Crail

As Rosanne was less and less in the kitchen, and Alex couldn't work the whole day, a lot of the baking was left to me, and Joe got in some of the village women to do the rooms, But one or two of them was really not neat! Clean is one thing, and they did clean everything well, but when it came to making the beds and putting out the towels and stuff, I couldn't believe my eyes when I first took some tourists up to their room. The bally room looked as if a tornado went through it, the duvets all skew, pillows thrown down helter skelter, and it looked as if the woman had stood in the door and just chucked the towels from a distance onto the beds. I was horrified, and wondered what Lizzie would say it she could see it.
So I went through all the rooms on my way up after I did the baking, and pulled everything together, although I was quite tired by then, having done breakfast, cleaned the diningroom, and did the baking.
Then one day Joe said to me that I would have to do the kitchen on my own some of the nights that Alex was off, and I went into a fair bit of hyperventilating, as what on earth did I know of doing the kitchen on my own! But he reckoned that I had enough experience, and it was true, as Alex did let me do a lot of the meals when it was quiet.
The first night I was asked to do the kitchen, was actually on my day-off, but I had to be in the kitchen at six,  and Alex promised me that all would be ready for me, as he was working the morning and over lunch time, and when Liz said that she would take me to a little fishing village called Crail, I readily agreed, as I wanted to see as much of Scotland as possible.
Seeing that I had to be back at six, we decided to leave at about eight, but when I got to Lizzies's place, there was nothing stirring, and I had to knock my fingers black and blue before a very dishevveled and disgruntled lady opened the door, and told me not to harass her while she's sleeping! I asked what about the trip to Crail, and she then perked up a bit, and told me to come in while she got dressed.
Her dressing went like this: she first sat at the table, head more or less hanging like a limp ball that lost its air on her neck, taking long pulls on her cigarette, chest heaving painfully with a light astma attack, then she made us a coffee, and again she had a cigarette, sipping cautiously on the coffee, and then she disappeared to have shower. I sat twiddling my thumbs for over an hour, when she came out again, this time at least she was dressed, but her hair stood in all directions, and she then proceeded to make another coffee, and I was ANGRY! Then she limply sat down again, lit another cigarette, smoked it finished, then informed me that she just had to dry her hair, and then she was ready to go. By then it was past ten, and I wasn't so sure of the trip, as it was quite far, actually quite close to St, Andrews, and from what I could remember, a very busy and confusing road. But Lizzie assured me that she would have me back in time for my evening shift. Of course I didn't know her well enough to question that, and when at last we took to the road at about ten thirty, I was worried, but did believe her when she again assured me that I would be back in plenty of time. It was indeed a busy road, with a lot of roadworks, and it took for ages to get to our destination, where we walked around the lovely little village with its pretty harbour, visited a pottery studio, and we would have been fine if we went straight back from there, I believe. But no, said Lizzie, we had to have fish and chips in the next little village, as you can not go to Crail and not have fish and chips at Scotland's number one fish shop! So on we drove to this village, stood in the queue for ages, and then, instead of just eating quickly and set of for home, she wanted to have her dinner on the beach, telling me to stop my bloody whining and enjoy the moment. I did Not!
On the way back we got hopelessly lost and were miles away on the wrong road before we realized it, and by then I was hysterical, and ready to murder her, and  phoned the hotel to say that I would be a bit late, but nobody answered the phone. By now I was a total wreck, as it was already past seven, and we were still miles away. I again phoned the hotel, and this time Gary, a young barman answered, and I explained the situation to him, and he promised to make a plan, as there was bu now quite a few people waiting. When at last got back to the hotel there was only the barman, and he told me that Joe was also out for the night, but he had called a young boy who sometimes worked as kitchen porter, and he was doing burgers, that being all he was able to do, but a number of people were waiting to order a meal!
I was quite furious with Liz, and took an oath never to go out with her again if I had to work the night, but I had a lot more narrow escapes with her and her timing!