We were welcomed by half the Strathyre people, most of whom I thought only came to see what the two South Africans looked like, and within a short while my head was spinning from trying to remember names and faces going with the names, and the umpteen glasses of wine that was put in front of us did not help at all. I pushed most of this over to Anna, who simply loved her red, and although I also like it, but in much smaller doses, I just did not have the capacity to hold the amount that she could down.
In no time at all I was as drunk as a bally skunk, but if I was that drunk, I reasoned, how did Anna managed to be still upright? Luckily almost everybody was slurring a bit, and after all the guests have left and the thick curtains were drawn, the locals came into their own. Joe put some music on, and it wasn't long before both Anna and self were 'gliding?' across the floor and between the chairs, both in the arms of two of the men, names long forgotten because of our intoxication! But it was fun, as everybody joined in, and it was four in the morning when we were shown to our room. We fell into our beds without even brushing our teeth, and I woke up with a mouth that tasted like a bally dog had made a poo in it, and a head that felt as if it was cracked wide open.
I had a quick shower before waking Anna, as she would monopolize the bathroom for hours to repair the damage of the previous night! After I had given my teeth a second good and long brush, I felt ready to get on with life again, if only my head would stop aching!
Had one heck of a job getting Anna up, this lady lying with mouth wide open, snoring fit to wake the dead! As we had to meet Liz, the lady doing the rooms and bar at ten so she could show us our duties, it was imperative for Anna to wake up and get dressed. I knew that she must be feeling terrible, and felt a little bit responsible for giving her most of my wine, but darn it, if I knew when to stop because we had to work in the morning, well, so could she! I used to do a lot of breakfasts on my own in Windsor after Anna had been out, or finished a bottle of red on her own, but now we had bosses that we had to please, and could not afford to be absent on our first day!
Gosh but she looked a fright! Her make-up were smeared, her eyes were bloodshot, and her hair was curling wildly around her face. She tried to get out of working, but I convinced her that if she stayed away, it would be the end of our stay in Strathyre, so she got up, moaning and groaning and clutching her head, but she at least went for a shower. By ten she looked almost presentable, her hair having been tamed with her electric curlers, and her make-up put on nice and thick, and moaning about our sore heads, we slowly went downstairs, scared to go to fast in case our headaches, which we calmed with a handfull of panado's flared up again! Liz, a gray-haired lady a bit older than us was waiting, and took us directly to the diningroom, where breakfast had just finished. We had to clear up the tables and then reset all, then we had to wash up the dishes and stuff, vacuum everything, kitchen included, clean up the mess in the kitchen, then go up to the rooms to clean them!I opted to do the washing up, thinking of Anna's false nails, while she did the vacuuming, but she looked terrible, and every time she started shoving the huge thing across the floor, a fit of nausea would make her retch, going as pale as a sheet! It was hell! I quickly finished the dishes and went to help her, but I was not doing much better, me of course not used to the amount of drink I swallowed the night before.
At last we were ready to go up to the rooms, where, after Liz showed us how she wanted things done, I did most of the work, my poor friend just was not capable! She sat on the chairs in the rooms pulling off the pillowcases while I stripped the beds, whereafter she put clean cases on, and I made the beds. I felt like having been to hell and back when at last we finished, and we made a bee-hive for our beds, as we had to be in the kitchen at six for the evening shift! I think we snored so loudly as to be heard for miles around!