JACK: Right, let’s make a list of topics to cover in our presentation, and decide who’s going to do more research on them. Then later, we can get together and plan the next step.

ANNIE: OK. How about starting with how useful refrigeration is, and the range of goods that are refrigerated nowadays? Because of course it’s not just food and drinks.

JACK: No, I suppose flowers and medicines are refrigerated, too.

ANNIE: And computers. I could do that, unless you particularly want to.

JACK: No, that’s fine by me. What about the effects of refrigeration on people’s health? After all, some of the chemicals used in the 19th century were pretty harmful, but there have been lots of benefits too, like always have access to fresh food. Do you fancy dealing with that?

ANNIE: I’m no terribly keen, to be honest.

JACK: Nor me. My mind just goes blank when I read anything about chemicals.

ANNIE: Oh, all right then, I’ll do you a favour. But you own me, Jack.

1. What about the effects on food producers, like farmers in poorer countries being able to export their produce to developed countries? Something for you, maybe?

JACK: I don’t mind. It should be quite interesting.

ANNIE: I think we should also look at how refrigeration has helped whole cities – like Las Vegas, which couldn’t exist without refrigeration because it’s in the middle of a desert.

JACK: Right. I had a quick look at an economics book in the library that’s got a chapter about this sort of thing. I could give you the title, if you want to do this section.

ANNIE: Not particularly, to be honest. I find economics books pretty heavy going, as a rule.

JACK: OK, leave it to me, then.

ANNIE: Thanks. Then there’s transport, and the difference that refrigerated trucks have made. I wouldn’t mind having a go at that.

JACK: Don’t forget trains, too. I read something about milk and butter being transported in refrigerated railroad cars in the USA, right back in the 1840s.

ANNIE: I hadn’t thought of trains. Thanks.

JACK: Shall we have a separate section on domestic fridges? After all, they’re something everyone’s familiar with.

ANNIE: What about splitting it into two? You could investigate 19th- and 20th-century fridges, and I’ll concentrate on what’s available these days, and how manufacturers differentiate their products from those of their competitors.

JACK: OK, that’d suit me.