Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
'YourEnglishisverygood,'Isaid.'It'salmostbetterthanmineandit'sdefinitelybetter
than Ben's. So, do you like living in England?'
'Yessa. I come to England and see English people they only eat steak and kidney pud-
ding,chipsandgraaavy.IthinkIwantshowEnglishpeoplesomethingnew,somethingdif-
ferent, so I cook them pizza. So we bring piiizzas, 11 manth ago, to England. Is gone down
very well.'
Pizza? How groundbreaking. Ben and I had to ask Arek what it was as we had never
heard of pizza before. Apparently it's some sort of radical food that consists of a dough
base, baked with tomatoes, cheese and various other toppings. They're going to become
very popular in the UK, thanks to Arek. You heard it here first.
We told Arek whywe were washing the hotel, which amused him greatly.We explained
that Glyn was giving us a bed for the night and some food.
'I cook you piiiiizza!' he shouted.
'I'm not sure that's what Glyn had planned for us,' said Ben.
'Isok.Ispeakher.Icookyoupiiiiizza. Youcome findmeafter andIcookyoupiiiiizza.
Then we go uppa to my house abovva hotel and we drink beers from The Poland, ok?'
'Ok.'
Washing the hotel didn't take as long as we had thought. We slopped hot soapy water
overthewalls(withNOTTOOMUCHSOAP)andalthoughwecouldn'tseewhatwewere
doing, it felt as though we were cleaning it.
Itwas10.30pmbythetimewehadfinishedourchores.Wehadcycled52milesonchil-
dren'sbikes,hadtoscroungeourlunchandthenspent2½hourscleaningahotel.Wewere
in need of our piiiizza.
Not only did Arek manage to wangle us a pizza each, but he also poured us both a pint,
after Glyn had stated categorically that he should only give us squash.
Arek was slightly crazy. He made a big show of making our pizzas; tossing the dough
in the air and catching it on his head. At one point he tied two tea-towels around his head
leavingonlyhiseyesvisible.Hethengrabbedholdoftheyoungassistantmanagerandheld
a kitchen knife to his neck. The other Polish kitchen staff found it hilarious. The young as-
sistant manager, who looked like a work experience student, did his best to smile but was
quietly shitting himself.
Arek'spizzawasgreat.Notparticularlyrevolutionary,butitwasverytastyallthesame.
At about 11.30pm he closed up the restaurant. We had been the only guests. Apparently
Devon was not quite ready for pizza.
As promised, Arek got some Polish beers and we headed up to his flat above the hotel.
His friend Oukash came too but hardly spoke a word all evening.
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