Long time ago I was wiring an old church hall we had been given by the town council, making an Arts Centre, b'gosh. Near-zero budget, of course. This is 30 years ago, and in England, so surface wiring was still permitted. I put in a "ring main" for the sockets, making an economy in expensive Copper by allowing each outlet to be fed, as it were, by two cables. I had a young snapper (and I must have been all of 18) helping me, and so tried to get him to understand what we were doing as we went along.
He, like most folks, like my Gran, thought that the electricity "came out" of the sockets - well, they are called "outlets"... he thought that something terrible would happen when we connected up, that the juice would fly along the wires at the "speed-of-light" until it met itself coming the other way, a train wreck in the making. To try to explain, and to allay his fears, I put a plug on each end of a length of flex, plugged in the one and then asked him, "careful, don't touch the pins!" to plug in the other.
"It will go bang!"
"No, no, see, the outlets are already connected together round the back!"
I could see comprehension dawn. It was noon so, leaving the flex in the tool box, I went for lunch.
At half past one I return to find a white-faced apprentice, big smell of PVC, and a BIG curly scar on the parquet floor. Wanting to impress with his new-found wisdom, the lad would demonstrate to the others, and then plugged in to the second outlet - in the office! A-a-a-a-nd it's on a different phase!!!
A little learning...
I went back recently. The Arts Centre is thriving; they now have the church as well - and that scar is still there... My pup electrician became a good blues guitarist, and a Luddite...
A little learning is a dangerous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again.
Alexander Pope - Essay on Criticism.
Lucky
