Paddington Bear Shaped Tin With Shortbread Biscuits - 100g

Shortbread is the biscuit Britain keeps for best. Plain, crumbly, the one that comes out when somebody important is due round. Put it in a tin shaped like a London institution and you have the sort of thing every gift shop near a British railway station has sold for years.

In Canada, people look for this one for a few reasons. You remember Paddington from your own childhood. A small person in your house has just discovered the films and asks about him daily. Or a godchild needs a present that is a bit of London without anyone getting on a plane.

It is a small tin with 100g of shortbread inside, so think a handful of biscuits rather than a party. Keep the lid on and it sits happily in the cupboard. Once the biscuits are gone, the tin starts its real career: buttons, pencils, hair clips, the spare key nobody can ever find.

Most people add a jar of marmalade and a box of proper tea. Paddington would insist on the marmalade, and it seems rude to argue with him.