I'll say it is different! We visited the southern half..'tho we did make it up to York. I tried to get a handle on how you all wired your residential buildings..looking over things at each B&B, but it made no sense 'til I stopped in at a hardware store and the clerk gave me a quick overview of how things are wired. I topped it off by buying some books at a used book store in London and visiting a chain store in Oxford that dealt with building supplies. I couldn't get over the tiny outlet boxes with the terminal strips for connecting the wires..not much room to spare. How can you possibly do any changes to the wiring?
As for cutting off the plug and hard wiring the appliances, I think that it would present a bit of a problem for the home owner to get behind the dryer to check on any accumulation of lint..fire hazard you know. There would also be an increased chance of abusing the hardwiring. We have to make things idiot-proof here! Is idiocy just a Yankee trait? [Linked Image]