Yeah, I blame Mudcat too. Life's too short to watch kettles boil.

On the other hand, I have deliberately chosen not to have an electric jug and opt for the kettle instead. I love having a gas stove, and to me, having a kettle boiling cheerfully on it is so much nicer and home-ey. Electric jugs with automatic cut-off and all that, seem rather soul-less to my way of thinking.

It's probably because as a child we had a gas stove, but then as an adult I lived in a series of houses that always seemed to be all electric. It's only been in the last few years that I have been fortunate to be in a house with gas again.

Which reminds me - we also had an old washing machine with a wringer. That was when I found out something else I should only do once - get a little too close to the wringer when feeding in clothes. It gobbled my arm up to the elbow before I managed to release the thing. Miraculously there was very little harm done - those wringers are sorta soft, and tend to move out of the way a bit - but it gave me an awful fright!