Wednesday, June 03, 2009

A smoking bomb

image

The local newspaper, Laverdad cites this lampost in the Las Monserratinas district of Orihuela as dangerous.

They say the lights are hooked onto a wooden pole along with numerous electric cables which have been knotted together. Some of the cables hang close to the ground.

Laverdad say that it is precarious and as such is dangerous.

I dare say this is an extreme example but it isn’t the only one they could show us.

Ad hoc wiring seems to be so commonplace here in Spain, you wonder why there aren’t many accidents reported.

In the older streets, you can understand why cables for various purposes have been added over the years. How anyone would know what they are all for is beyond me. You wouldn't want to touch them just to find out.

In Bigastro, you find weatherproof junction boxes hanging in the main street to power the fiesta lights. I suppose these are relatively safe. What is not safe though is the practice of making a connection by just twisting wires together and them wrapping them with insulating tape. You see many instances in Bigastro where that solution has been used including the light fittings in our house.

No comments: