Then we got Katka! Richard, a young student from one of the Eastern block countries and who had worked at the hotel before, phoned to ask whether he could please come back, and bring his girlfriend!
He was very welcome, as when Russel walked out one night, and John not wanting to work every night, it was hard going, with the little cowboy of course nicely sozzled by nine, and unable to deliver the food safely to the diners. I knew Richard, and he was a nice chap, always friendly and talkative, so although I was going to miss Russel and his dry humor, Richard was a good replacement.
One night Russel and self was on, and all was going so well, but of course I saw Lorna's head passing by the kitchen window a few times, neck stretched and watery blue eyes pulled into slits to try and unobstrusively see what we were doing in the kitchen and pub. Russel had just left the kitchen with an armful of plated food, when Lorna burst into kitchen, shouting at the top of her voice: Russel! and then even louder: Russel! As he was busy serving the food, he did not answer immediately, and she then went bally beserk, and went of like a siren, accusing the hapless Russel of smoking yet again outside when the pub was full of people waiting to be served! As the door to the pub lead out of the kitchen, of course every word Lorna screamed out could be heard by the diners and drinkers!
She then stormed outside to have a good go at Russel who of course was busy in the pub, and found the little cowboy, who had had quite a few sessions in the store room with the whiskey bottle,smoking in relative peace, and that pushed her over the edge, and she came back in, her face all twisted with fury! I tried to tell her that Russel was busy delivering food, but she had worked herself up into such a rage that she never heard a thing I said. When Russel came back with some plates, he was not looking his own placid self, and when she turned on him and told him that he was as slow as bloody sewerage water, this good, solid man, whom all the customers loved for his quirky wit, put down the plates, went up to Lorna and told her placidly that he would not be talked to like that, and he was leaving!
I could see that she was put out for a minute, and then she wanted to take his arm to talk things over, knowing full well that Russel was the best barman she would ever have, but after weeks of abuse, Russel was not to be stopped, and walked out calmly, and a few minutes later I heard his car pulled away.
As the little cowboy was by now not in any state to work in the  pub, the old battle ax had to take over, and as Mary was waiting in the pub for her so they could indulge in their nightly ritual of finishing a bottle of white wine, she was not happy at all, as it was still quite early, and there was still a lot of orders to go out.
That was why she was elated when Richard phoned to come back, and as we now didn't have a kitchen porter, she reckoned that the girlfriend could come in very handy.
What she didn't know was that the girlfriend was newly acquired, and when the two of them arrived shortly after Russel had left, we were all a bitty thrown, as this girl was one sexy kitten, wanting to sit at the pub counter at night, not very interested to work, but very interested to talk to the men! I could see that the poor Richard was very put out, and he had a serious talk with her after Lorna told him that if his girlfriend did not want to work, she would have to leave. All this was stressful and some nights after work I walked to Loch Voile, where I always got my equilibrium back.