I had no time to rest, as there was such a lot of prep to do, but I managed to sit down for half an hour while having my lunch. By six however I was pooped, and wondered how I was going to manage untill the kitchen closed, and if the work was not enough, Sam was quite cross when he came back at six, as he desperately wanted to share in the fun.
Tony had gotten two young girls in hula skirts to help me, but they were so bent on showing off that I saw very little of them, and had to send Sam continiously to find them. Of course this was just the dandy with Sam, as he got lost on the 'beach' every time, and then I had to leave all and go looking for both Sam and the girls. The only light in this madhouse of a kitchen was young Gary, who was called by his mother after I promised him double pay to work for two hours. Actually it was not allowed, as he had already done a shift during the morning, and the kids were allowed to work only four hours per day.
This kid was a marvel, and quite the opposite of his twin sister, to my thinking the laziest girl on two legs. Laura, the twin was about twice as tall as Gary, big boned like her mother, and quite coarse, while Gary was smallboned, and very well spoken, and could work like a horse! I always marvelled when I watched him wash the huge pots that were so large that he was quite dwarfed by them, but he was always happy and eager to please. The only drawback of course was that he was so small, and couldn't always reach things that I needed him to fetch, and when it was very busy I had to run and fetch it myself, which took up valuable time!
The beach party was a huge success, and became quite raucus as time went by, and it wasn't long before everything in the kitchen was also covered in sand. The plates and other stuff coming back from the party was covered in sand, and the poor dishwasher was making strange screeching noises, presumably from sand in its workings! It wasn't long before two plates of food from the restaurant, which was also open for bussiness, were sent back with complaints that there was sand in the food. How it happened I did not know, but, as the same waitresses doing the party was also serving the restaurant, I had a suspicion that they were shedding sand all over the plates when taking it in. I sent Sam to call Tony when a second lot came back, and asked him to let one of the girls get herself sand-free, and then only serve the restaurant, and after a bit of niggling, he gave in, and from then on trhere was no more sandy food coming back.
I finished just after twelve, and as the party was still swinging, I joined in the fun for a short while, but could just as well have stayed up all night, as the pub lounge was just underneath my room, and the music and laughter was so loud that my bed was hopping around on the floor! Well, almost! The noises lasted well into the early hours of the morning, and when the clock struck six, I had not slept at all, but had to get up to do breakfast! And to make it worse, I had to look happy and gay!!

As if I did not have enough to do, Tony and Theresa had decided to spruce up life in the village, and our hotel was going to have a beach party! A beach party? I was wondering how they wanted to accomplish such a thing in the hotel, but was soon enlightened about the extent to which they would go to make this a success!
I must say this of Tony, he wasn't up to snuff about running a hotel, and the rules regarding his contact and dealings with the guests, but he was full of ideas, all of them not always the most practical, but at least he tried!
So, on the Friday morning, with my lip already hanging to the floor, and my voice hoarse from trying to get the young Sam to get on with his job, I watched with wonder a big lorry, loaded to full capacity with sand, pulled into the parking lot! This was the sign for Sam to take off his pinny, in order to go and find out what was in the wind, him not knowing about the proposed party!
I tried in vain to call him back, but he kept himself quite deaf, and I was going into a bally fit of hysteria, as I was instructed to make a lot of beachy dishes, or rather, dishes usually served at seaside cafe's. That made for a lot of extra work, as the reastaurant was still to operate, and as week-ends a lot of people came out to dine more formally, I just could not neglect that part of my prep!
Within minutes it seemed that the whole town had come to inspect what was going on, as the lorry had now parked in front of the pub door, and dumped the whole heap of sand on the doorsteps! Tony, Theresa, Willie Dowel, and the be-painted, or rather be-tattoo-ed Frazer, looking like a colourful reptile without his shirt, frantically carrying buckets full of sand into the pub lounge! Bally madness! But soon there were quite a few helpers, who after their amazement had subsided, helped to cover the pub lounge's floor in a thick layer of sand!
I must say, when I later went to have a look, I was quite pleasantly surprised, as the lounge was transformed into a very credible beach, with umbrellas everywhere, and a few loungers, and colourful towels, and so forth!

I told Tony that it was no good, the young Sam only coming back at six, as I was in need of help with the prepping for dinner. I couldn't see why he could not come an hour earlier, and then leave an hour earlier, but Tony said that this was decided with his parents, as they did not want him to finish too late! I thought that it was one of the government's decisions, and that I had to abide but that, but in fact, they had to work only a certain amount of hours, but it wasn't specified when this had to be worked.
Dinner was a nightmare, and within an hour I was so fed up with the youngster that I could stick him in the frying pan and fry him till he got some life into his body. As he was so slow on the potatoes earlier, we did not have enough chips, with the result that I had spent precious time peeling potatoes when I had so much to do, so I instructed him to stop looking out of the door and cut the chips! I was given one nasty look from half closed eyes, but he started on the chips, doing it as slowly as he possibly could! Within an hour I was so tired of keeping Sam on the go, that I was ready to run away!
He was no better than the kids I had over week-ends, and I was forever asking for plates, and utensils, and pans, all this stacked up miles high on every available space! I saw him looking out of the door continiously, and giving hand signs and pulling faces, and decided to take a minute to see what was going on outside. Sure enough, behind the rows of cars a couple of heads peeped out, and they were also doing the handsign thing, and I realized that they were waiting for Sam to finish!
Of course. ten o'clock sharp, Sam took off his pinny, and I saw with amazement how the half dead youngster came back to life, and he bid me a good evening for the rest of my shift, then legged it out of the door and on to where his mates were waiting! They laughed and made one heck of a racket, before shouting: nighty-night Christine', and blew kisses at me when they saw me looking out of the window, before they assembled in a group, and set off to who knows what devilment!
Sam had done very little, and the piles of stuff to be cleaned and washed was enough to knock every bit of energy I still had out of me! This was not working, as my nerves were at breaking point with the continious begging for clean stuff, and Sam was not at all trying to be helpful by establishing where everything lived, so that I could send him around fetching stuff for me. And the hours he worked was just not suitable. as over week-ends we were busy till late, with me sometimes cleaning the kitchen at around twelve.

When I came back from my days off, I was informed by Tony that I was getting a young guy called Sam as an apprentice, and that he was starting work at ten that morning. I was so excited about this, and asked Tony why the lad couldn't start at seven with me, or at eight, and help with the breakfast!
The workings of this new plan by the government was then explained to me in fine detail! Youngsters who had no jobs would be employed by a hotel, or garage, or shop, where they were to be taught the ropes, and the government would pay the youngsters, and not the employer! And, he explained, they were only to start at ten, work until one, and then start again at six for the dinner shift. That was a brilliant idea, and I was really thrilled, until at about ten minutes passed his due time, my apprentice kind of ambled in, and I saw with a sinking heart that my guy was non else than young Sam, grandson of the owners of the Immervioulin caravan park, and son of Janet, a lively single mother!
My heart was sinking, because just a few days previously, Janet had told us that they just could not handle young Sam, as he was supposed to help in the park, but kept on disappearing, and only coming back when all the ablution blocks were cleaned by Emma, the younger sister of Janet, and the most hardworking girl I have ever met, and all the other jobs allocated to him was finished!
I tried to hide my feelings, and told him gently that what I wanted him to do first, was peeling the potatoes, and cut the chips, sighing with relieve that I would not have to do that on top of all the other chores! He rolled an incredulous eye at me, tried to outstare me, looked with utter disgust at the two big pockets of potatoes, the stuck out a thin finger, and asked with a voice like ice; 'You want me to peel all that?' I knew that if I did not get on top of this now, I will have a lot of trouble in the near future, so I gave him a stern eye, and said that yes, indeed he had to, or would he like to do the baking? I had to do some scones urgently, as they had run out while I was away, and also the lasagnes and steak pies were finished, and at this Sam capitulated, and after moaning and groaning for about ten minutes, after I told him to get on with it, he started the peeling!
All the excitement I felt when I heard about my apprentice had now evaporated, leaving me with a heart as heavy as a huge piece of lead, and I felt really sorry for myself! Tony was of no help, as he was great pals with David, Sam's granddad, and would not for anything on earth do anything to upset him, the family being our greatest supporter of take-aways! It took ages for the youngster to peel the potatoes, and after I had done the cooking and baking, he had done only three quarters of the first one. As it was now after twelve, with the lunch session almost upon us, I had to start cutting the chips, as I would need it for lunch!
he kind of kept going until one, when he downed the peeler, and disappeared like a bally daylight ghost! He was of very little help, and I had spent again a lot of time talking and trying to cajole him into working faster! I wanted to cry!!!