Travel Kettles

The last time I went to Europe, I vowed I would never again to stay in a European hotel without bringing a travel kettle, because I always want tea without having to negotiate in a foreign language for it, and many hotels don't have a kettle in the room, and don't have tea available at breakfast.

However, now I'm looking online, I'm annoyed. Surely travel kettles (ones with actual plugs, not ones designed for camping) are used almost exclusively by british people travelling in Europe?

So they should all (a) be sold in England and (b) be sold with European plugs.

But that does NOT seem to be the case. Who the hell sat down to make a travel kettle, and thought "What kind of plug should it have? A UK plug!" Everyone in the UK I ever want to visit ALREADY HAS a kettle, and doesn't need me bringing 0.4 more kettles!

Non-eponymously, most small kettles don't even use a kettle lead, which more convenient, but you can't swap that out for a european kettle lead.

Or am I just using the wrong search terms? I'm going to stop ranting and buy a normal travel kettle, unless anyone has a better suggestion?

Book and TV giveaway #1

Before I move house again, I need continue getting rid of books I don't want.

1. Charity shop

Most are going to a charity shop. Any recommendations for which, if not I'll just pick whichever is most convenient?

2. Give away books I actually think you should read

The following books I recommend, but are duplicates or I don't want myself. If you want them, even a tiny bit, and you're in Cambridge, they're yours. Feel free to give them away again afterwards :)

• Cryptonomicon, Neal Stephenson. Best book ever written if you're me, full of second-world-war crypto nerds and morphine addicted sergeants standing around talking about philosophy if you're not.
  
  
• Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson. Probably the most story-like Neal Stephenson.
  
  
• Ethan of Athos, Bujold. Almost everything Bujold's written is awesome. This one is stand-aline in the same universe as Vorkosigan. About a obstetrician from a planet of men who falls in with secret agents, but very good.
  
  
• Vor Game, Bujold. Second Miles book, if you liked Warrior's Apprentice, this is the second, and also the second most space-opera-y, the later books, while even better, tend more towards characters and politics.
  
  
• Case of Need, Michael Crichton. Before Crichton got too ambitious for his own good, he wrote several books which had to be interesting. This was his first serious novel, a detailed but straightforward medical drama.
  
  
• Speaker for the Dead, Orson Scott Card. Equally good to Ender's Game in a different way. Warning: the sequels after this point get increasingly bad. If you want to read it without giving money, even second-hand, to OSC, here's your chance :)
  
  
• Grunts, Mary Gentle. Orcs get their hands on automatic weapons. Doesn't manage the good/evil reversal thing as well as I'd like, but is generally regarded as one of the best at it.
  
  
• Huck Finn, Mark Twain. Mark Twain is a genius who can make even "slavery and poverty are bad" into an entertaining story.
  
  3. Give away perfectly functional stuff I don't want any more
  
  CRT TV. Not a popular choice any more, but if anyone in Cambridge wants it, I can bring it round. If not, is anyone or anywhere likely to want this or should it go straight to the tip?
  
  Functioning ink-jet printer with a small amount of ink (I think, it may be dry). I've replaced it with a laser printer, but if you want an ink-jet, I'm happy to give it to you.