Nov 22- The Broken Fridge at Butler's Cottage

So, like I mentioned, Patricia clued us in about the history of 15 Wamil Way. It was built at the Butler’s cottage back in 1823. The butler would leave for work at the manor every day through the back gate in our garden. The garden used to be about 3 times larger, but the garden wall was blocking the view of the neighboring house and was cut down to its present size. So, we live in a very old home. Kevin pointed out that our cottage was built the year that Moroni visited Joseph Smith for the first time. It just made me realize how new our country is. If this house were in the United States, it would have been turned into a historical monument by now. The manor house would never have been demolished in the 1930’s because it would have been too important. But, relatively speaking, our house is pretty new in Britain. It has historical significance, but the Brits don’t really get excited about the age of a building unless it dates back at least 500 years or more. Even then, they’re more impressed if it dates back 1000 years. So, they aren’t too disturbed demolishing a 300 year old manor house.

Anyway, we discussed all of these important thoughts while lying on our futon mattresses we’re borrowing from the Airmen and Family Readiness Center and that smell curiously like a chain smoker has used them before us. When we finally emerged to get breakfast, we realized we were in for an adventure. The fridge was clammy. Not really warm, but not cold either. It was a brand new fridge (British, huge and marvelous!) and the freezer part was REALLY cold. But the milk, cheese and everything else felt like they were in a cooler where the ice was mostly melted. Even after maxing out the “coolness” on the thermometer, it still felt gross and clammy.

Even though we knew we might not get another one until Monday, we had to grocery shop for the weekend. The commissary doesn’t open again until Tuesday. While there, we ran into the guy that installed our refrigerator. He reminded us that we could call to get it repaired 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

As soon as we got back home, Kevin ran to our neighbor’s (Melvin and Cheria Sadler…they are total saints! They have helped us SO much!) to make a phone call to the repairmen. They took two hours to come, but that’s not surprising in the UK. Everything runs at a slower pace. I think Americans are the only culture on earth where everyone runs around like the world is ending tomorrow.

Anyway, long story short…they brought us a new fridge. It works great. It’s still British, huge and marvelous. We are glad to have a fridge where we can shop for at least a week at a time, and to have a freezer we can fit a frozen pizza into, which apparently is something of a novelty around here.