The air was alive that summers night. It’s New Year’s Eve and my friends are around me in lazy clusters talking and laughing. “It has been a good year” says Pete, a common phrase heard frolicking above the warm hum of celebrations. It had indeed been a good year, especially for Pete. He signed a lease on a new place, and he has filled it with furniture to boot. By his reasoning a very good idea then, to throw a party.
THUMP
Mark walks headfirst into a glass sliding door. This is a trick he is famous for. He shakes off the impact with a muted bewilderment and addresses the gathering.
“OI PETE! WHERES YOUR FRIDGE!?”
Uproarious laughter from the party and a loving grin from our ever-graceful host. I follow them inside to the kitchen and to my surprise, Pete has a bar fridge. “This is your fridge?” asks a perhaps concussed Mark. Pete explains to us that he doesn’t need the space or bills that come with a large fridge. “But you can fit maybe 15 beers max in that thing?” says a concussed Mark.
“well, yeah” says Pete “that’s why I have this one”
He leads us in a twist around the corner to a sleek black bar fridge in his laundry room. “This one holds 24 cans no problem, it’s also very energy efficient.” We are all impressed (I think Pete is the most impressed by his genius).
“I got this bar fridge from Harvey Norman. The one in the kitchen came from uncle Norman”
Lil Fridge.
Who is uncle Norman? I never found out, but I did find something that night. A new appreciation for bar fridges. Small fridges like these are not just for the wheel heeled with a private bar. Bar fridges can be perfect for a whole variety of applications. Alex’s duo of small fridges suited his space and habits well.
As the new year unfurled, I began noticing bar fridges everywhere. My uncle had one nestled in his garage, yellowed with age and pock marked by a decade of enthusiastic object swinging. My good friend had one is in his recording studio, a sleek little number with a silver finish. He told me that it was perfect from keeping the artists comfortable and hydrated. I wanted one, but I had a full-sized fridge of my own. Truth be told it didn’t need to be that big, but I really didn’t need another fridge
Take you home.
It proved to be another decent year, for me at least. Business pursuits took me away from my fast-paced life in the city, to a quiet little town far away. It wasn’t the smoothest of transitions, life there was different, and I missed my friends and my apartment.
Wait, did I miss my apartment? I had sold most of my furniture as it would have been too costly to move. As I set about making my new space home, I was reminded of new years at Alex’s house. Staring into the kitchen I contemplated life without a huge fridge.
Deep cycles.
I got in the car and drove. The back-country road was wild and undulating, I eased onto the accelerator, intent on taming the road and reaching the town center. I entered the sleepy town seemingly unnoticed and crept into the nearest car park. Typically, as I set out from my vehicle, a gentle rain began to fall, I wasn’t leaving here without a fridge.
With Alex’s words running through my head, I started my quest for a bar fridge at Harvey Norman. It ended there too, twenty minutes later. The little fella fit in my hatchback and wasn’t a drama to set up all by myself… take that full-sized fridge!
It’s been about 4 months since I welcomed a bar fridge into my life. It’s now covered in takeaway menus and electrician’s business cards. It’s also full of food and drinks, and to the unaware, it’s almost invisible.
Another year has almost passed, and the air is beginning to feel magic again. Flicking through my phone I wonder if it’s my turn to host this year’s celebrations. For a moment I contemplate how many drinks could fit in my fridge, and then I let out a laugh. My quest for a fridge is over and I don’t need to give it anymore brain power. It doesn’t really matter anyway I think to myself., I have a bathtub and I can always fill it with ice.