Chill! Out

Being woken up by your best friend, the one with the immaculate house and precision appearance, informing you that she's going to be in your village shortly and would it be alright for her son, your godson, to come round for a shower after his football match is enough to get any Saturday Sloth upright and focused in seconds.

Rachel knows that in a housekeeping competition she would always always beat me. ( She also knows that with my competitive nature, I'd challenge her to a Scrabble Marathon - sure she'd get the tiles looking neat and tidy but the Triple Word Scores would be all mine). I'd offered to give them some lunch so the least I could do was remove the bacteria colonies that were attempting to claim asylum on every available surface, including me.

The result was satisfying. It looked as if I hadn't bothered to do anything more than light a scented candle to greet her arrival when, in reality, I had been running around juggling the Dyson and Cif for the best part of 3 hours.

Funny, I've somehow managed to create a similar effect with my fridge, which I shot as part of Belinda's Dare which I heard about from that doyenne of good taste, Andrea.

( click on the picture if you have a fridge voyeurism fetish)

I cheated. I cleaned it first. I was not aware we had such a strong liking for mustard but there are 6 different varieties in there, 2 types of jam, 1 jar of marmalade ( neither Jack nor I eat it, I have no idea where it came from but it looked settled so I left it) 4 types of olive, lime/ chilli pickle and mango chutney, fish sauce, disposable eye masks, lime/lemon juice, 4 bags of mozzarella ( it's the Healthy Eating range - it's allowed) and some lovely locally-produced organic sausages. I was tempted to pull some leaves out of the garden to add some token greenery, but one would not expect my fridge to contain lettuce. I have, of course, eaten it. The tomatoes are still being picked off the vine as required. And the wine is Fairtrade ( well 1 bottle is) so it's good. It is.

If you fancy taking up the Fridge Challenge, follow the link from Belinda's name above and read the rules. I am particularly interested in seeing what the inside of a single man's fridge looks like. I may even be available for a personal inspection if the contents prove worthy.