Some years ago before my dad died .. I caught him, having run over the electric lawnmower lead and severed it, with a repair that consisted of the blue and brown leads stripped back with the ends twisted together and the joins covered over with clear cellotape ... he'd not bothered with the earth wire 'as it doesn't carry a current'. Errr ... no Dad ... it only carries a current when it's taking it away and stopping it killing YOU !
I then discovered my mum using a 'bowl' electric fire - the sort with a reflective bowl and an exposed heating element - that I had consigned to the bin years before on the basis it was dangerous (it was from the 1950's with a fabric covered lead - with red and black wires !). When I asked where she had got it from - my Dad had taken it out of the dustbin 'as there was nothing wrong with it'. To give you some idea of its age - it had a round three pin plug on it and they were using it with a plug converter that provided conversion from a square 13amp socket to a round pin socket !
Dad lived till he was 87 and mum to 99 ... goodness only knows how ?
Dad was not stupid ... he was a MENSA member, in his day, a leading authority in the field of metallurgy and ceramics and could still do the Times crossword faster than anyone I've ever come across well into his 80's. Common sense ? ... got left behind somewhere along the way. Having said that ... he spent the latter half of his WW2 army service on bomb disposal and mine clearance as the Allies fought their way up through Italy after the invasion of Sicily - so, I rather suspect he thought he was immortal !
