As my time in the Connaught Hotel Kitchens comes to an end, the personal side of my life also reaches a climax. I reflect on all the things I have seen, and get ready to finally be allowed to leave the basement. The downstairs, and artificially lit and heated life of hotels is left behind as I move upstairs for pastures new.

With the Head Chef starting to crack, his deputies and staff either drunk or also suffering from stress, the whole hotel looks to be in a similar state of risk. The general manager starts to yell at the chef, and around the hotel there is a feeling that industrial acion may be required, as is happening in much of the country in 1980s Britain. Can the royal wedding of Diana and Charles improve morale?

Working in the Kitchens at the Connaught hotel is taking its toll on the chefs, and combined with the waste and the increasingly eratic behavior of the Head Chef give everyone cause for concern about the future of the traditional French Kitchen.

Now working in the kitchens, I recount the arguments, emotions and drug filled antics of friends and co-workers. I meet new friends, but the lonliness of constant work. the strain of having little rest, and the madness I am witnessing- begins to make me crack up as well.

Now in the Connaught Hotel Kitchens my life as a hectic trainee Chef is starting to have a toll on my health, social life, and also those close to me. Those working in the hotel also seem to be sad, bad, corrupt, or crazy!

I start in the Kitchens at the Connaught in London as a trainee Chef. All the madness of the chefs and waiters is interspersed with the craziness of my friends, and turbulance of London life. As a 20 year old I recount all the experiences and the feelings I have.

I move to the third phase of my training from the Savoy Hotel Meat department to Flora. Flora is the cental fruit & vegetable purchasing and distribution centre of the Savoy hotels and Restaurants. I have some good times with friends, learn more about the corruption everywhere, and suffer the sadness of broken affairs of the heart!

I move from the delicacy of the Causerie Restaurant in Claridges, to the rough and tumble of the central butchers Meat Department at the Savoy Hotel.