Hanna, Irene and Peggy.

Friday nights are local nights, as every hotel's followers came for their meal at the hotel of their choice, then stay for the night, reveling until the early hours of the morning, when some of them had to be taken home, as they would be quite high in their cups, and the new policeman always on the look-out for offenders! What I can't understand is the Scots way of doing the same things on the same days, with the same crowd, week after week.
The only ones that were not so predictable was Hanna, her sister in law Irene, and Peggy, an eighty six year old lady with the soul of a youngster, growing flowers for the Strathyre farmers day competion, also baking, and she makes the most delicious sweets, all for this day, when the designated judges would decide who's entry was the best in their catagory. I thought her wonderful, as she had the zaniest sense of humor.
Hanna was a quite big woman, also with a young soul, and a very flirty way about her, and although on her way to her seventies, she could still charm many a man into being her slave if she so wished. Irene on the other hand was a bit of a sour puss, and not very open to the nonsense Hanna got up to, but after a couple of glasses of the red voggies, she changed completely, and became a woman of flirty smiles and a much happier disposition.
Hanna and Peggy lived in the same complex, but Irene stayed in Cumbernauld if I remember correctly, and would come for a visit to Hanna about once a month. So, once a month Hanna and Peggy would dress up very smartly, and put on their lippy, while Irene would just dress in any old thing, and the three would then waddle over to the Inn for a night of fun!
As the night wore on, this three would get more and more sozzled, sometimes Irene would forget about her hard life, and her nasty husband who left her alone and died, and one night she got so happy that she gave the people in the pub a good rendition of an Abba song. As nobody by that time was thinking straight anymore, they enjoyed this a lot, and asked her for another and another, until she just collapsed at the table, and started lamenting about her lonely life!
Usually Joe would put on some nice romantic music, and the three would have a few harsh words amongst each other, fighting for the first dance with Joe, who loved them all, and was only too ready to comply! They would put their heads on Joe's shoulder, and it could be seen that it was just pure bliss to all three of them, who was by this time not too friendly towards each other anymore!
One night I went into the pub after work, and this three was in, enjoying themselves hugely by flirting outrageously with an older man, who was a guest at the hotel. Of course Hanna, who had real sex appeal, and a way of smiling at the men that made them like putty in her hands, was in the forefront, sitting very close to this man, while Peggy, actually a real lady, was not so forward, sitting sipping her wine slowly while eyeing Hanna from beneath hooded eyes, but it was Irene that caught my attention, as I could see that she was heavily drunk, and even more heavily upset, watching Hanna's overtures towards this man with eyes that spelled trouble.
They had invited me to come and join them, but after surveying this scene for a while, I sat down at the counter with John Dayton, who rented a flat in the hotel, and together we enjoyed the antics of this three ladies.
Suddenly Hanna and the man got up, I think to dance, as Joe had put his favorite 'That's Amorè' on, and Irene took umbrage to this, stood up on her wobbly legs, and told Hanna in a thin and loud voice that she was the bally towns bicycle. Oh goodness! Hanna was furious, and being anything but sober, in quite a fighting mode, and having had to endure Irene's bad behaviour about this man taking too much notice of her all night, she gave an angry yell, and went for Irene with intent to hurt.
Joe and John rushed in to separate the two, while I saw the cause of their misbehaviour quickly disappear through the doors leading outside. I don't think he anticipated that his night would turn into such a farce where two elderly ladies wanted to kill each other for his favours! Joe and John talked the three into going home, and as the only one of them that could really stay upright on her own was Peggy, Joe took Hanna, and John took Irene, and the two, maybe hoping for some more fun, went happily away.
The next day Hanna and Irene could be seen strolling around, their troubles of the previous night apparently forgotten, the best of friends again.
The photo is of Hanna in her lovely garden.