Travel Tips

I'm not altogether sure why I'm doing this. I have been prevailed upon by certain persons NOT to reveal my innermost thoughts but simply to reveal the inner workings of my refrigerator. As it happens, I am delighted to do so, for it is a lovely Liebherr and less than a month old.

As ever it is festooned with all manner of organic foodstuffs. Obviously essential stuff! I mean, where would a chap be without his jar of Brandy Butter? Sadly I have been unable to provide a pic of the door but I'm reliably informed that you should always keep something back for later. In fact it's mainly bowing under the weight of countless packs of butter. Frankly one cannot eat crumpets, toast or home-baked bread with anything else! No doubt about it, one really should draw the line at kissing smokers and margarine munchers...

However, there can only be one refridgerator for the true gentleman - and, by jove, I have it!. Behold the Imperial icyness of 'The Colonial'...

Much to my dear wife's long-suffering amazement I placed this example of late Victorian virtuosity in our living room. Not of course that you would think it was a humble 'fridge, for it exudes the Victorian ethos of aestheticism and practicality.

Although artistically embellished it remains a practical and eminently useful object, for beneath it's warm wooden exterior there lurks a cold metallic heart!

The upper and lower compartments are lined with zinc. Into the top you place blocks of ice, and in the main storage section below you pop your caviar and champagne. The chiiled air circulates and any excess water is secretly siphoned through a hidden rubber tube down to a hidden compartment at the base where you may secrete a drip tray..

Of course one wouldn't wish any pilfering passer by to frequent your 'fridge, so with servant security in mind 'The Colonial' has been provided with a lavish lock. Beautiful!

As a person of not inconsiderable standing, I am often asked...

"Major, what on earth have you got behind your Victorian refrigerator?".

To which I reply...

"My dear fellow! The same as everyone else. Dust and a 19th Century crinoline cage".

Quite...