We had been paid our first wages, which I thought a shame, as it was quite a small wage for the amount of work we did. But of course, they thought, after Anna's pleading, that we were extremely hard-up, and on top of that we were South Africans, who were so poor that we would work for anything! But I had another well paid job to go to, so I decided to see a bit of Scotland first, and if I didn't like it, would go to Chipping, where I even had a car thrown in! The only trouble there is that it being the staff car, to be used for shopping, taking Benny out, or the dogs to the vet or doggy parlour, I couldn't stay over somewhere for the night.
Anyway, with our weekly wage burning in our pockets, we decided to have a good meal at a restaurant, and after first walking around to find the pub where we would spend the evening, we decided on a bistro right across the pub on a little road leading up to the Royal mile! We were ravenous, as we missed lunch, too much in a hurry to make ourselves something. The menu was not big, but being a bistro concentrating on fish, they used the catch of the day, and only the freshest veggies as the pretty young waitress informed us on coming through the door.
We gasped a bit like two fish out of the water on seeing the prices, but decided that it was worth it just to sit down to a lovely meal, and that meal being served to you!  We did not go for starters, so I ordered  crabcakes, and Anna some or other buttered fish, and, our tummies now gurgling like Vesuvious wanting to errupt, we sat waiting impatiently. When the food came, we looked at each other, Anna's black kohl lined eyes full of disgust, as on her plate was this tiniest of little fish, smothered in a kind of butterry sauce, and on my plate was two very small round balls, each on its own rocket leave, and a blob of orange marmelade on each side. So we sipped our wine slowly, waiting for the salads, breads, or whatever would be served with this dish that could be eaten in about four mouthfulls, and after waiting for ages we called the waitress to tell her that she had forgotten the rest of our meal. She told us, blushing a little, that if we wanted other stuff, we had to pay for it!
We were shattered, as this two tiny meals would cost about half of our weekly wage, and with faces drooping sadly, we started on the meal. I tried to locate just a pinhead of crab in my potato balls, but did not find any, and poor Anna needed only about a minute to finish her tiny fish!
And to top it all, the waitress, smiling angelically, asked us if we enjoyed our meal, and we gave her a piece of our minds and I asked her to tell the bally owner that I was still licking my teeth in case the only bit of crab got stuck between two of them, and maybe that is why I never found any in that tattie balls!!
We both had a steakpie, veggies an chips for a quarter of that excuse for a meal, at the pub where we intended to spend the rest of our precious evening-out. Afterwards we of course realised that as we were so close to the Royal mile, people catered mostly for unaware tourists with lots of money!
The live music was good, with the two guys, one on a guitar and another one on an accordian, very good, and the atmosphere lively ! It was a real touristy pub, and the two musicians were clad in kilts, and looked smart with their shiny black shoes and white socks, and each had a beautiful sporran to finish the look. The only fly in the ointment was the guitarist, a not so young wanna-be mohawk, looking strange in the kilt with all the hair on the sides of his head shorn of, and the bit left on the top running from front to bottom like a green coloured fan!
Anna was in seventh heaven, and when the guys stopped for a rest, she ambled up to them and started asking a lot of questions about their careers as musicians. She was genuinely interested, as she loved music, and my daughter Irma, who writes and tone-sets her own music, sang regularly in her restaurant. The accordian player was a bit of a show-off and enjoyed Anna's attention immensely, but the other one looked a bitty bored, and he looked so strange and out of place that I couldn't keep my eyes off him.
The owner of the B+B  had found out that there were busses running at two in the morning on different routes  for late revellers, so we could at least stay till Anna had enough enjoyment for the night. Not that I did not enjoy myself too!
The music stopped at twelve, and the two musicians joined us. The Mohawk was actually a very interesting guy, who had travelled the world playing his guitar, and we chatted away nicely, while Anna was casting her spell over the accordian player, who looked a bitty bemused by all this attention. When I told Anna that it was almost time to go, she threw me such a look of loathing that I blushed, and told me roundly that, old priz that I was, I could leave if I wanted to, but she was staying put. I tried to explain, I pleaded, I got cross, but Anna was in no mood to loose the fish she had caught, told the whole pub that she called me old Mother Superior because of my being such a wet stocking!
I was not going to miss that bus, as I had no wish to go home with the Mohawk, his four front teeth looking a bitty rotten to me, so I took my things, told a very angrily flushed Anna that I was going, and set out for the bus stop that was just around the corner. What happened at the pub I would never know, Anna as silent as the grave about it, but I wasn't at the bus stop long before I saw Anna come hurtling down the very steep road, swaying funnily every time she put a foot forward. She was quite intoxicated, and so was I, but not half as bad a my friend!