It was going well between Alex and me in the kitchen, and after Joe had told me a few times that I put too much of everything on the pizzas, and me rectifying that little problem, I became the Strathyre pizza queen! Alex also taught me more and more, and even let me do some meals, under his watchful eye of course, and I really enjoyed working in the kitchen. One drawback of course was that both Anna and self was very tired, as we had a lot of work on our shoulders.

But I didn't mind, as I have now made lots of friends, and also had a wee flirtation with a younger man. This guy was from the beginning watching me intently whenever I went into the pub, and when I caught his eye, he would look into mine and I would feel this delicious fluttering in my stomach. But further than that it didn't go for some time, as he had a girlfriend living in London, and I am not the type to have a man cheat on his woman with me, but I would lie if I say that I did not enjoy the flirtation!
One afternoon after work Anna asked me to dye her hair for her, as she just couldn't manage, so far having been able to pay a hairdresser to do it. She had a LOT of hair, and although two years my junior, was completely grey, while I, with my mum's wonderful genes, did not have even one grey hair yet.  So, under Anna's instructions I started on the difficult job of first doing the hairline, then the roots, and I felt quite chuffed with the old self when after a long struggle, all the roots were done. Anna then of course had to sit for a while for the roots to take up the colour, after which I had to put the rest of the dye on, and then comb it through. I was bally exhausted, as her tightly curled hair was about five times the amount of other people's!
It was a great success, and I think Anna exhaled for the first time since starting, when she got out of the shower, and saw that her hair looked stunning. That night Anna was extra vivacious, as she took a lot of pains over her make-up, of course hoping that Gordon would be in the pub!
Alex had an almost volcanic outburst every time Anna went into the diningroom with some puds, and I just couldn't understand why, so I asked him, and he told me to look through the round glass window in the door leading to the diningroom the next time Anna went in there. As he stands directly across from this window, he of course could see most of what was going on in there! So when Anna came through with the next puds, which she actually were supposed to hand over to Angie, the waitress, at the door, I nearly burst from amazement and laughter, as she had a complete transformation the minute she walked through that door, and like the Queen herself, inclined her head gracefully at each table while  giving  her widest and toothiest smile! Oh, she was magnificent, and I felt like clapping my hands in enjoyment and in recognition of the fact that she could make her quite menial job into something special!
The next morning I almost expired! As it was very hot in the kitchen, we had the fan on, and this fan was directly over the door leading to the diningroom, and as Anna walked under it, her hair was lifted, and to my horror I saw that I had missed a quite big spot on the crown of her head when dyeing her hair! I hyperventilated! Badly! At first I decided not to tell her, but every time she walked under the fan, and I was confronted with the white spot, my nerves unravvled  a bit more, and my guilt grew to a huge bally mountainous affair! So I told her, as gently as I could, knowing that she would have to walk around like that until we could get to Callender for another batch of dye. Gosh, she was furious, and screamed at me that I am an old bitch, who did it on purpose, and when she suddenly started brandishing the utensils around, her black eyes fixed on my face, I thought it prudent to
flee to the pub, where I sat as quiet as a mouse until she had cooled down. This of course cost me to pay for the new dye! It was a lovely day, but I could not go up my mountain for my lunch, as I had to drive Anna to Callender to buy the bally dye. She had now started to drive a bit, and I could see that she was building up more confidence the more she undertook short drives. I could easily see why she just had to have a man at her side, as she was quite dependent.