Community Service

[Andrew May]

There was a short piece on the Today programme on Radio 4 this morning about an alternative to community service being tried in Derby. (About five minutes from the end if anyone wants to listed again). There, instead of setting offenders clearing gardens they are putting them through training courses in things like DIY. There was a soundbite of one of the instructors explaining wiring a plug. Went something like 'there are two wires brown and blue. The second letter of blue is L so...' then cut to the presenter. Did he really mean that? The mind boggles.

Andrew

[Dave Liquorice]

... so it goes onto the Left terminal. The second letter of the other wires is R so that goes to the right.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Yes - I heard that and wondered. 'L' from blue equals line? 'N' from brown equals neutral? Bit of a worry. Could be 'L' equals left when working on the plug, I suppose. But if someone doesn't know brown goes to the fuse perhaps they should stick to clearing gardens.

[Brian]

What he would have said if the sound bite had not been so badly edited was L for LEFT. Blue goes to the left, Brown to the right. No point in going into Live and neutral for idiots, far easier, and possibly more likely to be understood, to say left and right.

[Brian]

Bringing back the birch perhaps?

[meow2222]

so now if you want a free training course, go smash some windows and you get it. Whats wrong with our society... is it just our politicians so lost?

NT

[Andrew May]

Sounds plausible. But I'm flabbergasted. Surely even at that level the difference between live and neutral shouldn't be too difficult to comprehend. I am sure there are instances when the left/right rule wouldn't work. Perhaps Part P is a good thing after all :-)

Andrew

[Mark]

Obviously an ex sailing instructor ;(

[TheOldFellow]

Nah, use Oak, much stronger for a gallows. Especially one that will get a lot of use.

R.

[Roger Mills]

But what's left and what's right depends on which way round you're holding the plug. If you hold it so that the cable comes in from the top . . .

And what about the earth wire - I haven't heard any mention of that?

[meow2222]

how many people that dont know L from N are going to know about part p, and care?

NT

[jkn]

On Feb 7, 11:32 am, Andrew May wrote: [...]

If they were teaching 'how to wire a plug' then this seems a perfectly reasonable approach to me. I worked out this way of thinking about wiring a plug myself, at the age of ten or so, when the flex colours changed from red/black/green, and have been happy to teach it to others since. When you're wiring a plug it's pretty damn obvious 'which way round' it should be - how many people wire a 3-pin plug with the Earth pin towards them?

Learning which colour is live and which neutral is then a different cognitive process, which not everybody has need of. I learned it by remembering how a plug was wired and which colour went to the fuse. Brown is not the most obvious colour for *Most Dangerous!* after all (yes I know the reasons...)

J^n

[Andrew May]

How many people who do know L from N and do know about Part P care (about part P)?

:-)

[nightjar]

The wife of a friend, far from an idiot in other matters, cannot tell left from right. He has to say 'ring hand' or 'other hand' when she is driving and he is map reading.

Colin Bignell

[John]

My Grandfather taught me this technique almost 40 years ago when I was 10. Every time I wire a plug top he is 'sat' on my shoulder saying "Blue has an L in it so it goes to the left, Brown has got an R in it so it goes to the right, and IF you have one left over (Green or Green/Yellow) it can only go in the other one". This also worked for the 'old' colours of black and red and also if, for whatever reason, you wanted to put a plug top on T &E, earth sleeved of course! As for the poster stating it depends on which way you hold the plug when wiring it up, I am sure most (if not all) people would have the wire entering from the bottom of the plug top, it is the natural way to work surely.

It works for me, and I will pass this on to my two boys (8 & 5) when I feel they are ready.

HTH

John

[Ed Sirett]

The Prat P does not govern plugs!

[Andy Burns]

I'd rather idiots weren't wiring up plugs at all, especially if there's any chance of them doing it for anyone else.

[Skipweasel]

Depends which way up you're holding the plug!

I taught my son to do plugs and explained that the dullest colour is the one most likely to do you in. The second dullest is the second most likely to do you in, and the most eye-catching is the least likely to nobble you. He hasn't got it wrong yet (since he's only ten I still check the plugs he does).

[Skipweasel]

When I was an instructor I found that roughly a third of people don't know their lefts from rights well enough to take directions given that way. Examiners are wise to this and will quickly swap to "Take the second road on my side" or "At the roundabout, take the third exit, that's the one leading off to your side", but the prefer it if the candidate comes out with it up front at the start of the test.

[Roger Mills]

There are actually two of us now!

I agree that most reasonable people will hold it with the wire at the bottom. *But* the very fact that you apparently need a rule like this means that it needs to be foolproof for *everybody* - not just reasonable people - and it ain't! If there's a way of misinterpreting it, some fool will do so sooner or later.