Saturday the sun was shining, the weather was hot and in Edinburgh the collective sounds of slurping sun cream bottles being squirted simultaneously all over the city onto shocked and delighted Scottish bodies could almost be heard – it was going to be a scorcher.
Howies Waterloo was rammed with booking for lunch. Well over
100 in fact. A 40th birthday. A surprise 60th and a
Private Dining Room full of revellers too as well as over 100 others.
Busy and challenging enough
without the added drama of the EDL – English Defence League marching
right outside out door. The EDL being penned in on one side of our front door -
then the anti EDL on the other and an impressive Police Presence in between to keep
them apart and hopefully keep the peace.
In reality this meant that our lovely Howies Waterloo was
slap bang in the middle of it and the road was shut. Shut. As winching our
customers down from a hovering chopper was unlikely we had to find a way to let
customers in, keep them in, and safe and let them leave when and if they wanted
to.
With the protestors corralled into pens the Police kept the
pavement open from the east end of Princes Street and were more than happy to
tell all our customers it was OK, to walk up the street and into Howies where
we were waiting to welcome them. Once
they were in , it was business as usual.
Outside the scenes were rather more dramatic.
David Howie Scott wanting to make sure his beloved Waterloo
and customers all safe, was on hand to meet, greet and smooth the way. As the crowds gathered clutching his iPhone
he managed to capture these images.
The photo above is taken from the other side of the road from Calton
Graveyard and this one was he getting quite carried away with the camera on his
iPhone ignoring riots briefly to take an artistic shot.
Battling his way back over the road it was now about half
way through lunch the kitchen team were e moving faster than a fiddlers elbow and the
atmosphere of jollification inside the restaurant in full flow. Outside the
baying of chants and a near riot was also in full flow. Then as it seemed d
never the twain would meet suddenly the door by the kitchen flew open and a
protestor ran in. Stevie our head chef
clocked him immediately as he swung his hand up and smashed the glass on the
fire alarm.
Instinct took over and Stevie despite cooking for his 100 diners
he dropped everything (happily not on his foot) and chased the baddie. He not only chased him out the backdoor but
up the street and for quite a distance until puffed out, a long way from his
buzzing kitchen, he caught up with him, apprehended him and kept a tight hold
of him until the Police came over and took him away.
Stevie returned to the restaurant after his have a go hero
moment and continued service as if nothing had happened and then last night cooked over 160 dinners.
We are so proud of him. So grateful to him. So angry that he
put himself at personal risk without thinking and yet touched by his instinct
to protect his team and kitchen that we want to thank him.
THANK YOU STEVIE! STAR CHEF OF HOWIES WATERLOO, PROTECTOR OF
THE KITCHEN. PROTECTOR OF THE TEAM.
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