Blackout releases a surge of energy
We had a themed evening recently. It wasn't planned, but we ended up with an impromptu VE Day celebration the night the lights went out over Tal-y-bont.
I have a clear routine here: eat, sleep, bathe, watch Neighbours and then it is time for work. The evening in question went wrong when the television ceased to work at 5.35pm precisely, followed by the fire alarm going off and panicking staff summoning me to the hotel.
National Power had withdrawn us temporarily from the National Grid. It's great if you work in an office; you can all go home. But here we were, due on stage at 7pm. It doesn't matter to the customers that you don't have electricity - who needs it if you cook by gas? Thank god for the lighter evenings and my parsimony over the old Christmas candles; we needed both to even have a chance.
Of course Murphy's law prevailed and everyone arrived at the same time along with some new customers who been "dying" to try us. The staff and I rose to the occasion; Simon snarled his way through it.
The asides worked well: "what's the chef's special tonight?" was met by, "I think chef will think it's special enough cooking without electricity."
The kitchen looked like a crypt by 8pm as the number of candles needed covered all the work surfaces and microwave. And before you write, I know it is probably against all the regulations but we needed light to ensure the customers got the right food.
The switchboard didn't work but the guests in room 5 were tremendous and took the calls that rerouted to their telephone. They took bookings for a weekend break and dinner for four on Sunday evening but apologised that they had had to ask the potential guests to call back for a price as they didn't know the tariff. If half my staff used that sort of initiative I would be a far wealthier woman than I am!
David, our son, was press-ganged into washing up and the only outburst of temper was me telling him that his washing up was pretty awful and Simon asking me how the "…" I expected him to deep-fry camembert without the fryer. Did I want sauté melted cheese instead?
The "war-time" spirit in the restaurant was marvellous. All the diners chatted to each other and tried to come up with solutions to our lighting problem. There was a groan of disappointment when the electricity was reconnected at 9pm. We became a "serious" business again - just as I had been looking forward to playing chopsticks for them all!
