Crossed Wires
One of the things I'm not sure of is how much our electricity bill will be in Shanghai. Apparently, our house has 8 Air Conditioning Units, an industrial sized Tumble Dryer and a freezer larger than the one Morrisons keeps its chips in. S informed me that the electricity used by an Air Conditioning Unit makes a Tumble Dryer seem like a nightlight in comparison. In fact - never mind Shanghai - I have spent many happy hours here in England puzzling over how our electricity bill can be £270 a quarter. I had put it down to my own extravagant use of the washing machine, but when I ventured into the den during the course of Packing, things became clearer.
I should explain that the den was not a room I went in often, it being full of things for boys. But it started about two months ago when I remembered the Beer Fridge and went in to have a look at it. I decided at the time that it wasn't worth keeping it going for the one bottle of Bud that was embedded in the ice, so I unplugged it and promptly forgot about it. When I was mopping up the flood the following day, it didn't seem like a good time to start interfering with electricity, so I didn't touch anything else. Nothing changed until 3 weeks later, when I unplugged the large synthesiser thing to go to its new home. Then went the piano (electric of course). Behind the piano was a socket. I carefully took the plug out, and when nothing happened (i.e. the house didn't blow up) my confidence increased and I was off. I was like a woman possessed, eyes flashing and hair standing on end, unplugging wildly. TVs, DVDs, hi-fi's, computers, X-boxes, Playstations. Boxes I couldn't even identify. Plugs that didn't even seem to lead anywhere. Extension Leads plugged into other Extension Leads.When finally everything was unplugged, I stood back to survey the scene.
I have never seen so many wires in my entire life. Black wires of course. But there were blue wires, grey wires, white wires, green wires, dark red wires, all with various things on the end - some I recognised as Scart things (which is where my knowledge of wires ends), some with what looked like telephone sockets on the end, some with yet another set of wires sprouting out the end. Some with plugs on one end. Some with no plugs on either end. Some with bobbles on. Some with double bobbles on. The permutations were endless. I'd put them on a For Sale List if only I knew what to put in the description. "Wire. Blue. With Bobble".
As it is, they are now all in a large packing crate, waiting for S to come home and identify them all. I wonder, if leaving a TV on standby overnight uses enough electricity to boil a kettle, how much electricity did it take to keep that little red light glowing on the end of 8 Extension Leads?
Luckily, I don't have time to worry about it anymore. Not so for the poor person who monitors National Grid Usage for our town - he'll be scratching his head and wondering how their Consumption Estimates for March 2005 were so wildly incaccurate.
I should explain that the den was not a room I went in often, it being full of things for boys. But it started about two months ago when I remembered the Beer Fridge and went in to have a look at it. I decided at the time that it wasn't worth keeping it going for the one bottle of Bud that was embedded in the ice, so I unplugged it and promptly forgot about it. When I was mopping up the flood the following day, it didn't seem like a good time to start interfering with electricity, so I didn't touch anything else. Nothing changed until 3 weeks later, when I unplugged the large synthesiser thing to go to its new home. Then went the piano (electric of course). Behind the piano was a socket. I carefully took the plug out, and when nothing happened (i.e. the house didn't blow up) my confidence increased and I was off. I was like a woman possessed, eyes flashing and hair standing on end, unplugging wildly. TVs, DVDs, hi-fi's, computers, X-boxes, Playstations. Boxes I couldn't even identify. Plugs that didn't even seem to lead anywhere. Extension Leads plugged into other Extension Leads.When finally everything was unplugged, I stood back to survey the scene.
I have never seen so many wires in my entire life. Black wires of course. But there were blue wires, grey wires, white wires, green wires, dark red wires, all with various things on the end - some I recognised as Scart things (which is where my knowledge of wires ends), some with what looked like telephone sockets on the end, some with yet another set of wires sprouting out the end. Some with plugs on one end. Some with no plugs on either end. Some with bobbles on. Some with double bobbles on. The permutations were endless. I'd put them on a For Sale List if only I knew what to put in the description. "Wire. Blue. With Bobble".
As it is, they are now all in a large packing crate, waiting for S to come home and identify them all. I wonder, if leaving a TV on standby overnight uses enough electricity to boil a kettle, how much electricity did it take to keep that little red light glowing on the end of 8 Extension Leads?
Luckily, I don't have time to worry about it anymore. Not so for the poor person who monitors National Grid Usage for our town - he'll be scratching his head and wondering how their Consumption Estimates for March 2005 were so wildly incaccurate.
posted by Linda at 12:50 PM
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