Good Hotel Guide
Hostels and Hotels in Walsall
Got a hotel to list? – any of these locations then please contact us to list your hotel below, free of charge.
Burntwood, Cannock, Lichfield, Rugeley, Wednesbury, Walsall
For UK travelers going abroad, we recommend Tenerife, with feel of the UK yet all the sun of Tenerife. Read an extract below from More Ketchup than Salsa, the story of a English couple who left the UK to set up life in Tenerife. Info on how to buy the book can be found below.
List your Hostel in Walsall
Below you will find short extracts from More ketchup than Salsa by Joe Cawley – not to be missed.
Short Extract
Get the book
Holiday-hey celebrey-yate. Don’t be boring. We’re on holiday now. Come on pet, get in the spirit.’ Gerroff, you nutter.’ His wife rolled her eyes at her scarlet-cheeked daughters. We were in no position to judge. In fact, there was a tinge of jealousy at the sight. Shamelessly embarrassing yourself was an expression of joyous freedom. This man had broken free for a fortnight away from a life of responsibility. I was just entering one. It had seemed exciting two thousand miles away but now it was all too real. What if we failed? What if we couldn’t stand the heat? What if we burnt down the bar and had to return to the fish market to pay off our debts? I began to calculate how many trays at ‘three for a fiver’ we would need to sell to pay off £165,000. Ninety-nine-thousand trays of fish if we don’t get the bus.’
Burntwood, Cannock, Lichfield, Rugeley, Wednesbury, Walsall
The couple had relocated to Tenerife after Michelle’s aunt opened a hairdressing salon in the South initially employing her niece as a stylist. Michelle, like many, had decided that a new life abroad should also entail a move away from the hairdressing job she had stuck at since leaving school at sixteen, and accepted her aunt’s offer on the understanding that it was temporary. Bar work wasn’t exactly what she had in mind for a breakaway career, but the couple had their eyes on buying their own restaurant and knew that having temporary responsibility of stock control, cashing up and customer diplomacy at the Smugglers would serve as valuable experience eventually. We were all more than happy to leave them in charge of running the bar from 10.30 until 2 or 3a.m. and trusted them in all aspects, from cleaning to cashing up. For several nights they provided the pressure release of a little time off. No problems last night. Usual dickheads and drunks but no spew. Love Shell and Gaz, XX’. Their customary report was stuck to the till with Blue Tak.
Joy was in the kitchen scrawling down a breakfast order on the fridge. She stopped writing. I turned my back on the spitting eggs. The cavalry had arrived. In the doorway stood Carole and Faye, our mothers. Both had broad beams and outstretched arms as though welcoming back a long lost relative. Mum!’ Joy couldn’t hold back the tears, which instantly released a tide of emotion in Faye. My mum, never one to miss out on a good cry, dabbed tears from her eyes. I wiped away some sweat that had begun to trickle down the bags under my eyes. To a passer-by it may have given the impression that I was also crying. What are you doing here?’ I said. David phoned to tell us Faith had left,’ said my mum. ‘I spoke to Faye and we decided to lend a hand.’