It was one of my most stressful mornings ever in a kitchen, and by lunchtime I was more tired out from trying to get the two girls to actually do something than from the work itself. As in Scotland children older that twelve are allowed to help out, they are not to use knifes, or work for longer than three hours, I still had a lot of prep to do.

As this things work, I was not prepared for big groups yet, a lot of time lost on talking to the girls, and of course Ewan with his small bus would turn up, and my tummy just did a few summersaults. The fact that the kids were not to use knifes meant that they also could not do the salads for me, and as Ewan had  thirteen people that day, plus himself, I hyperventilated! Badly! I just could not see myself doing them, plus all the other orders coming in. But Ewan is one swell guy, and when he saw my distress, he rolled up his sleeves, and did the salads for me, which was an enormous help!

And of course all the cars en route to the Oban ferry had to stop, and poor me was like one scowling old zombie, doing everything automatically, sweat running down my face, and my heart jumping around somewhere in my throat! When inbetween this Tony came in with an order for six scones, which meant that I would have to beat some more cream, which took for ages, I just exploded, and told him to do it himself, or get Theresa down! When I earlier asked the girls to do some cream, first the one, then the other had to go to the toilet urgently, and me having been so stressed out, never had time to do it up to this point!

I never got to my room for a rest until four, and as it was Saturday, I had to be back at five to do the prep for the evening. For that whole hour I just lay on my bed, thinking of my tranquil homestead back home, wondering about my own sanity in coming back year after year for more of this kind of punishment! But I so love Scotland, the glens, the lochs, and the beautiful mountains with the streams of icy water running down them, that I knew I would come back for as long as I could!

I went back to a chaotic kitchen, as a few more cars stopped for some refreshment, and as Tommy only came during my days off, Tony or Theresa had to do the kitchen while I had a rest. As between three and five it was usually quiet, the public getting ready for the evening onslaught, they could easily do the few scones or toasties that was the usual thing for that time.

 But the kitchen was in disorder, and I could see that I would have to do a lot more chips, Tony informing me that the public had gone mad, and everybody who came in ordered chips and cheese! Also the grated cheese container stood empty, and I use it a lot for lasanges and stuff, so over and above my usual prep, I had to replenish a lot of stuff.