Janet de Bollett

Victorian Friday Night

In days of old When nights were cold wall-to-wall carpeting was something you only found in Persian harems. Nothing was too good for those voluptuous Persian concubines.

It was far more humdrum elsewhere. On Victorian Friday nights the bath would be brought into the kitchen and filled with hot water. In you'd get with a great big square of soap and a scrubbing brush.

While allowing for certain differences brought about by progress, we must say that if any Victorian Friday night ever looked like JANET DE BOLLET looks, it could have been altogether delicious.

"Yes, it is a wee bit cramped,” said Janet in her Streatham kitchen, "but if the Victorians managed, then so can I.”