>Out of curiosity, is European 220V power a single live line that's
220V
	>to an earthed "neutral", or is is just like North America except
that
	>mains outlets routinely have both live lines instead of one live
line
	>and one neutral?

	Unless there is a wiring fault, only one
	of the wires in a UK socket will have
	a good go at killing you :-)

	I *believe* that in the commonest wiring scheme
	(i.e. the one used in the urban parts of the UK)
	the neutral and earth meet somewhere near
	the first substation. So we really do have
	just one live.

	Antonio