The Boys came into the kitchen while we were doing breakfast, had a cuppa and some toast, and said that they were going to buy some new crockery, as ours were really getting desperately low, specially the cups.
I just loved the two, John being this Mohawk with his hair shaven close to his skull on the one side, and the other side was also shortish, but was all standing up like a brush, and that bit was a new colour every day. Brendan was just the opposite, manly and well dressed, with his hair cut short, and what I thought of as a typical gay man's style.They were getting married later in the season, and I thought how far I have come to be working so happily for a gay couple. Back home the Afrikaners like me were but a bitty conservative still, but this last years, with me having worked all over the world, had opened my eyes to other life styles.
While waiting for the guests to come down, Irene and self had to peel a huge pocket of potatoes every morning, and cut them into chips, as the Munro was known for it's hand cut chips. I didn't have to do that, as I had enough work of my own to get done, but Irene had twice as much work as me, as she had to cook and bake a lot of dishes for both the pub lounge and the diningroom, while I had the nice job of making special stuff for the conservatory only. It was only that I was ending my morning shift at twelve, and then on again at six, so my time was a wee bit limited.
The Boys came back with boxes of new stuff, and one of the waitresses, who was Brendan's niece came to wash and unpack the lot. It was nice not to be shouting for plates all the time any more, and the next night when I had to work alone, as Han was off, things went a lot more smoothly.
This young girl, Brendan's niece called Shauna, was a bit of a cowboy when it came to handling the crockery, and I was always worried to death when she took out more than two plates, as she would imitate the more experienced waitresses, and take four plates at once, these balanced precariously on her arms.I sighed deeply every time when she came back and all the plates got to the guests intact, but my poor nerves were taking a bad knock every time.
The crockery coming back was also a big worry to me, as she was a bitty overweight, and a bitty lazy to walk too much, so she would come back laden with crockery stacked so high that she could hardly see where she was going. I spoke to her the next morning when she came back with a lot of cups, and this cups were stacked four, four onto each other, with the saucers inbetween, and I could just imagine  that brandnew cups smashing to the floor, and my heart contracted painfully, making me sound a bit harsh when I told her to rather walk twice to be safe!
She just laughed, and assured me that she knew exactly what she was doing, and how to balance the stuff, so I could stop worrying. I was just finishing off the last of my prep, when on the small step leading up to the kitchen, there was one serious clatter, and a shrill yell, and then a sound like a sack of potatoes being slung down. I left everything and ran, and found Shauna on the floor, her face as white as the hundreds of pieces of what once was our new cups that was scattered all around her!
The boys were in the pub at that moment, and came running, and their faces showed astonishment and incredibility, and rage, and both of them went quite beserk, and their roars could be heard right through the hotel! I made good my escape, as I was finished with my prep!
I was off the next day, and just drove around, enjoying the wonderful places I always managed to find, and of course stopping and having a cuppa was just the best!