The Great Storm

Howard at Glen Trool, Galloway Forest

Having spent many years fixing cookers it was a great achievement for Howard to step up to the front of the appliance and actually use it for a living instead!!

We divide the work as best we can with Howard cooking breakfasts and myself the evening meals.  I have to say that he does a mean cooked breakfast as countless guests have testified to.

There have also been a couple of occasions where I’ve been unavailable to do the evening meals so Howard has been called upon to deputise and has coped admirably.

The story begins one windy afternoon.  I’m working away from home, we have three couples booked in, one of which has booked an evening meal.

No problems so far.  Beloved begins preparing the evening meal and, as is always the case, the next set of guests whom we’ll call the “Browns” (not their real names) arrive and need to be registered and settled in.  Still no problem; he’s a dab hand at this by now.

Sometime later with the meal well on its way the Browns say their goodbyes as they’re off to the local pub for a meal … only to return a few minutes later.  Now if you recall it was a windy afternoon.  Well, it turned into a very wet and very windy evening…

Archive Storm Picture: Ballantrae Beach May 2011

Archive Storm Picture: Ballantrae Beach May 2011

Archive Storm Picture: Ballantrae Beach May 2011

… windy enough to bring down a tree completely blocking the road to the house and the whole of Balkissock was now cut off from civilisation and the local pub.

What’s worse, they expect Howard to stop cooking and go out there with his chainsaw and remove the tree so they can get out!  There’s customer service and there’s customer service and Howard outside in an apron with a wooden spoon in one hand and a chainsaw in the other would have been a sight to behold.

Having reassured them that he’ll make a few phone calls they then decide to stay in and eat.  Now this is where things in the kitchen really hot up.  With one meal on its way and another one being prepared, there was Howard cooking with a telephone tucked firmly under his chin …  multi-tasking or what?

Leaning trees near to the house

We hadn’t lived in the area long and tracking down who owned the offending tree and hence the person responsible for its removal, was the first task.  That done, Howard contacted the owner who was apologetic and promised to take a chainsaw to it straight away.

Now you’ll see why I gave the guests a fictitious name … on hearing that the tree was to be promptly removed they decided to go out to the pub after all leaving Howard with a half cooked meal and not so much as a “thank you” …  I still say we should have charged them for the full cost of the meal!  Grrr!!

Copyright © 2011 by Cordelia

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