We slept the whole afternoon, and I felt a little better when my alarm went off, but groaned when it struck me that we now had to go down and do some more work. Anna was not letting up on her coiffure and make-up, and looked like the Queen herself when at last she pronounced herself ready for her shift! As we came down the wide stairs, people who could see us were captivated by Anna, who, head held high and back as stiff as a ramrod, sort of drifted slowly and leisurely downwards! I could actually hear the intake of breaths, and knew it was not for me, as Anna was magnificent!
What she expected our duties would be I do not know, but as she was used to be her own hostess in her restaurant that went bankrupt, I suppose she thought she would be the hostess here as well.
My heart actually broke for her when we were shown to the kitchen by Emma, who told us that we were responsible for the washing-up and the puds. The consternation, disgust, incredulity, and amazement that showed in that face is something that would stay with me for ever, and when I thought of the care she took to look her best, I cried silently. However, I was amazed that, after we had to do the rooms, she could believe that we would be doing the owner's jobs!
Emma, who were one of the barmaids, showed us how to do the puds, and stressed that the microwave in the office was only used to heat the hot puds, and no-one else ever touched it!
The dishwasher that towered over everything was ancient, and as neither Liz that morning, neither Emma that night said anything about using it, we deduced that we had to wash everything by hand. It was one almost impossible job, as the mountains of stuff that came back kept us busy full time, and inbetween this we had to do the puds also. They had on the menu that night, the hotel's own 'Ill Padroni' a concoction of first some chocolate sauce, thick and creamy,  then a warmed browny, then some more chocolate sauce, then vanilla ice cream, and then it was decorated with little squirts of cream from an aerosol tin,  also a very sweet butterscotch, fresh strawberries and cream, and the rest I can't remember!
Poor Anna, who looked so good coming down was looking, after only half an hour, like somebody you frighten the kiddies with, as her hair, so beautifully done earlier, gave up trying to look highly coiffed, and was curling wildly around her face. Her face was a mess, as the heat in the kitchen had melted the base, and that, pulling the rouge with, was running down her cheeks!
There was no time to try and fix it, as Alex, the chef, and a man without any patience, kept on screaming for plates, and we were like two tin soldiers that were winded up too stiffly, me running around trying my best to make the puds at least look edible. As usual I had to take responsibility, and Anna flatly refused to do the puds on that first night.
Anna was in dispair when we finished, we actually had to wash the bally kitchen floor as well while the chef watched us with a huge smile. She of course immediately saw him as a possible conquest, and, not knowing that she actually looked like a bally scarecrow, started cajoling and making up to him in her making up voice and her sexy body language. I could see that he was not impressed, but to tell Anna that was to ask for the wrath of hell to come down upon me! But a few minutes after entering our room there was such a cry of dispair that I jumped a metre high, too find out after calming down a bit, that two of Anna's acrylic nails were lost!
I had a letter from Trienkie, stating that she was enjoying England so much, she feels like applying to stay longer, but I was now beginning, after many years of bringing up kids, to be my own person again, even if I had to wash dishes, and vowed that I will try not to be intmidated by thar empty house anymore!