Page 131 - down-and-out-in-paris-and-london

etc. etc. etc.
This went on till three o’clock without much variation,
except that about eleven the cook usually had a CRISE DE
NERFS and a flood of tears. From three to five was a fairly
slack time for the waiters, but the cook was still busy, and I
was working my fastest, for there was a pile of dirty plates
waiting, and it was a race to get them done, or partly done,
before dinner began. The washing up was doubled by the
primitive conditions—a cramped draining-board, tepid
water, sodden cloths, and a sink that got blocked once in an
hour. By five the cook and I were feeling unsteady on our
feet, not having eaten or sat down since seven. We used to
collapse, she on the dustbin and I on the floor, drink a bottle
of beer, and apologize for some of the things we had said in
the morning. Tea was what kept us going. We took care to
have a pot always stewing, and drank pints during the day.
At half-past five the hurry and quarrelling began again,
and now worse than before, because everyone was tired
out. The cook had a CRISE DE NERFS at six and another
at nine; they came on so regularly that one could have told
the time by them. She would flop down on the dustbin, be-
gin weeping hysterically, and cry out that never, no, never
had she thought to come to such a life as this; her nerves
would not stand it; she had studied music at Vienna; she
had a bedridden husband to support, etc. etc. At another
time one would have been sorry for her, but, tired as we all
were, her whimpering voice merely infuriated us. Jules used
to stand in the doorway and mimic her weeping. The PA-
TRON’S wife nagged, and Boris and Jules quarrelled all day,

1 0 Down and Out in Paris and London