"Mike Tomlinson" wrote in message
...
In article , Arny Krueger
writes

It doesn't belong in a closet for a rented room!

Sure doesn't, but remember much of the UK housing stock is old and
predates electricity. My house still has the lead pipes embedded in the
walls which were used to feed gas lighting, and much of the old lead-
sheathed power cables (copper cores wrapped in waxed paper then sheated
in a lead outer). No longer in use, thankfully.

We did not have the "cleansing" effects of a world war fought in our
country to push us along.

On the contrary, the cost of the war meant that little money was
available to improve the existing housing stock and little new was
built. What was built were cheap prefab houses intended to be
temporary. Indeed, some of those survive and are now "listed", which
means they are protected from inappropriate modification and/or
demolition.

I have not spent a lot of time in the UK, and not in residential areas. I
rely on what I am told.

It's not binding on the rest of the world but the town I lived in in
Germany
looked like it had been reworked from top to bottom *after* WW2. We had
416 3 phase in our apartment for heating water.

Germany has done very well since the war - a lot of money was ploughed
into the country to rebuild. Some would say too much. American and
European money.

German products are well-respected and still widely sold in the US.

You might be surprised to hear that in the Detroit metro area Aldi (under
the eponymous and Trade Joe brands) is probably the number 2 retailer of
groceries.