Allows you to remove power from the plugged in device without unplugging it. This provides convenience to easily and quickly turn things on and off and prevents arcing when unplugging. 240V 13A can arc a bit, particularly if unplugged under load, or on older sockets where the contacts have worn. While a little arcing doesn’t do much damage immediately, over time it will cause pitting and make a high resistance joint that will generate heat.
The switch only disconnects the live terminal, but the neutral terminal should be similar potential to earth (depending on how the building is wired).
Truly the king of plugs and sockets. The plugs are individually fused according to the device needs, ergonomic to use and exciting to stand on.
When I was a child we lived in a house in the countryside, so nights were very dark and very quiet. I’d wander around the house in the dark quite often and noticed that as well as peripheral vision, the acoustic of the room gave me information, I could sort of hear the sound of my footsteps change if I was walking towards a closed door rather than an open one. Similarly the air moved differently going from one room to another. None of these senses had enough information to navigate alone, but all added to the model of where I was and what was around me. Of course this was in a place I knew well. When walking outside, I could ‘hear’ the echo of the hedges and walls beside me which kept me in the middle of the path. At the time this didn’t seem unusual. It goes to show that we use all our senses all the time, one helps the other to fill in the gaps.
I’m much older now, the eyesight and hearing are both failing, but it was fun while it lasted.