convenient 3A-fused desk socket. He was puzzled that every time he fired the drill up it would run for a second and then stop. He had gone through three or four desks before I managed to get him to stop doing this. I then backtracked and replaced all the fuses he had blown -- why yes I do keep a couple of packets of 3A 20mm slow-blow fuses in my toolbag, why do you ask? As for sockets, I often ask our esteemed facility manager about the possibilities of having a useful power management solution. No matter how many cups of tea I give her the fact remains she seemingly refuses to listen to common or uncommon sense. Re: Avoiding taking the last available socket I always try to bring some kind of multi-plug adapter if I know I'm hopping on a London-bound train. The seats on the trains that run from here to the Big Smoke have a socket under the seats in front, though you will note the singular form there... bringing an adapter should avoid any awkward moments, I hope. Mind you, there's a problem I find with these trains: where there's a proper table, they provide two sockets mounted on the wall, just above the table. Why problem? Simple: there's only about an inch of clearance between the tabletop and the bottom of the socket... which when you have a netbook with a "wall-wart" adapter which extends about two inches downward, is a bit of a