An apology to Mr Clooney, and $100 on a voltage converter

I'm pretty sure its in the Constitution that every American has the right to bear an electric whisk, a s'mores maker and a panini press? Just under the bit about wearing bear arms?

And I'm a girl who loves her Nespresso pods. I'm not a coffee snob, I'm just lazy (and having clogged up the garbage disposal with coffee grinds, also a bit scared about where I'm supposed to dispose of my cafetierre detritus).

Turns out that Nespresso is not 'the done thing' in the Bay Area, and appear to be quite hard to get hold of, so I'm glad I brought my Nespresso pods from London. So, I nab one of the 3 plug converters that are circulating round the apartment and plug him in for my morning fix. I am greeted with the standard flashy flashy 'I'm just warming up', and then nothing. FFS. There isn't enough power coursing through his little electrical veins. And as it turns out, his little toaster-buddy is similarly electrically anemic.

Easily solved I'll buy a small step-up converter that changes the feeble 110v to a more manly 240v. This seems to be the suggestion online for when the American voltage simply isn't cutting the mustard. (Incedentally, its mush MUCH easier if you are taking American equipment to the UK - the step down converters are cheaper and less bulky).

Next day - I plug the little fella into the wall. Smell, burning, smoke. FFS. Again.

Upon a closer inspection of the Nespresso spec I see that it is 1710 Watts, and the recently departed step-up converter can only handle up to 500. I fried him!

I now need to find little Smoky's big brother. A step-up converter that can handle up to and including 1710 Watts. A quick trawl on Amazon and Frys Electrical gives me just such a beast.

Its massive and heavy, and we didn't really want to have to buy and install it, but I WANT MY NESPRESSO. George will be wondering why we've not been ordering more pods. He'll get upset and think its something that he's done. Its not your fault George.

So, it has been purchased at a cost of about $100 (plus all sorts of fucking taxes, whatevs), and...it works!! I have the coffee I'm used to, (and a lovely slice of toast, to boot), and I haven't clogged the garbage disposal with coffee grinds since. It is very heavy and a bit of a brick, and it makes a sort of humming noise when you first turn it on, so we've not been leaving it plugged in, but it is still cheaper than buying a new nespresso here, and it means we can use it on Toasty as well.

I still can't believe we are the only people ever to migrate their toaster and coffee machine from the UK but it was ruddy difficult to find any advice on this! In short - you're welcome.

As an aside - Frys electrical is amazing. Its like Maplin and Amazon on amphetamines. The one near us is even themed - its all wild west-y. And the stock room is signposted 'The Lost Silicon Mine'. AND its as cheap, if not cheaper than Amazon.