Coming to Australia, I was sure to find some obvious differences, like longer distances, a varied geography, different ethnicities etc., and that these would be balanced by many familiar items, like driving on the left (remnants of British rule) and the ability to utilise domestic machinery brought over from Malta (as the voltage and its frequency is the same as that in Europe, and not that found in the US and other countries).
Even here though, I found what were (for me) curiosities. For example, in NSW, a U-turn, i.e. crossing over to the other side of the road and driving back, can be done at traffic lights only if marked as allowed, and in other crossroads anywhere else except where marked as prohibited. However when I went to Queensland, I found that a U-turn in any traffic lights is not allowed except where marked otherwise.
To my way of thinking, wouldn't this cause confusion amongst drivers? Especially in the case of towns divided by a state's border, like Coolangatta (Queensland) and Tweed Heads (NSW), which have roads one side in one state and the other side in the other, you could go to work and freely make a U-turn, and coming back be pulled over by police for doing the same thing.
Another strange thing I noticed straight away, as soon as I went into the first bathroom, was the presence of a standard electrical power socket, almost touching the sink. As an engineer educated in Malta, I had got used to the rule that this was considered a health danger due to the risk of electric shock, and if one decides to install one in a new house, you can be sure that the house would not pass its post-build inspection.
Surely this house wouldn't have passed in Malta, I said to myself. How did it pass here?
My amazement grew as I found almost all bathrooms I went into here have a power point. Finally I found that building standards here allow this with some conditions.
Isn't it a health danger to have an electric power socket in the bathroom? Perhaps Australians have another lining on their skin and don't get an electric shock. Or perhaps those making standards are not qualified? Or don't care? Or perhaps after all the risk isn't that great?
On a similar note, I remember in Malta the insistence on bathrooms having a window leading directly to the outside. Again, if a bathroom didn't have this, it would fail the inspection. Over here, having an extractor fan in the roof pulling air outside of the bathroom is sufficient.
These changes aren't just cosmetic, and reduce one's faith in the need for some regulations, or the process leading to their establishment, at least to my eyes. It would be some much better having a bit more consistency in this respect.
There's one other thing that annoys me. In Malta, we build with double layers of Maltese limestone at the front and 'double' brick at the back of a house, that is wherever is exposed to the elements. This helps to keep the temperature inside of house as low as possible in summer, and as high as possible in winter. This is possible as the external layer shields the temperature extremes (blazing sun in summer and the winter cold), while the inter layer has a high thermal mass that keeps the internal temperature rather stable, and these layers are separated by air.
In Australia, a popular type of construction is called brick veneer, where the outer shell of the house is made of brick to withstand the extremes in temperature and weather, however the inside shell is very thin, usually made of plasterboard, a thin sheet of maybe a centimetre, made of compressed gypsum. This sheet has hardly any thermal mass, and so when the external brick shell is heated by the sun, the house is guaranteed to become and stay hot even during the night, as the thermal mass is on the outside! On the other hand, when the external bricks are freezing cold, the house freezes also. Three cheers for air conditioning, and shareholders of energy providers!
It's true that nowadays, to compensate somewhat, with this kind of construction, an insulating layer has started to be added between the bricks and plasterboard, however many houses have been built as I described before.
My question is, to whose benefit have these standards been made?
I wish I could understand!
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Meta ġejt l-Awstralja, kont persważ li għalkemm se nsib differenzi ovvji, bħad-distanzi ħafna ikbar, varjeta' fil-ġijografija, etniċitajiet differenti eċċ eċċ, biex nibbilanċja kont se nsib ħafna affarijiet familjari, bħas-sewqan fuq ix-xellug (wirt tal-ħakma Brittannika) u l-abbilta' li nħaddem makkinarju domestiku li ġibt miegħi minn Malta (minħabba li l-vultaġġ u l-frekwenza tal-elettriku huwa l-istess bħal dak tal-Ewropa, u mhux bħal dak tal-Istati Uniti u pajjiżi oħra).
Imma anke hawn, skoprejt xi (dawk li għalija kienu) stramberiji. Nagħtu każ, f'NSW, U-turn, jiġifieri li taqsam minn naħa waħda tat-triq għan-naħa l-oħra u ssuq lura, tista' ssir mad-dwal f'salib it-toroq biss jekk hu mmarkat li hu permess, u fi qsim it-toroq oħra f'kull post ieħor ħlief fejn immarkat li mhux permess. Però meta mort Queensland, skoprejt li U-turn fi qsim it-toroq ma jista' jsir imkien ħlief fejn hu mmarkat li jista' jsir.
Allura ngħid jien, dan mhux konfużjoni jista' joħloq fis-sewwieqa? Speċjalment f'irħula li huma maqsumin mill-fruntiera, bħal Coolangatta (f'Queensland) u Tweed Heads (f'NSW), fejn hemm toroq naħa minnhom fi stat u n-naħa l-oħra f'stat ieħor, jekk tkun sejjer għax-xogħol u tagħmel U-turn tista' tagħmel dan bil-liberta' kollha, u jekk tkun ġej lura jista' jwaqqfek pulizija għax tagħmel l-istess ħaġa.
Stramberija oħra ndunajt biha kważi mallewwel, malli dħalt fl-ewwel kamra tal-banju, kienet il-preżenza ta' plakka tad-dawl, kważi tmiss mas-sink. Bħala inġinier li kellu l-edukazzjoni tiegħu f'Malta, kont drajt ir-regola li xi ħaġa bħal dik hija periklu kbira għas-saħħa minħabba r-riskju ta' xokk elettriku, u jekk ifettillek tagħmel waħda f'dar ġdida, tista' tkun żgur li d-dar ma tgħaddix mill-ispezzjoni ta' wara l-bini.
Sewwa, għedt bejni u bejn ruħi, din id-dar ma kinetx tgħaddi f'Malta! Din kif għaddiet hawn?
L-iskantament tiegħi iktar kiber meta skoprejt li kważi kull kamra tal-banju li dħalt fih hawnhekk għandha plakka tad-dawl. Fl-aħħar skoprejt li l-istandard tal-bini hawnhekk jippermettiha din il-ħaġa b'xi kundizzjonijiet.
Mela mhix periklu kbir għas-saħħa li jkollok plakka tad-dawl fil-kamra tal-banju? Jew forsi l-Awstraljani għandhom ġilda nfurrata u ma jeħdux xokkijiet? Jew forsi min jagħmel l-istandards hawn ma jifhimx? Jew ma jimpurtahomx? Jew forsi wara kollox ir-riskju mhux daqshekk kbir?
Xi ħaġa simili, f'Malta niftakarhom jinsistu li l-kmamar tal-banju jrid ikollhom tieqa li tagħti għal barra. L-istess, jekk il-kamra tal-banju din ma jkollhiex, id-dar ma tgħaddix mill-ispezzjoni. Hawnhekk, jekk ikollok fann fis-saqaf jiġbed l-arja 'l barra mill-kamra tal-banju biżżejjed.
Dawn id-differenzi mhumiex biss kożmetiċi, u jistgħu jnaqqsu l-fiduċja ta' dak li jkun dwar il-bżonn ta' ċertu regolamenti, jew tal-proċess li wassal għalihom, talinqas f'għajnejja. Ikun ħafna aħjar jekk ikun hemm iktar konsistenza f'dan il-qasam.
Hemm xi ħaġa oħra li tkiddni ħafna. F'Malta, nibnu bid-dobblu tal-ġebla Maltija fuq quddiem u dobblu tal-konkrit fuq in-naħa ta' wara tad-dar, jiġifieri fejn hu espost għall-elementi. Dan jgħin sabiex ġewwa d-dar tinżamm temperatura kemm jista' jkun baxxa fis-sajt, u għolja fix-xitwa. Dan possibbli għax il-qoxra ta' barra tilqa' l-estremi tat-temperatura (ix-xemx tiżreġ fis-sajf, u l-kesħa tax-xitwa), filwaqt li l-qoxra ta' ġewwa għandha massa termali kbira li żżomm it-temperatura ta' ġewwa pjuttost stabbli, u dawn il-qxur għandhom l-arja fin-nofs.
Fl-Awstralja, hawn tip ta' kostruzzjoni popolari ħafna tissejjaħ brick veneer, fejn il-qoxra ta' barra tad-dar tkun tal-briks li tilqa l-estremi tat-temperatura u tat-temp, imma l-qoxra ta' ġewwa hija rqiqa mmens, aktarx magħmula mill-plasterboard, folja rqiqa forsi ta' ċentimetru, magħmul minn ġips magħqud. Din il-folja m'għandha massa termali ta' xejn, u għalhekk, meta l-qoxra tal-briks tkun taħraq bix-xemx, id-dar tkun garantita li tkun taħraq u tibqa' taħraq mal-lejl għax il-massa termali tinsab fuq barra! Mill-banda l-oħra, u meta l-briks ta' barra jkun inġazzat bil-kesħa, id-dar tinġazza wkoll. Viva l-arja kkundizzjunata, u min għandu l-isħma tal-kumpanniji tal-enerġija elettrika!
Veru li daż-żmien, biex ipattu ftit, meta ssir din il-kostruzzjoni, bejn il-briks u l-plasterboard saru jżidu folja tal-insulazzjoni, imma ħafna djar inbnew bil-mod kif iddeskrivejt qabel.
Allura nistaqsi, dawn l-istandards għall-benefiċċju ta' min saru?
Ħawwadni ħa nifhem!
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