There is a chorus of drunks limply conducting a carol with almost any article of fire irons they can find.
For stoking fires stylishly, Larry Schaffer, who has a housewares store called OK, sells a range of fire irons designed by Conmoto, a German manufacturer.
For all its hypnotic charm, the fireplace tableau still raises the question: why not reshoot and update it - a new log, different fire irons, daintier flames?
Seemingly endless quantities of footstools, fire irons, fireplace screens, wall sconces, valances, picture frames, bell pulls and bric-a-brac are cheek by jowl.
So were the 19th-century fire irons and ornate wrought-iron fireplace seating unit, which had both rusted, and the billiard table, whose legs would take several months to dry out.
The rest of the house was stuffed with birdcages of his own design, brass chandeliers, wooden shutters, old doors, kitchen cabinets, vacuum cleaners, spiral staircases, curious iron grillwork boxes and fire irons, to name a few of his obsessions.
The walls of the office were panelled in cream-colored leather, and there was a cream-colored bar, a cream-colored fireplace with cream-colored fire irons, cream-colored leather chairs and couches, and a cream-colored grand piano.
But the metalworking and engineering skills acquired during that tough five-year apprenticeship are at the heart of what Tyas does now, 40 years later, as a designer and maker of fine ironwork, from hand-forged fire irons to wrought-iron curtain poles, chandeliers and lamps.
