W-wa Jeziorki

The fast and the slow

2013-05-21T23:59:00.000+02:00

Two days ago, Czester the first born had opened his eyes. As of this evening, Bonus the last born (so called because the ultrasound of their mother didn't indicate clearly whether the litter consisted of three or indeed of four kittens) is still blind. Below: Bonus with the little soul patch on his chin looks quite a sharp character, and happy with life so far.

Czester opened his eyes at the age of nine days; Bonus, born some four hours later, is still blind at the age of 11 days. The whole litter is roughly the same size - there's no evident runt among them - but Bonus is slower to develop at this stage (he was always the camera-shy one in early photos, happily hiding under or behind the rest of his siblings).

This time last year:
Short story: The Devil is Doubt - Part One

This time two years ago:
Stormclouds are raging all around my door

This time three years ago:
Floods endanger Warsaw

This time four years ago:
Coal line rarity

A Life in Balance 11: Prescriptive vs. Descriptive

2013-05-20T21:53:00.006+02:00

How do you say 'six hundred' Polish? Sześćset, yes - but how do you pronounce that? Most Poles would pronounce it 'Szejset' [SHAYset], when the correct answer is 'sześć-set' ['SHESHCHset'].

Correct answer says who? Prescriptivists, that's who. The folks who will tell you that 'to boldly go where no man has gone before' is wrong because it's a split infinitive, and that 'If I were a rich man' is correct because 'were' is the subjunctive form to the verb 'to be', while you can't say 'Me and John went to the shop' because 'me' is accusative and not nominative. (You can't say 'me went to the shop' so why say 'me and John went to the shop'?)

A different point of view is taken by Descriptivists. They will say that if the overwhelming balance of Poles go around saying 'szejset', then that is what '600' is. People insisting otherwise are Canutes (incidentally King Canute's mum was daughter of Polish king, Mieszko I), battling spuriously against a rising tide of contemporary usage, and languages are living things after all. Descriptivists will happily accept txtspk ('C U L8R' = 'see you later') as part of the vernacular.

So - where to set the slider between 'thus it is and only thus' and 'anything goes'? This is where I'd put it...

If we go deeper, we will see that a tendency to the prescriptivist shows a leaning towards conservatism - trying to preserve the beauty and order of things as they are, red telephone boxes, 1960s architecture, Ikarus buses, use of liturgical Latin - while the descriptivists are happier with change, indeed want to press on with a world that's continually changing. If prescriptivists are inflexible stick-in-the-muds, descriptivists will bend with the wind blowing from wherever. See this excellent take on the debate in the Economist's Johnson blog.

Sześćset is difficult to say, especially after that number of millilitres of red wine. Szejset is far easier. And so linguistic evolution - or linguistic erosion - is continually taking place. But then if you accept 'szejset' as 600, what's its genitive if not sześciuset?

When I was a small boy, driving in the car with my father, I'd ask him 'Gdzie jedziemy?' (Where are we going?) He'd answer 'W aucie' ('in the car'). What I should have asked him is 'Dokąd jedziemy?' ('Whither are we going?') Now, the word 'whither' has disappeared from common English usage, and I must report that dokąd is heading that way too. (To see how words or phrases come and go over the centuries in several languages - sadly though not Polish yet, have a look at Google's Ngram viewer.) And here, things like 'Ms' for 'Miss'/'Mrs' or the singular 'they' are changes that I'm happy to go along with.

Obviously neologisms must follow human progress, otherwise we'll be unable to give names to new inventions. Note how the Polish for bicycle is 'rower' [from the British manufacturer 'Rover'] rather than the more Latin-derived terms 'welocyped' or 'bicykl'; this would have been determined by popular usage rather than by a committee of linguistic guardians like the Rada Języka Polskiego.

Like any writer and editor, I take professional pride in writing correctly and in being able to correct mistakes made by others. I make my living from having that slight edge over the majority of the English-speaking world in being able to spot a verb of incomplete predication being incorrectly used (with an adverb rather than with a adjective) or knowing how to use apostrophes correctly.

But - a question for Poles - when does one finally accept FabRYka over FABryka or JAPko over JABŁko?

This is a tricky one, because neither 'anything goes' descriptivists nor fussy stickler prescriptivists are right; you've got to move with the times, but you must maintain certain basic rules without which all descends into chaos. There will always be those who look to set rules, by which all should abide. These rules can be useful, guiding us away from the dangers of Babel and linguistic anarchy; but they can also be restrictive, restraining genuine creativity. Once again, I refer you to another excellent Johnson blog post from the Economist - Shakespeare (whom descriptivists hold up as one of their own) was a veritable motor of neologisms.

Shakespeare ... self-consciously played with the language. He was so good at it that many of his innovations stayed in the language, whereas they would have struck his audience as either new and fresh, or odd, in his day.

The key word here is 'consciously'. You've gotta be, as reggae duo, the Jolly Brothers, observed, be a conscious man (or indeed woman) when toying with language. Explore the boundaries, play with the new, but do so with awareness. Don't break linguistic rules unless you are aware of what you're doing - and do so with good, creative, reason. If what you write, what you say, catches on, it becomes a meme, it spreads, it becomes the new rule. 'The old order changeth, yielding place to new'.

I'd set the slider somewhere in the middle, but with a small bias towards prescriptivism; it is, after all, my bread and butter.

This time last year:

Noc Muzeów - night of pride in being Polish

This time four years ago:
Why Poland can no longer afford to keep the grosz

Czester opens his eyes

2013-05-19T23:59:00.000+02:00

After one week and two days, half of our four new-born kittens now have their eyes open. Czester the marmalade tom, the first-born, was first to gaze curiously at the world around him, followed by Izadora, the only female in the litter, the second-born. The remaining two kittens are still blind. Ears are gaining definition in all four.

A kitten needs on average three weeks to become fully sighted and hearing; it will be breast-fed by its mother for eight to 12 weeks, after which it should become fully autonomous.

Czester is a born fighter, this first portrait shows his masculine mien and his determined character. Note the claws! "Boy, you is a gennleman an' a mousecatcher!" Enjoy this wonderful 1948 episode of Tom and Jerry, when Lightning interupts the delicate equilibrium between Tom and Jerry...

Why are the shops shut today?

2013-05-19T00:25:00.000+02:00

I was shopping at Auchan yesterday morning. There was a large sign outside that said that the shop would be shut on Sunday 19 May. At the check-out, I asked the cashier to confirm this, and the following dialogue ensued:

Me: Sklep jest jutro zamknięty? ['The shop's shut tomorrow?']
Cashier: Zamknięty. Jakieś święto. ['It's shut. Some religious feast.']

Jakieś święto. 'Some religious feast.' One wouldn't say that about Christmas or Easter, or about secular holidays, such as Independence Day or Constitution Day. I'm sure everyone - from the youngest to the oldest, of all levels of eduction - would be able to say or even write something meaningful about each of those days.

But today's feast - Pentecost - is as mysterious as the Holy Spirit himself (yes, male). Ask all but the most knowledgeable Catholics what Pentecost is about, and you'll not get too many illuminating answers. On All Saints' Day, Poles will visit their ancestors' graves - a moving tradition that most Poles participate in. Christmas and Easter are exceptionally important holidays and religious feasts. But closing the shops to commemorate the Holy Spirit's descending upon the Twelve Apostles seems a bit... obscurantist.

Pentecost Sunday was made a day off work in 2006 by that bizarre coalition of PiS, LPR and Samoobrona. It affects mostly retailers, though petrol stations remain open. It keeps catching many Poles off-guard, as Pentecost is not one of those religious feasts that people automatically look forward to or have in their family calendars.

So why have it? It reflects a rare blend of traditional, religious conservatism and left-wing trade-unionism that's extremely Polish. I cannot see the Parliamentary Labour Party agitating for shops to be shut in the UK on Pentecost Sunday. Well, as I can't go shopping today, I'll go for a walk or something!

This time last year:
Jeziorki at its most beautiful

This time three years ago:
Useful and useless in my wallet

This time four years ago:
In search of the dream klimat - remote viewing made real

This time five years ago:
Zakopane to Kraków in 3hrs 45min

This time six years ago:
The year's most beautiful day?

From yellow to white

2013-05-18T22:53:00.001+02:00

These pairs of photos were taken in two successive weeks; the first ones - with dandelions in bloom - on 8 May, the seconds ones - with the dandelions gone to seed - on 17 May. Below: ul. Osmańska.

Below: looking across to ul. Puławska from Wilanowska bus station. Note also how much more in leaf are the trees in the background.

I noticed this week that here and there, the authorities are mowing grass verges and lawns, to keep the city tidy, and presumably to relieve the hay fever of those allergic to dandelion seed.

This is the first time I've consciously witnessed how quickly and how thoroughly the dandelion appears in Warsaw, how yellow it makes the city's grassy areas appear, and how quickly that yellow flower gives way to seed-bearing puffballs. I prefer the yellow.

This time last year:
The good topiarist

This time three years ago:
Wettest. May. Ever.

This time five years ago:
Blackpool-in-the-Tatras

Ethereal and transient

2013-05-17T22:14:00.001+02:00

Last week the dandelions were yellow. This week they went to seed, turning into puff-balls of white. Some shots then with the lens set at f14-f16 for great depth of field, and a long exposure on 100 ISO. Passing cyclists appeared blurred, ephemeral...

Below: Al. Ujazdowskie on the corner of Ul. Piękna. Just behind the cyclist - the installation Komin by Bartosz Sandecki that's been standing here since February.

Below: Al. Ujazdowskie around the junction with Al. Róż. Another cyclist rushes by.

Below: Al. Ujazdowskie by Pl. Na Rozdrożu.

Below: ul. Poleczki, Poleczki business park. A similar scene; dandelions, blurred cyclist.

The transience of the daffodil - yellow one week, a white puff-ball of seed the next. Yet looking more permanent that the cyclists hurrying by.

This time last year:
Wrocław railway station before the Euro football championships

This time two years ago:
By tram to Boernerowo

This time four years ago:
Food-Industrial Shop, rural USA or Poland

This time six years ago:
Twilight time, Jeziorki

Banning the smelly passenger

2013-05-15T23:59:00.000+02:00

The front-page lead in today's Metro reminded me of an unpleasant tram journey a few weeks ago. It was a warm spring day about 10am; I boarded a new, low-floor Swing tram at Wilanowska, heading into town. The tram was quite full, only a few seats left, towards the rear. I sat down. Immediately, a hideous stench assailed my nostrils. It smelt like someone had left a bag of sweat- and urine-soaked rags mixed in with rotting pigs' entrails under a seat. "Fu, panie!"

I looked round to see other passengers also looking round to identify the source of the disgusting odour, subconsciously ticking off fellow travellers who did not match the stereotype of a brudas. One by one, people started drifting towards the front of the tram. The rear third of the Swing was all but empty - save for a filthy-looking woman of around 60, dressed in several layers of thick and grimy clothing sitting on the bench seat at the very back of the tram. She reeked.

Some people got off the tram to catch the next one, others either put up with the crush in the front of the tram (as did I, being in a hurry to get to the office) or - in the case of three people who seemed oblivious to the stench - carried on within nose-shot of the offending person.

The article, Pojadą tylko umyci ('Only The Washed Will Ride') says that in Warsaw alone, each winter's day over 20 such incidents occur which result in the tram or bus driver having to ask the foetid person off. In summer, it's only eight.

Gdańsk's public transport authority surveyed its passengers as to what annoy them the most about its service. Delayed buses? Traffic jams? Breakdowns? Not a bit of it. A staggering 91.6% said it was the przykry (annoying/obnoxious/sad) smell of fellow passengers. In comparison, a mere 21% said they were irritated by people drinking alcohol on the bus.

Already, Gdańsk, along with Łódz, Wrocław and Olsztyn's public transport authorities have regulations banning people of 'dirty and scruffy appearance' or who's dirty appearance disgusts'. Warsaw introduced a similar ban in January; Lublin will follow suit next week.

The target of these bans is mainly the homeless; often people who've not bathed in many days.

Is this right? Vulnerable people - who in many cases are suffering from mental problems, for whom public transport is a refuge from the weather, may have hygiene issues, but can they be denied the right to ride a tram or bus if they are in possession of a valid ticket?

Metro asked Poland's human rights ombudsman and former chairman of the Constitutional Tribunal, Andrzej Zoll, whether restricting a person on account of their smell is not in breach of the Constitution. "Grossly offensive odour limits the rights of other persons, so I would allow such bans," he replied. Former justice minister, Prof. Zbigniew Ćwiąkalski, concurred; "A carrier can introduce such limitations."

Good to see common sense prevailing.

Times have moved on. Poland's general standards of person hygiene have improved hugely over the past two decades, thanks to the FMCG companies that have raised the game in terms of how frequently society should use their products. The last time I read an article in the Polish media about passenger odours, around 2001, those complaining of them were labelled perfumowani gogusiowie by the more robust online commentators ('perfumed ponces' would be a good translation).

When the bulk of Oxford's colleges were being built during the 16th Century, the student residents were not equipped with bathing facilities, as term-time was only ten weeks long, and so too short a period to expect students to bathe. Even in the middle of the last century, bathing and hair-washing (with shampoo) was a weekly endeavour for Britain's middle classes, as John Betjeman's Middlesex (1954) attests:

"Hiding hair which Friday nightly/Delicately drowns in Drene"

Today, daily showering or bathing has become the norm (in cities anyway). Polish men are not ashamed to use deodorant or aftershave, and the general background odour on daytime public transport is no different than in London. Which makes sharing a tram journey with a evil-smelling homeless person all the more memorable. The question of how society should cope with such people, who evidently has deep-rooted and manifold problems is a deeper one.

Coming back to my olfactorially-challenging journey; no one seemed keen to inform the driver; we all knew that this would result in a delay of several minutes while the malodorous passenger was shown off the tram. And so we all just put up with it. At least as far as Pl. Zbawiciela.

[Supplementary, Friday 17 May: This morning I was on an early bus into town, the 709 which left Karczunkowska bus stop at 05:38. The smell of unwashed armpits and last night's vodka was far more noticeable than on my usual buses, which leave Jeziorki around eight am.]

This time last year:
Inside Filtry - Warsaw's waterworks (Museum Night 2011)

This time three years ago:
Warsaw's Museum Night 2010

This time four years ago:
On transcendence

The Opel Adam and its place among city cars

2013-05-13T22:38:00.001+02:00

Having had the chance to examine the new Opel Adam at close quarters, I must say I find it lacking. Though at first sight (especially in maroon with a white roof) it looks funky, contemporary and urban-cool, the more thought I give the car the more I see it as a belated effort to enter a market that's long been carved up. By the Mini (at the premium end), the Fiat 500 (in the middle), with the Toyota Aygo and its French clones, the Citroen C1 and Peugeot 107 (at the lower end).

One thing really disappoints - the Opel Adam's fuel economy around town. This is a car designed for urban traffic, so the urban economy figures are the ones that really count. And what do we get driving around town in the 1.2-litre Opel Adam? A pathetic 7.1 litres per 100 kilometres. That's worse than what my dear old 1993 Nissan Micra was turning in when I was still driving to work every day (a very creditable 6.6l/100km). In other words, 20 years of technological advance - and here's a brand new car that officially owns up to delivering early-1990s style fuel economy.

Compare with the must frugal of Fiat 500s, the TwinAir version. This one burns 4.7 litres for every 100km of traffic jam. The Toyota Aygo, which is a much cheaper - and indeed less trendy - little car, burns 5.1 litres per 100km around town. But the champion when it comes to miserliness in urban driving is the three-door, 1.1 litre, diesel-engined version of the Kia Rio, which sips a mere 3.5 litres for the same distance (100km = 62 miles) - and 3.0 litres on the open road. Now that's impressive. It goes twice as far around town as the brand new Opel Adam's most frugal version.

The cost of getting it wrong in this market is huge. Fiat 500s are flying off the production line in Tychy, southern Poland. So much so, that even after Fiat, bending to populist pressures back home, moved the manufacture of the new Panda to Italy causing big lay-offs in Tychy, many of those laid off have been taken on again and the factory's working weekend shifts again - because of demand for the 500. At the other end of the spectrum, Toyota's oddball (and ludicrously priced) iQ continues to be a rare sight on Poland's roads.

The new Volkswagen Up! and its brethren, the Skoda CityGo and Seat Miii are just too boxy and utilitarian; the original Ford Ka and Renault Twingo (pron. Twango) were both far nicer and more original than their replacements, the Hyundai i10 is plain ugly.

The dear sweet Mini has won a strong share of the premium city-car market; it is desirable (unlike the upmarket Smart or the iQ) and there are now plenty of used examples to be seen on Warsaw's ulice and aleje. The Mini range is ever expanding, new variants continue to pop up, but the classic Mini Cooper (in British Racing Green or burgundy with white roof, or off-white with black roof ) is remains the ultimate in urban motoring chic. The Mini is chic because it has heritage; the original Mini won Monte Carlo Rallies, it was driven by pop stars and proletarians, and was in continuous production for over 40 years. The new Mini has already been in production for nearly a third of that period. And a diesel-engined Mini will consume 4.2 litres of fuel around town. That's four-point-two, as opposed to seven-point-one. [Official UK government figures]

Back to the Adam Opel. If the car's styling appeals to the inner hipster in you, it may be worth waiting a year or two until it gets equipped with a more modern engine. Until then, it's a display of the contemporary aesthetic - but it's carting around, and carted around by - a rather ancient power unit. The Fiat 500 runs rings around it.

Think twice - and then some more - before buying a new car. Best to stick with a quarterly travel card (for Warsaw at least) - for 250 złotys (around fifty quid), this is the best way to get around town. Hop off the bus, Metro or tram outside the office - and don't worry about finding a parking spot - or paying for it. Or filling up the car every fortnight. Or insuring and servicing it annually. Take a taxi when needed, or hire a car. But spending your own money to buy a car is the worst waste of money you will ever make in your life.

Unless you buy a Morgan, but that, dear readers, is another story altogether!

This time last year:
Biblical sky

This time three years ago:
Travel broadens the spirit

This time six years ago:
On the farm next door

Thoughts about life, occasioned by witnessing a kitten's birth

2013-05-11T13:07:00.000+02:00

"The beginning and the end of everything is the most interesting" wrote 14th C. Japanese author and philosopher Yoshida Kenko (who deserves more study). And indeed, watching Moni's cat giving birth yesterday was Most interesting. Watching life replicate, intelligent life to a significant degree; though cats can't fly to the moon, create synthetic insulin or mobile phone networks or even open tins of cat-food, they are sentient beings, capable of rich emotions, curiosity, simple logical thought and basic communication. And of course, they can replicate with ease.

Watching the heroic travails of Lila the cat, until not too long ago a frivolous, playful kitten, has given me a renewed appreciation what is meant by 'female' and 'motherhood'; such a strong instinct that's not mirrored in the male. The father has done his deed, sowed his seed and said sayonara. His genes have been transferred into the next generation and to achieve that result, his input has been brief and exclusively pleasurable. The mother has spent nine weeks in pregnancy and will spend the next eight to 12 weeks of her life feeding and grooming their joint offspring on her own. Her maternal instinct is extremely strong. Pick up one of the kittens, and she will immediately rise to claim it back in no uncertain terms. And she is fastidiously hygienic.

Motherhood is a reason for living; I now feel sorry for our older cat Papusia (the feline zeppelin) that we had her sterilised and that she never went through the pain and joy of bringing offspring into this world. Whether Papusia feels resentment to us humans for depriving her of the chance to be a mother, I don't know.

These ponderings lead to wonder why we have obstinately chosen to make God male, a father, rather than a mother. Surely motherhood is more divine than fatherhood.

The complexity of life is also apparent. Those little living structures, after a mere nine weeks on from fertilised egg stage and still devoid of sight, can root through their mother's fur, locate a nipple, and fight off siblings equally anxious to feed. Four new little brains, with neurons being connected by the thousand every minute as they acquire new experiences and skills, have come into this eco-system; in time they will be hunting mice, voles, birds and moles in the garden as their ancestors have done.

Above: today's pic of Lila and brood, the last cat (Bonus, black with a white stripe around the neck) is somewhere underneath his mum. Below: a 55-second film of the same event, with added feline squirming.

Below: Lila aka Jinks the Sphinx in more carefree times when the only thing she needed to worry about was finding a warm radiator on top of which to spend a winter's day.

This time last year:
Waiting for the footbridge on Puławska

This time two years ago:
Lost in the wonder of it all

This time three years ago:
Bicycle review

This time four years ago:
A Celebration of the Garden

Kitten time!

2013-05-10T12:06:00.002+02:00

I mentioned a few weeks ago that Moni's cat Lila was pregnant. This morning, out they popped. It's spring, nature is bursting into leaf, into life. It's wonderful to observe. A thought crossed my mind - with a cat's average lifespan being 12-14 years, I should outlive these kittens before I hit 70! (all else being well).

First out, a marmalade tom. The second I actually witnessed emerging - a white one with black patches. The vet's USG suggested at least three inside, so as I write I'm at home waiting for the rest of the litter to appear. Below: mum and first two kittens in the birthing box.

Note to kittens: you'll not find your mother's nipples on her neck or her ankle. Still, the kittens are doing well for three hours old, visibly stronger already. Lila is a young and healthy cat, complications were not expected. She ate both placentas, licked the kittens and herself clean. I just hope the rest of the litter emerges soon...

Just after midday, the third kitten, mostly white with a black patch on its rear quarters, emerged. All doing fine! Below: the trio of blind kittens, feeding hard, the youngest one to the right, the oldest in the middle.

A fourth one popped out at half past one, black, with white markings (below, immediately to the right of Lila's forepaws). No tortoiseshells, sadly... Smells like they're all male...

With their mother gone for her first feed after giving birth (other than placenta), the quartet pose together for their first group shot (the final kitten to be born seems camera shy, and is lurking in the back). I take the opportunity to snip back the kittens' umbilical cords.

Watch them as they grow on this blog!

This time last year:
Warsaw - Centrum to Jeziorki by train with super-wide lens

This time two years ago:
Loose Lips Sink Ships - part II

This time three years ago:
Jeziorki in the infra red

This time four years ago:
Some rain, at last!

Al. Szucha in bloom

2013-05-09T20:26:00.000+02:00

Aleja Jana Chrystiana Szucha, named after German architect and freemason, Johann Christian Schuch, links Pl. Unii Lubelskiej and Pl. Na Rozdrożu. I work here, and I must say, I'm rather proud to do so. A much better address than ul. Nowogrodzka in Warsaw's mid-town where we were before.

There are many notable buildings along Al. Szucha; the infamous one is shown below - no. 25, home to the Gestapo during the Nazi occupation of Warsaw. Today, looking much less grim, with orange and purple flowers blooming outside, it is where you'll find the education ministry (Ministerstwo Edukacji Narodowej).

Further on down towards my office is no. 23, which is home to the foreign ministry (Ministerstwo Spraw Zewnętrznych). Again, a cheerful floral display enlivens the external walls of the corridors of power.

Another gorgeous day with temperatures hitting 29C, spring in Warsaw at its finest. This really is the best time to visit - the week between the May Day holidays (1-3 May) and the Ice Saints (12-15 May) generally offers some fine weather, not too hot or humid; the greenery is at its freshest, and the flowers have all exploded into bloom.

This time last year:
From Warsaw's highest bar

This time two years ago:
Loose Lips Sink Ships - Part One

This time three years ago:
Driving home at the end of the working day
[in the days when it was still socially acceptable to do so]

This time 25 years ago:
Poland's worst aviation disaster
[just across the road from Jeziorki]

More May Mleczery

2013-05-08T23:59:00.000+02:00

While the verges and lawns are densely spattered with brightest yellow, it's time to get down. To about three inches off the ground with that absolutely splendid 10-24mm Nikkor to catch nature's splendour from ankle height.

Below: Jeziorki, ul. Karczunkowska, Trombity bus stop. Tuesday morning. It's somewhat overcast, but the dandelions are making merry.

Below: dandelions in Wyczółki, ul. Osmańska, Wednesday morning. Sunshine and heat.

Below: the central reservation, ul. Puławska, junction with Pileckiego and Poleczki. Wednesday morning rush-hour. A vivid storm of yellow assaults the eye.

Below: Wilanowska-Puławska junction, from the bus loop. A tram is just about visible in the distance.

Below: Puławska/Wilanowska junction - the verge between the road and the tram-tracks

Below: a beautiful sunny evening, though now in the shade the dandy lions haven't yet furled their leaves for the night.

The weather has been extraordinarily wonderful, with clear skies, top temperatures above 25C and warm evenings. But the Ice Saints are just around the corner...

This time last year:
Warsaw's city centre - a deli-free zone

This time two years ago:
Patching up the holes

This time three years ago:
In search of the sublime aesthetic

This time six years ago:
Flying in from the Faroes

Mlecznie - or the Dandy Lions

2013-05-06T21:25:00.000+02:00

It's that time of year, when the dandelion is in bloom again. Everywhere, across the whole of Warsaw. Wherever there's some grass, the dandelions are out. Mlecz in Polish, mleczno, the adjective - also meaning 'milky'. Dandelion is pronounced 'DAN-dee-lion' in English, rather than 'dan-DELL-yon'. The word comes from the French, dents de lion or lion's teeth.

Below: if Wordsworth could compare his daffodils (żonkile) with this lot, his heart would also with pleasure fill. Except that these dandelions weren't dancing - just looking pretty in the morning sun against a cloudless sky. Junction of ul. Puławska and Poloneza.

Below: more mlecz, this time on the central reservation of ul. Indiry Gandhi. Ms Gandhi is still the only female premier to have a Warsaw street named after her. The three blue cylinders in the middle of the frame are ventilators from the Metro, which runs beneath this point.

Below: looking southbound along ul. Indiry Gandhi; photo taken on 55-300mm zoom set at 300mm.

Below: on Pl. Unii Lubelskiej, ul. Marszałkowska running off to the left, Al. Szucha to the right. The 10-24mm lens set at 10mm (15mm equivalent on 35mm film camera or full-frame digital) has amazing depth of field, giving a rodent's eye-view.

Below: evening rush hour, ul. Marynarska. Oceans of dandelions here too. Further on up the road, I saw two more photographers with the same idea, squatting down, taking low-angle shots of dandelions.

The good weather and the brilliant yellow flowers will soon pass, but thanks to digital photography, they now belong to the ages.

This time last year:
Early-May thunderstorm

This time two years ago:
Men at work

This time three years ago:
What's the Polish for 'to bully'?

This time four years ago:
Making plans for Jeziorki: Hołubcowa bis
[Not surprisingly, nothing has come of these plans]

This time five years ago:
The stirring sight of sunset

This time six years ago:
Blessed rain - after two dry weeks

By bike, south of Jeziorki

2013-05-05T21:54:00.000+02:00

The last day of the great Majówka (extended May bank holiday) and finally the sun comes out. A lovely warm day, with temperatures topping 23C, the highest all week. An ideal opportunity to get out into the countryside by bike. From Jeziorki, the nearest countryside lies south of Piaseczno ('Setchno or Sand City), a town with which Warsaw has a similar relationship that London has with Slough. The sooner through it the better. Not an easy town to navigate through, I always get lost here.

Below: I passed hundreds of cyclists today; here I'm at Zalesie Dolne station. Now, you may have heard of Zalesie Górne station, south of Piaseczno on the line to Radom, but Zalesie Dolne is on the touristy narrow-gauge line from Piaseczno to Tarczyn.

Below: am I on the Mazurian lakes? Have I cycled all the way to Wigry? No, this is one of the fish ponds between Żabieniec and Zalesie Górne. I spent a while here sunning myself and watching the myriad wildlife, including a swimming grass snake (grey with a white stripe behind its neck, like this one). No midges, gnats or mosquitoes whatsoever - thanks to the dragonflies darting about.

I cycled back through Żabieniec, Siedliska, Chylice and Julianów. Żabieniec, a village full of działki (summer-houses) was already in summer holiday mode. Disco-polo music was blasting out of tinny speakers, bare-chested young men riding in the back of pick-up trucks; Pan Heniek and Pan Żiutek were staggering to the sklep wielobranżowy for another flaszka, while scores of cyclists were riding up and down ul. Główna, Żabieniec's main drag.

Below: Half a kilometre east of the level crossing on ul. Julianowska, there's a man-made hill, created by developers who've been filling the area south of Las Kabacki forest and Chylice with houses during the boom years, 2003-2008. This hill, some six-seven metres high, affords splendid views of the surrounding countryside. The railway line is the one that carries the coal trains from Okęcie sidings to the sidings at Konstancin-Jeziorna and on to Siekierki power station.

Below: a convertible Cadillac from the late '60s/early '70s; a splendid sight. If I were minister of transport I'd limit motorists to a 1-litre hatchback and 10,000km a year. If they wanted anything else, such as this magnificent vehicle, they'd have to provide me with an essay stating their aesthetic, historical and ideological reasons for wanting to own such a machine. If their essay gushes with sufficient enthusiasm, permission to own would be granted. The owner would be obliged to maintain the vehicle in showroom-style splendour for the pleasure of future generations of admirers.

Back home I find I overdid the sunshine; I will no doubt have a red nose and peeling skin on my forehead. For the record, I covered 38.6km by bike today, all but 2km of it on asphalt. My commuting bike, built over 20 years ago, is good for this kind of cycling; with an upright riding position, I can appreciate the scenery, the skinny tyres are good for tarmacked roads.

This time two years ago:
Functionalist architecture in Warsaw

This time three years ago:
What's the Polish for 'to bully'?

This time four years ago:
Making plans

This time five years ago:
The setting sun stirs my soul

This time six years ago:
Rain ends the drought

Classic Jeziorki

2013-05-04T21:24:00.003+02:00

Let's forget about politics, religion, biology and philosophy for a while and take a walk to the end of ul. Trombity, cross the railway tracks to catch that Jeziorki klimat, that mid-spring atmosphere that made me want to blog about my home suburb in the first place. The trees all seem to be in bloom. Below: ul. Kórnicka - the section between ul. Trombity and the railway, which is a footpath rather than a street.

Below: a Koleje Mazowieckie EN57 three-car set heading into town, the KM livery of green, white and yellow reflecting the colours of the landscape.

Below: across the tracks. A little spring rain and the fields are in flood. A KM train heads south towards Piaseczno and Radom. Further away from the railway line, and the air is full of the sound of skylarks' song. So many, indeed, that I'm wondering whether such numbers are sustainable.

The closure for the whole summer of Okęcie airport's Runway 15/33 for maintenance means that planes are now using Runway 11/27, and fly in from over Ursynów. This affords a fine view of Warsaw's skyline as a backdrop to the aircraft on final approach. In the foreground, the more rural construction of Dawidy. Below: a Ryanair Boeing 737-800 comes in to land.

Jeziorki is a great place to live, rus in suburbe, countryside in the suburbs, yet well connected by public transport with the city and by air with the outside world.

Access to zones is getting more limited

2013-05-04T19:51:00.000+02:00

The other day, I came across this excellent website, opuszczone.com (those last four letters before the top-level domain, 'zone', by happy coincidence), with photos of abandoned places in Poland and indeed around the world. Here on Warsaw's southern fringes, there are fewer and fewer such places to explore. It's that time of year when the atmosphere (klimat) of the Andrei Tarkovsky film Stalker is strongest in my mind.

Below: until Poland joined NATO and the EU, air traffic control for Okęcie airport was still conducted along Soviet military lines. In 2004, this military radio beacon station, just off ul. Karczunkowska, to the west of ul. Kurantów, stopped transmitting. The radio towers have long since come down; the land is still owned by the state. Looking at Google Earth maps of this area from 2002 to the present, one can see how much land has been developed. Not here however; an asset as precious as land just sitting, guarded, useless... A security guard is sitting outside the low grey building in the distance.

Below: the south-west corner of the base. I poke my lens through the perimeter fence. The place beckons me to explore, but it is well enclosed with barbed wire and thick thorn bushes. What lies inside? I'd love to find out...

I proceed from here, Dawidy Poduchowne, via Zgorzała, to Zamienie. I've posted about Zamienie before; back in communist times this was the BIOMED vaccine factory (Zakład Wytwórni Surowic i Szczepionek „BIOMED”) surrounded by houses for workers. To see how it looked a few years after it was abandoned, click here.

Above: Zamienie in 2002. Just Biomed, nothing more. By 2012 (below), the factory's long gone, many new houses have appeared here, and most of the old factory buildings have been torn down.

Left: a neoclassical colonnade; in the front of the building that houses the electricity generator for the the plant. This is still working, producing power for the remaining cottages that are found in the central area of the old Zakład. I rather suspect this is social housing, where the city evicts non-rent-paying families to, but I might be wrong.

Below: some mossy stonework is all that's left of the row of buildings on the southern side of the Zakład. Developers had hoped to fill this area with hundreds of houses, but the recession came along. Having said that, I noticed today that a new development is springing up to the north of Zamienie.

Below: pond in Zamienie, harking back to pre-war days when this was a family-owned estate.

This part of Warsaw's southern fringes is becoming increasingly civilised, without any great abandoned zones worthy of exploration any more. This has happened at PGR Mysiadło and the old Lamina factory in Piaseczno. Which is good, but kind of sad too. [Click on the label Zamienie below for more posts from here, dating back to 2007.]

This time two years ago:
I awake to snow, on 4 May

This time five years ago:
This is not America. No?

Much still left to do before S2-S79 opens

2013-05-03T23:54:00.001+02:00

Bank holiday, and rain... a good opportunity to check progress along the S2/S79 (the 'Elka') which one day will link southern Warsaw to the outside world. But - from what I saw - not for some time yet. A few weeks ago, an article in Gazeta Stołeczna suggested that the S2 will connect ul. Puławska with the A2, the motorway to Berlin, in September. In other words, 15 months after the original date for completion, June 2012. And three months after the previous promised opening date (June 2013).

Looking at how much there's still to do, and how fast the work has progressed so far, I'd rather bet on a late-November ribbon-cutting ceremony. If this project had been a public-private partnership, it would have opened last June. UK experience on PPPs shows that nearly 90% of projects are completed on time - because the private sector operator doesn't earn dime one until the infrastructure is made available to the public. From the road user's point of view, a toll-road is a toll-road; whether one's money goes to a public-sector operator (behind schedule and over budget) or to a private sector one (UK experience is that they complete on time and within budget) is not an issue. What is an issue is the ability to deliver. Poland's infrastructure is delivered in an exceedingly slow way.

Remember that good infrastructure builds rich nations, and that new roads boost local GDP, creating new job opportunities (for example, unemployment in Stryków, north of Łódź, fell from 13% to just 5%, when the A1/A2 motorways finally met there last year).

So - how's the S79 looking? Below: looking north from Węzeł Lotnisko towards the city centre. That's Warsaw Trade Tower on the horizon. Crash barriers are in place, but the final layers of asphalt are still needed. Lighting stanchions are low over the road surface as this is right under the flightpath for the runway at Okęcie airport.

Below: the S2 - Warsaw's southern bypass, and part of the Berlin-Moscow motorway, crossing under the S79 and the Warsaw-Radom railway line. Still much to do here, to fill the so-called wanna ('bath') and lay the tarmac. Connecting this bit of road to ul. Puławska, 2km to the east, will take many months.

Below: "Can we get to Puławska from here?" asks the cyclist on the left. "Not on a bike" is my answer. The slip-roads aren't ready, there are too many muddy or water-filled sections. It's hard going for a man in wellies. I purposely came here on foot knowing that it's still impassable to bicycles.

Below: looking east towards Puławska. The first viaduct carries the slip road linking the S79 northbound (currently a slip road from nowhere - see beneath) with the S2 westbound. The second viaducts carry the Warsaw-Radom main railway line and the Okęcie-Siekierki coal line. The third viaduct, just about visible, carries the line connecting Warsaw's Metro to the outside rail network.

Below: the S79 crossing over the S2, looking west. Note how much water is on the ground. We've had a few wet days, but nothing cataclysmic. Pumps are working in the underpass to remove surplus water.

Below: steps for maintenance workers leading from the S2 up to the S79 crossing over it. Work here is nearly ready; just a few more barriers to erect.

Below: looking north along the S79, from the southern end of the contract. The road stops suddenly here. To the left, the slip-road from the S2, for traffic coming in from the west. A road to nowhere. To the right, the slip-road to join the S2 - a road from nowhere.

Below: I turn around 180 degrees from where I took the above photo. In the distance - ul. Baletowa. One day, the S79 will continue from where it left off; it will cross Baletowa and head south through Dawidy, Zamienie, Zgorzała, Lesznowola and eventually connect up with the S7, helping to relieve congestion around Janki. But I guess this will all happen sometime after the EU's 2014-2020 budget money has to be spent by - 2022? Until then, the above stump of expressway will stand as a monument to Bad Planning.

A similar situation exists east of Puławska. Warsaw's southern bypass will, for the time being, end there. No tunnel under Ursynów, no new bridge to carry the S2 across the Vistula, no connection to the A2 Minsk Mazowiecki bypass, no A2 onwards to the Belarusian frontier. Not until 2022.

Poland deserves better infrastructure. The blame can be laid at the feet of successive governments since 1990 who failed to understand the influence that good infrastructure has on a nation's economy.

Above: a rare moonlit shot from Google Earth - the latest image available, dated 20 November 2012, clearly showing Węzeł Lotnisko and the abrupt end of the S79 in a muddy field.

This time last year:
Looking at progress along the S79 (how little has been achieved!)

This time two years ago:
Snow on 3 May

This time three years ago:
Two Polands

This time four years ago:
A delightful weekend in the country

This time five years ago:
The dismantling of the Rampa

This time six years ago:
Flag day

Pozytywki ponds after the refurbishment

2013-05-02T11:12:00.000+02:00

A first post-winter look at the newly-deepened flood retention ponds along ul. Pozytywki. Below: a panoramic shot of the pond on the corner of Pozytywki, Katarynki and Czarkowskiego. This is Jezioro Wąsal; surrounding trees and shrubs have been cut down, the banks re-profiled and a new sluice gate fitted (foreground). At present it looks bare and uninviting; no doubt it will regain some of its semi-rustic charm when grass grows back on the banks. At the far end, a newly-deepened and widened channel linking this pond to the one further up Pozytywki (bottom picture).

Left: Wąsal looking west from ul. Czarkowskiego. The houses fronting onto ul. Pozytywki ('Music-Box Street') have had little wooden platforms built out overlooking the pond. I wonder whether this has been done as part of the refurbishment, or whether the home-owners took the initiative to construct them. It's quarter past seven in the evening, this, the southernmost extreme of Warsaw is silent and still, with just some light traffic noise coming from Puławska behind me.

Incidentally, ul. Katarynki means 'Barrel-Organ Street' or 'Hurdy-Gurdy Street'. From here, right up to ul. Poleczki six kilometres north, most streets that have appeared after 1951 when the area became part of Warsaw, have musically-themed names, with folk instruments and folk dances predominating.

Above: Jezioro Pozytywki, on ul. Pozytywki. Here, the loss of trees is more apparent; the pond has lost much of its charm. [Click on the relevant labels below to see how the area looked before it was revitalised.] Grass will return, but it was all the surrounding greenery that gave the area its now lost appeal. But it's still a pleasant area for an evening's stroll.

This time last year:
May Day in the heat [31C!]

This time two years ago:
Bike ride across rural Poland

This time six years ago:
Mazovian landmark from the air

Regrets at the departure of Mr Gowin from the justice ministry

2013-04-29T21:37:00.001+02:00

Premier Tusk's mid-term blues get worse. Sacking one of the three most critical ministers in his government, Mr Tusk will have lost a lot of latent support. Jarosław Gowin may not have seen eye-to-eye with the PO rank and file, but he was a doer, an achiever, someone with a mission to reform.

Poland's number one problem is not Smolensk, in-vitro fertilisation or gay marriage - it is slimming down and reforming its bloated and inefficient public administration. Poland's public debt and deficit could be significantly reduced if the numbers employed at central and local government level matched those found in well-functioning EU member states - and if those working were as efficient as public servants in those countries.

It should be something that unites left and right, conservative and socialist, libertarian and collectivist - the desire to see a well-functioning public administration, one that serves the public rather than itself.

And yet, over the 23 years of democracy in Poland, no government has managed to get to grips with the rent-seekers, working at their bureaucratic travails at an exceedingly slow pace, acting as a handbrake on an otherwise vigorous economy.

It is, as Depeche Mode observed 30 years ago, a competitive world. Most governments around the globe are conducting reforms - some quicker, some slower; but with an eye on foreign direct investment, which generally means jobs, innovation, technology transfer and a move upward on the ladder of value-added.

The World Bank has over the years looked at how easy it is to do business around the world. Doing Business, which ranks 185 countries on ten criteria, has in its most recent report (published in October 2012), cited Poland as the world's fastest reforming country. Yes! (Read the following sentence out loud. It is from the World Bank.)

Key findings:

Poland was the global top improver in the past year.

How can this be, you ponder?

Poland jumped 19 places up the rankings from 74th to 55th in terms of ease of doing business. OK, so the UK's number seven in the world and number two in the EU behind Denmark, but a 19-place jump is a great achievement. Keep reforming at this pace and Poland will have made it to 36th this year, 17th the year after and will be vying for the best place to do business anywhere on earth by 2015. But we all know that won't happen...

Let's look at why Poland did so well last year.

Is it because it's so easy to obtain planning permission? No. In this category, Poland is 161st (out of 185 countries remember) and slipped four places compared to the previous survey. Is it because it's so easy to hook up your business to mains electricity? Not here either (Poland is 137th, and down a shameful seven places).

No - the answer's here - again I cite the World Bank:

[Poland] enhanced the ease of doing business through four institutional or regulatory reforms, making it easier to register property [up 25 places], pay taxes [up 10 places], enforce contracts [up 28 places], and resolve insolvency [up 54 places].

Step forward the ministers who are making it happen. Taxes - that's Jacek Rostowski. But the remaining three criteria - where Poland made the biggest progress - fell under the remit of Cambridge scholarship student Mr Gowin. The first justice minister in democratic Poland not to have been a lawyer, who said he'd take an axe, not a scalpel, to the court system. And now he's gone. The judges and court administrators can breathe a sigh of relief tonight - and return to the quiet life in the morning.

And why? Because of a tiff about in-vitro and gay weddings. Which in the Big Scheme of Things don't matter anywhere near as much as getting a decently functioning court system for the country.

Tusk's government, I fear, will drift, directionless, into the next elections (due autumn 2015). And it will win these elections, without any enthusiasm from the electorate. Tusk and co. will win because, to us lemmings who keep the economy going, the alternatives are unthinkable .

This time four years ago:
The cycle-to-work season starts

Spring in full flood, Jeziorki

2013-04-28T22:32:00.000+02:00

The rain forecast for today came as predicted (meteo.pl's computer model is getting increasingly accurate), with some heavy downpours overnight. It kept raining all morning; by the early evening it was dry enough to put on my wellies and go for a walk to see how the new retention ponds had coped with the rainfall. Below: a short (13 second) film from the top of the heap of soil on the east side of the main pond, panning from north to south. To the left, ul. Dumki. I hope this hill I'm standing on will be retained once the work's complete, though I doubt it. It does offer a good view.

I wonder if the total area of the pond now exceeds Gocław's Balaton? Until the area shows up on Google Maps/Google Earth, it's hard to tell...

I'm worried that the new flood alleviation project may not be up to the task. Some of the surrounding fields had water in the lower-lying parts; more drainage ditches may be needed and the retention ponds deepened.

Further on up ul. Dumki, on the section between the new flood defence works, the central part of the reed-beds have been left untouched. This is home to thousands of black-headed gulls (mewy śmieszki). When roosting as they do in large numbers, they can be heard half a kilometre away; approaching the reed-beds is like approaching a football stadium full of roaring fans. From up close, it's deafening (below)!

I'm glad this part of the area between ul. Dumki and Trombity has been left in its existing state as it is a rare natural habitat for Warsaw, a haven for wildlife and place to get away from urban reality.

Below: the sky is full of gulls screeching aggressively at the human intruder (me). The occasional individual takes a swoop in my direction as though to warn me away from their nesting area.

Below: the field at the junction of ul. Trombity and ul. Kórnicka, with the railway line behind me. The bottom end of this field, usually planted with potatoes, is flooded again, despite the recent amelioration work. More drainage ditches are needed around here if these fields are to stay productive after heavy rainfall.

Just before sunset, the clouds passed, as the weather forecast said they would. The blossom on these fruit trees is picked out by the rays of the evening sun.

Spring is finally here in Jeziorki, we've waited since late-October.

This time two years ago:
I need a new laptop. But which one?

This time four years ago:
In search of the sublime aesthetic

This time five year ago:
Ducks in Ogród Saski

This time six years ago:
Should I stay or should I go?

Toyah's latest book reviewed

2013-04-27T20:22:00.002+02:00

First, a disclosure; I have know the author and blogger Krzysztof Osiejuk since the summer of 1996; we met on holiday with our families in Penrhos, North Wales and became firm friends - Krzysztof has introduced me to much excellent music and great movies, and many's the single malt whisky we've enjoyed together while watching outstanding films or just chatting about life. Sadly, the Smolensk disaster has left a major division between us, much as it has within Polish society as a whole. For Krzysztof, it was the deliberate assassination of President Lech Kaczyński; for me, an accident that resulted from sloppy procedures in the air and on the ground. I fear that this new status quo will remain for years to come.

Anyway, on with the narrative. Krzysztof's first book, O siedmiokilogramowym liściu i inne historie, written under the Toyah pseudonym, is a collection of his pre-Smolensk blog posts, written during the glory days when he was Polityka's political blogger of the year (2009). Sadly, the posts are not dated, which would have been useful to future historians. Because this is the pre-Smolensk, there's less rancour, a lighter tone; those early years of PiS in parliamentary opposition with a PiS president in office now seen strangely exotic.

Toyah's second book, Twój pierwszy elementarz, written in the style of an ABC primer, was written after April 2010. Essentially, it stands as a who's who of Polish politics and blogging (even I get an entry!); with everyone neatly categorised into nasi ('ours') or else as tools of 'the system' (system), witting or otherwise. Many famous Poles, we learn, are or have been agents (of Moscow, of the security services, of the system) or are (as in my case), 'lemmings' (lemingi), who passively accept today's reality. An excellent guide to the works of the PiS mindset.

Krzysztof's first book published under his own name is Marki, dolary, banany i biusztonosz marki Triumph, is a much-needed first hand account of Poland's transition from communism to what we have today. An autobiography that moves from childhood and adolescence in Katowice (or indeed Stalinogród, which is what the city was called when Krzysztof was born), through his student days, Martial Law and the political and economic transformation to today's Poland - which he doesn't much care for.

Cover art by Marek Kamieński

For those of my readers who did not experience daily life in Poland under communism, a time of "endless waiting," he recalls, this book makes for an educational, and indeed entertaining, read. In particular the relationship between the citizen and the authorities, and the consumer and the market. Two anecdotes from the book merit recounting in full.

One was a taxi ride from Katowice to Sosnowiec. As his taxi was approaching the destination, the driver recognised a militia-man (milicjant) at traffic lights and began chatting to him. The militia-man got into the front passenger seat and continued the conversation with the driver in the stationary car, who was ignoring his passenger as the taxi-meter continued to spin. Krzysztof did not dare but in to remind the driver that he was still in the car. After a while, the militia-man turned around to Krzysztof and announced that he didn't like his hair-cut. Krzysztof maintained a polite tongue, explained why he was going to Sosnowiec (to register for his studies), but was noted down anyway. The taxi ride turned out to be extremely expensive - and there was nothing - nothing at all - that he could do about it.

The other concerns his first job. He was directed to work at the Zenit department store in Katowice as a junior radio and TV sales assistant. This was in the mid-1970s, when Edward Gierek was First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party, and sought to buy popularity by borrowing money from the West and spending it on the production of consumer goods, to create the illusion of prosperity. Krzysztof recalls, however, that none, literally none, of the radios (Śnieżka and Jubilat brand) worked. It was a similar case with televisions, but unlike the radios, there was demand for TVs. When anyone wanted to buy one, it would be plugged into the mains - and would not function. It was repacked, put into a store-room, and when the store-room was full, men from the Unitra factory would turn up, fix them, and place a sticker on each one saying 'Pre-sale repair' (naprawa przedsprzedażna).

As a citizen, as a consumer, in PRL you had next to no rights whatsoever. And yet if things were so bad back then, why is everything today so bad? There is a note of nostalgia running through the book, in particular to his childhood; Krzysztof was blessed with wonderful parents. And to times when you could spend blissful hours with friends, listening to music, talking about life, drinking, smoking, not worrying about the future.

Harbingers of the transformation to come - the introduction of democracy and the free market - were Krzysztof's journeys to 1980s West Germany, and for him the smell of fresh products. For me, my memories of trips to communist Poland are also connected with smell - the aroma of cheap newsprint by a Ruch kiosk, the smoke from Sport and Popularne cigarettes, that tantalising blend of damp, disinfectant and stale cooking smells of a tenement staircase

A note of mortality creeps in every now and then - so many of Krzysztof's friends have passed on; far more than would have been the case for a similar age cohort in the west. Better healthcare, healthier lifestyles, more to live for. And that sense of injustice - the children of the old communists went on to achieve wealth, those that fought for freedom live in relative poverty.

Marki, dolary, banany i biusztonosz marki Triumph is a worthwhile read for those interested in recent Polish history; an eyewitness testimony to bygone times that have changed beyond recognition in less than a quarter of a century. [It is available online for a mere 30 złotys or six quid plus postage] There is room in the English language for accounts of day-to-day life before, during and after transformation from communism to market democracy; I'm sure these will help future generations understand better this particular moment in human history, and its early 21st-century fallout.

I learn from the book that Krzysztof reckons he's got another three books inside him. I look forward to reading them all!

This time last year:
The Shard changes London's skyline

This time two years ago:
In praise of Warsaw's trams

This time three years ago:
Plans for the railway line to Radom
[three years on: what's changed?]

Kestrel on the roof

2013-04-25T23:59:00.000+02:00

Looking out of my window, from my desk, I espied this compact bird of prey on the roof of the neighbouring tenement (kamienica). Turns out it's a common kestrel (pustułka zwyczajna). In the background, the towers of St. Saviour's church (kościół Św. Zbawiciela) on Pl. Zabawiciela.

A migratory bird in this part of Europe; I've not seen it here before since moving to this office in late autumn.

This has been the week where the miracle of spring, that powerful explosion of nature, has made itself Most felt. For the past three days, I've sauntered home from work in broad daylight, wearing nothing more than a suit. Today, the top temperature expected is 23C. Leaves are appearing on trees almost overnight; the sun is rising earlier with each day (quarter past five this morning), and setting later with each day (ten to eight this evening). And to think, there was still plentiful snow on the ground just three weeks ago!

This really is the best time of the year for me - full of optimism, brightness and the prospect of long, summer days ahead.

This time last year:
Britain shivers: 6C to 8C in late April

This time two years ago:
Miracle on the Vistula: Spring explodes across Warsaw

This time three years ago:
Collapsing footbridge over Puławska

This time four years ago:
Four-engined jets at 30,000 ft

Kaczyński's ignorance, deceit or folly?

2013-04-24T21:44:00.002+02:00

I chanced across an interview with opposition leader Jarosław Kaczyński in Monday's Polska The Times, and found myself angered by two paragraphs about the economy, which I feel I need to comment. Here's the original Polish text, below:

Sytuacja w kraju jest w niewielkim tylko stopniu związanym z kryzysem międzynarodowym. Stan naszej gospodarki to jest efekt wyjątkowo złego sposobu rządzenia. Tak fatalnego, jak po roku 1989, jeszcze w Polsce nie było.

I'll translate as faithfully as possible into English (please offer improvements if you feel they are needed)...

"The situation in the country is only to a small degree linked to the international crisis. The condition of our economy is the result of extremely poor governance. So awful, as has not been seen in Poland since 1989."

What I find galling in this quote is the selectiveness of memory, the poor understanding of cause and effect in economics, and above all - the crass populism of the fellow.

Having sat through dozens of macroeconomic presentations by renowned economists, I can tell Mr Kaczyński that it would be a complete oddball, an absolute outlier - a crank indeed - who would categorically state that Poland's current economic slowdown has little to do with the global financial crisis. Though Poland's large domestic market insulates its economy better than smaller countries with a larger share of GDP generated by exports, Polish manufacturing sector is strongly dependent on the condition of European markets.

If we look at a country that Mr Kaczyński considers to be properly governed - Hungary - we will see that economic conditions are worse than in Poland. (Latest published data used; unemployment measure here is from Eurostat, which strips out the economically active who claim jobless benefits and is more comparable between the two countries.)

	GDP growth	Unemployment	Inflation
Poland	+1.1% (Q4 2012)	10.6% (Feb '13, Eurostat)	2.1% (Mar '13)
Hungary	-4.7% (Q4 2012)	11.2% (Jan '13, Eurostat)	4.0% (Feb '13)

The situation in Poland is indeed the worst it's been for many years, but certainly not the worst since 1989. Let's track these three key indicators to previous low points in Poland's post-transformation economic history...

	GDP growth	Unemployment	Inflation
Q1 2013	+1.1% (Q4 2012)	10.6% (Feb '13, Eurostat)	2.1% (Mar '13)
Q3 2002	+1.6% (Q3 2002)	20.2% (Aug '02, Eurostat)	2.8% (Aug '02, Eurostat)
Q1 1991	-7.0% (Q4 '91, GUS)	12.2% (Dec '91,GUS)	60.4% (Dec '91, GUS)

Things have, on aggregate been far worse. As to charges of macroeconomic mismanagement - yes, there's now little doubt that that Poland's independent monetary policy committee had been too hawkish in bumping up base rates in 2011-2012, jacking them up by 125 basis points from January 2011 to May 2012 (high water mark: 4.75%). By how much a more dove-like approach to monetary policy might have boosted GDP growth is a moot point - BUT THE IMPORTANT THING IS THAT POLAND HAS AN INDEPENDENT CENTRAL BANK - unlike Hungary.

The economic situation is not comfortable. The current government has squandered many chances to use its popular mandate to make necessary reforms to the way the Polish state and administration functions. From poor infrastructure (despite last year's frantic pre-Euro dash) to inefficient government offices, things could have been done better.

But I doubt if PiS in power would have seen things through any better. The friends of the Big State, rozdawnictwo (redistribution) and micro-management of matters economic, PiS in power today would be falling over themselves to blame the global economic crisis for people's woes, much as their ideological brethren in Budapest are doing.

This time last year:
The British electrical plug and socket reigns supreme

This time two years ago: This time last year:
Easter, and the end of Lent

This time three years ago:
That Icelandic volcano (anyone remember what it was called?)

This time four years ago:
Views of Historic Toruń

This time five years ago:
One swallow does not a summer make

The ever-growing demand for Park+Ride facilities

2013-04-23T22:28:00.001+02:00

Well, here we are - Warszafka Jeziorki station, indeed. Late morning rush-hour (I'm catching the 8:36 to town to get me to a press conference) and the grassy verges - for here, there are no pavements - are packed with stationary automobiles.

Before my train pulls in, I count over 70 of them, around the junction of ul. Karczunkowska and Gogolińska. This is a record. When I first commented upon the new phenomenon of dziki parking ('wild', 'spontaneous', 'unplanned' parking) around W-wa Jeziorki station, back in October 2008, I counted a dozen or so cars. Three years on, in October 2011, it was up to 50. A year and half later, it's 70+; this growth rate has become unsustainable - space is running out. Unless you're prepared to walk a fair distance to the station platform.

Above: cars parked where they may. Behind me and to my right, across the tracks - more cars. Better that they rest here, than clog up the roads into town.

Left: the new station sign. I prefer the old one (scroll to the foot of this page).

Below: there's over 70 cars - but just two bicycles. The weather's perfect - why not more bikes? They are relatively safe - shackled to steel barriers right under the watchful eye of the level-crossing keeper.

It would not, however, be too much to ask PKP PLK or whatever spółka spun off from PKP now runs the nation's stations to put up some bicycle racks here. I'm sure that several of those 70 car drivers could consider cycling here rather than burning up fossil fuel to carry their persons to the railway station. At this time of year - with increasingly accurate, computer-modelled weather forecasts - there's really little excuse for not using the bike (or indeed walking, as I did today) for short-distance intermodal commuting.

Will there ever be proper P+R (or in Polish PiJ) at Jeziorki? The official plans have been shelved; the money that was ear-marked for P+R facilities here could be spent buying dozens of buses instead. Four articulated buses can carry as many passengers as a large multi-story P+R.

Cluttered grass verges in Jeziorki are a small price to pay for commuters leaving their cars far away from the city centre.

This time last year:
Cycle-friendly London

This time two years ago:
The end of the Azure Week

Completely in the dark

2013-04-21T22:10:00.001+02:00

Many people find enjoyment from spending 90 minutes in a darkened room watching a movie. But what about spending 90 minutes in five totally darkened rooms watching... nothing at all?

A brilliant viewpoint-changing exhibition, one that's somehow been missed by the mainstream media, has been on in Warsaw since December 2011. I went last week, and it's still with me.

Niewidzialna Wystawa (Invisible Exhibition) is on at the Millennium Plaza (the so-called Toi-Toi building near Pl. Zawiszy). It is about sensory deprivation - for an hour and half, you are deprived of the sense of sight. You enter the world of the blind person. It is quite extraordinary.

Small groups of up to eight people are led into total darkness. That's 'total' as in now glowing wrist-watches, no mobile phones, no light sources of whatever description allowed in. The curtain closes behind you; you will see nothing for the next 90 minutes. Your other senses will take over.

There are five rooms. We've been sworn to secrecy - I can't tell you what exactly is in them, except to say that the first is an ordinary house, the second is a street, the third an art gallery, the fourth a forester's lodge, the fifth - a wooded glade. With your hands, you feel your way around. You discover familiar surroundings in an entirely new way.

One of the rooms in the exhibition. Can't remember which one, though.

In the first room, I felt a mounting sense of unease. Would I be able to cope for the full 90 minutes? People around me were discovering things at the edges of the first room - I was holding back my anxiety. There was among us a girl, aged six or seven, named Ania (as it happened one of three Anias in the group), was the first to get accustomed to the dark; she was joyously calling out the names of things as she identified them. Her cheerful voice reassured me; as we moved into the second room - a street - I began feeling more comfortable.

We followed the beckoning calls of our guide, as she let us confidently from one room to another. As we started getting used to our new surroundings, the adults started slowly returning to themselves, even cracking the occasional good-natured joke.

My greatest fear was for my shins. The shins are particularly sensitive; walking into furniture or barriers can be painful. Groping around in a ceaseless search for points of reference, for textures, shapes, beginnings of things, ends of things, trying to make sense of what your fingers contact; it becomes a challenge - though a tiring one.

As we moved around the exhibition, one profound insight occurred to me - if there's one thing worse than being blind - it's being alone.

Bring loose change. There's the opportunity to buy mineral water, chocolate bars and snacks - but you have to find the right money, hand it over to the guide, check you've got the right change, and take your purchase. Little Ania bought a bottle of mineral water, which to everyone's surprise, she correctly identified as Kropla Beskidu. "By the shape of the bottle", she explained.

Our guide warned us that we were getting close to the end of the exhibition, and that we'd soon be entering the world of light once again. She asked us to blink rapidly, so that our irises would get accustomed to normal daylight. As we emerged into the foyer, I realised that the girl who had so authoritatively and so confidently led us through the darkness was herself blind. And then little Ania asked "Can I stop blinking now?"

There was time to see an exhibition about Braille (a textbook for a blind schoolchild takes up six times as many pages as one for a sighted child, a Braille typewriter has but six keys and a space-bar), there was a Braille globe, various household gadgets for the blind (from speaking wristwatches to apple peelers) and other educational and entertainment aids. All very humbling, when one considers how much more effort a visually impaired person is forced to make in order to live and learn as the rest of us do.

This is an exhibition not to be missed. Apart from the valuable social message, it gives one the chance to immerse oneself in a world in which one sense needs to be supplanted by the other four (or five if you believe in six). "Go and see it", I wrote summing up. But indeed, there's nothing to see. Which makes this exhibition unique - literally once in a lifetime. Tickets are cinema-priced; 21 złotys weekdays, 25 złotys weekends, with student, pensioner, child and family discounts. Niewidzialna Wystawa is open all week from 12:00 to 20:00, with the last group going in at 18:45. On Thursdays and Sundays it opens two hours earlier (at 10:00).

This time last year:
New engine on the coal train

This time two years ago
High time to leave the car at home

This time three years ago:
The answer to urban commuting

This time six years ago:
Far away across the fields