Liz and self were asked to a party at the Ben Shaen, one of the other hotels, where one of the band members of the live band kept on trying to catch my eye. At first I looked around every time this youngish man looked my way, thinking that he was actually trying to catch the eye of one of the lassies that were full of life and laughter, but every time he nodded his head and smiled at me, and I slowly realized that he was actually trying to get my attention.

There was a lot of my friends dancing and generally enjoying themselves, and I danced with a lot of people, but as usual I loved doing the Scottish dances most, as it is such fun! My young beau came up to talk to me, but I was with a group of people, and he couldn't say much, but kind of got a message over to me to meet him after they finish at one. But I had no intention of a tete a tete with another younger guy who was obviously quite drunk, so just before one, I told Liz that I was leaving, and she decided to come with me and have a last drink at our pub.
We were halfway up the road, when suddenly a voice filled the night air, yelling plaintively for his Sweetpea. We had a good laugh, thinking that it was one of the village lads who had lost his girlfriend, but the heartrendering pleas followed us into the hotel, where we told Joe and the others that one of the youngsters lost his young love!
I went up to bed as I had to work the following day, and the next day I was the bally joke of the village, as this lad had followed us, and came into the hotel demanding that they get his Sweatpea, and when he spotted Liz, he got quite worked up, and accused her of hiding his Sweatpea, and only then did she realise that it was me he was looking for! Apparently there were a lot of saucy jokes bandied around, and I was teased mercilessly the next day.
But if that was all I could have lived with it, but it wasn't! The next evening as I came down for my shift, and stopped to get my pinny that hung on a hook at the door coming from the stairs, and this door was right in the sight of people sitting at the end of the barcounter, I was stunned into freezing into a bally salt pillar statue when suddenly the same voice of the night before cleft the air with a delighted: 'Sweatpea!' I stood for a good two minutes listening to this guy's happy utterings on finding his Sweatpea, then rushed to get out of his sight, and peeped cautiously around the door to see if it was indeed the man from that live band, and it was!
That shift was hell, as the pizza oven was in full sight of the pub, and every time I went to put a pizza in, this guy started begging for Sweatpea to come and talk to him! By this time the whole bally place was in stitches, and the waiters were calling me chef Sweatpea, and I was in a state of devilish shock and horror!
Then Chris and Gary came to tell me that the guy said he had to leave, but could I please just come and give him one wee kiss before they left. I of course said no, but then this guy, who had indulged quite heavily again, swore not to leave before he had a goodbye kiss, and Joe came to beg me to go and give the man a kiss so he could leave. At first I refused, but as the lad's plaintive cries for his Sweatpea just got louder and louder, I had to make a sacrifice for the peace of the customers, so I went, and under loud clapping and cheering, I gave him a quick peck! I walked back to the kitchen wondering how on earth I was ever to live this episode down, as the people here had a strange sense of humor and loved to take the mickey out of one!