Sigh. Perhaps a little more context is in order.

In a third-world country, the electric grid is not what you are acquainted with. Furthermore, being in the tropics, the lightning storms would be tremendously active during rainy season. My copper ground rod was the only thing grounded in the entire house. I believe the lightning actually struck the pond next to the house, and traveled UP the ground rod to my UPS. It was the ONLY thing in the house that was damaged. I'm very grateful that the UPS did save the computer that it was attached to--but I never again dared to ground anything in my house.

We would sometimes have transient power issues (not surges) where one could measure 270 volts between the ground and the neutral on a 220V system. For these reasons, I never dared to install an electric water heater, preferring to take cold showers than risk electrocution.

My copper ground rod was very likely the only such ground rod for at least 200 meters radius of my house. Beyond that there may have been a business or two that had one--I don't know. In the housing sector, where I was, likely no one had one. It was an area of relative poverty where many homes would have been condemned by the standards of the West.

As one person told me after the lightning damaged my UPS, "Sucks to be the best ground around."

Having no ground isolates one in a similar manner to putting on thick rubber boots before grabbing the electrical wires--as many electricians will do. There are definitely times when one does NOT wish to have any path to ground!