[Wavytone]

Ha, well I look at as things scaling but perhaps in a different way.

The earth your house sits on is not a perfect conductor - when measuring an earth stake at the base of a power pole for example, if its in dry sandstone country the resistance may be as high as 50 ohms.

In an electrical fault where one phase shorts to the earth, the current can be high - just like a lightning bolt. the current flowing in the ground raises the local voltage - and because the current can fan out in all directions, the result is a radial voltage gradient. The voltage gradient can reach hundreds or thousands of volts per metre - enough that if you take a step, you will be electrocuted between your feet.

The same happens in a lightning strike too, the voltage gradient in the ground is huge. This is why people can be seriously injured if they were near a strike but not directly hit.