970's and isn't covered at all. I wonder if I accidently lean against it while getting into the adjacent linen closet I might go up a huge ball of fire as the electrical charge ignites the alcohol in my system! A horrid visual and second waste of alcohol.

This concludes electrical chat with one more note: I think all tranformers such as those used to power portible computers, only need an adapter to fit the plug and will handle anywhere from 100 to 220 volts. Shocking (I know, bad pun) that you really can take your computer with you all over the world without worrying about different power supplies.