Thank you very much ladies. Your answers are much what I expected, but I wanted to be sure.

As we live in rented accommodation I have no idea if the house is "grounded" or not. I didn't know you could get separate surge protectors but I run my computer etc via a power box with an automatic cut off switch. I'll look into surge protectors for the house.

We were living in an area where big electrical storms were common, so I got used to unplugging everything in the house when they were around.

Thank you again. Your replies were very helpful.