Today is All Saints Day. The Ronda police have traffic guides up in the roads near the cemetary because so many people have been heading there to place flowers on the graves of loved ones.... how nice that they still do something traditional.
Last night was Halloween so naturally we had some of the non-Spanish children turn up at the door of the bar yelling "TRICK or TREAT", several times!! (The Spanish have not yet caught on to this fabulous idea of banging on strangers' doors and demanding tricks or treats disguised as a ghost or something like that.) Very annoying especially as I had guests dining there in the bar. I gave them some mentos and sent them on their way.
So last night we had four rooms. Two were a drop-in, one of the couples had been here last year, a retired Finnish couple.... this time they brought a couple of retired Swedish friends. They had a bite to eat and then asked for a couple of rooms. Then a French friend of Ivan's from London who now lives down on the Costa del Sol sent his visiting brother and girlfriend up for a night. That plus one reservation from Monday gave us four rooms last night. They all ate dinner with us as well so we were busy last night.
Today is a national holiday in Catholic Spain. We happen to be closed today to the public as we have a group of 54 bikers coming in for lunch. They will be here in about an hour. This is a group that started out as 8-12 people for lunch. Then suddenly it was 40 and yesterday it creapt up to 54!! I was not thrilled about that as serving 54 people, even in a fixed menu situation, is tough when there are only three of us working, Ivan in the cocina and me and Dani in the dining room.
Dani is one of the locals who helps us out; he's certainly not the best waiter but he is certainly better than no one at all. He makes me crazy though... for example, this morning. I was serving breakfast to the last couple. I went into the kitchen for a glass of O.J. and came out into the bar and wound up on my back on the floor!! Smashed glass of OJ all over the floor and me now with a sore wrist. He "mopped" the floor, didn't say anything and left a film of water on the floor... naturally I went flying. I was not happy as you can imagine. Our floors are the worst possible type of flooring for a bar and kitchen... smooth tile that is VERY dangerous when wet with even only a drop of water. I've slipped more than once even after introducing rules for when the floor can be mopped.
Anyway, the biker group is now starting to arrive so I have to man the bar as Dani is in the kitchen helping Ivan prepare. We've set up ten tables for them. Manuela said this group would be easy going considering we are only 3 to serve them... I hope so. The last large group we had for lunch, 50 Brits in early October, went well for the most part but was trying at times. Anyway, I'm off.
