I once won a holiday in Cuba, then found I couldn’t go. Apart from that, a fridge-freezer is the biggest prize I’ve ever won – and I mean big! This one’s an all singing, all dancing one in which you could house a small family. So big in fact, that…
I digested the news and went to the model’s web site, getting out my tape measure. There are 28 stairs up to my flat and this is a double breasted machine almost six feet tall. Good news! The corridor from my front door is wider than the fridge is deep – by almost 10cm. But – oh, no! – there’s a radiator in the way. And there’ll be no room for it in my kitchen without major surgery. And I live alone – do I really need it?
Half a mile from my home is the Hounslow Foodbox, a busy foodbank. Too busy. There shouldn’t be such demand, though it’s a sign of the times. As supermarkets have (finally) chosen to adopt policies of zero food waste, a shortage of supply for foodbanks is unlikely. But the policy also means a growth in the quantities of chilled and frozen food that they make available and that simulates a demand for… fridges. And freezers.
So thank you, Toast. That’s where my fridge freezer is now, looking after the food that will feed people in Hounslow who would otherwise go hungry. Some people donate a fiver, others a can of baked beans. I just handed over £1,200-worth of electrical goods, for free.
I do, however, keep very quiet about the other part of my raffle prize, which came about not from buying a ticket but through contributing to the crowdfunding effort to get Toast off the ground, a business that will (appropriately) use out of date bread for making a range of fine artisan beers. A very worthy cause in itself. I also won two dozen bottles of each of three varieties of their ale.
As I said, I’ve measured the width of the corridor and counted the stairs. I’m absolutely confident that the beer will fit both through my front door and in my kitchen. And I’m looking forward to being proved right!