Life / Leroy Merlins Price Protection [41]

90 % speak English... Hmmm ... why should they in the first place? Do 90% of shop employees in the US speak Polish, or any other language?
And they were NOT too lazy to put any kind of idiot price protection. They do not have to.
Stop whining and buy yourself a nice crystal ball.

"Oh yes, I bought this tin of Whiskas 6 months ago and in the meantime the price has changed. Can I get a refund?" Hopeless.

Life / Leroy Merlins Price Protection [41]

It mystifies me why you think you are entitled to get back the price difference ?
Was there a contractual agreement stating that you were entitled to get this when you bought your A/C ?
If I would have been the duty manager I would have flatly refused you the refund.

Life / Is there an English shop in warsaw ? [17]

Hi Hoteldweller, are you Flemish perhaps... just as me ?

Life / Is there an English shop in warsaw ? [17]

American Bookstore in Arkadia.
Warsaw Airport :) But even in the airport on some weekend they will only have the Friday newspaper.
There is a second-hand bookstore in the University Library building which is supposed to be quite good.
Foodstuffs: Indeed Kuchnia Świat and Marks & Sparks.
Add to this the other upmarket supermarkets such as Bomi and Alma.
But as someone else mentioned here... they cost an arm and a leg.

Travel / Driving around Poland, is diesel available and can we find lodgings as we go? [22]

In the end we can joke about this, but isn't it truly maddening helpless? I mean somebody actually is writing stuff like that and believes it as well?

Does it come from plain ignorance, wrong education or getting your way into college by playing American football?
It defies any logic.

Travel / Visit to Kazimierz Dolny , Poland [14]

From what I have heard (But then I live in that grey hole called Warsaw, which I happen to find a nice place to live) Sandomierz and Lubliń are supposed to be very nice.

Life / I'm an American who lived in Poland for 6 years. I'm not welcome anymore. [169]

Good you are expelled. Europeans in your situation would most likely deported to KZ Guantanamo.
Me as a Belgian could go any time to your country without a visa. Not that I want.
Facing the brainless morons of the Immigration Service on any US border crossing ?
No thank you.
I think the Old World is way to sophisticated :)

Travel / Driving around Poland, is diesel available and can we find lodgings as we go? [22]

Same goes for the "tirówki". I hear they are very tourist-friendly, and you get HIV free of charge as a bonus :)

Travel / Driving around Poland, is diesel available and can we find lodgings as we go? [22]


Hmm... Interesting question. To be honest here in Poland the steam age just has finished....
No seriously... What kind of question is this? Does he think Poland is on the outer edge of space? Or that the diesel engine just has been introduced in this country?

Hopeless.

Life / Why build a supermarket with 20 checkouts with only 3 till staff? [46]

Simple. They pay people peanuts and treat their employees like ****. So why would anybody want to work there. And even better, serve spoilt foreigners.
Only an expat can complain like that.
Stop whining, read your magazine while waiting. Or go like me on Saturday morning before 10:00 to Tesco. No hassle at all.
Asking for change? Everybody knows that in Poland there is a perennial shortage of change.
Debet cards, anyone ?

Travel / Is the general consensus in Poland that black people shouldn't visit? [35]


Next thing we will see that he is from Nigeria and several million pounds which he wants to transfer, he will only need our bank details :)

Life / Polish and Dutch Satelite TV [3]

BVN (cooperation between Flemish and Dutch public TV) is a FTA station, and brings a cross section of Dutch-language programs. To be captured with every digital receiver. bvn.nl

Second solution is to bring your Canal+ smartcard & a receiver from Holland and there you go :)

Life / Has Anybody Applied for US tourist Visa In Krakow? [9]

As a Belgian I do not need a visa for the US, but I am mystified why anybody would like to visit a country where immigration officials treat you like ****, they think you are a potential 9/11 or they are just plain stupid.

Not me. I will stay in Europe.
Whereas every time I come back home to Poland, the border officials are always nice.

It even mystifies me even more why Poles want to stand for hours in line, to be interviewed by a US embassy moron. You have to be idealistic for that.

Life / Wroclaw has too much Graffiti [8]

What strikes me here in Warsaw, that although this ugly graffiti is just everywhere, not any church in the city has it on them. Is it because these moronic simpletons are afraid they will go to hell if they spray on a church wall?

And I do not think graffiti should be accepted as "that is life". It is criminal and degrading.

Life / Gun-range Practice At Night [14]

Was the shooting range already there before you moved in?
If yes, what are you complaining about?
It is as if you would rent a flat near to Okęcie and then start to complain about the noise.

Life / POLISH INSECTS CAN RUIN YOUR LIFE.... [27]


I do not get this one. You bought yourself a Jeep in the UK, but cannot fork out the 80 PLN or so on a private doctor's visit, even when you think Lyme's is attacking you?

I do not think a bacia knows about Lyme's even when she has six children (sorry I do not see the connection there)

Life / Thunderstorms in Poland [44]

Yesterday it was bingo here in Warsaw. I was on my way back from work to home, when in Ozarów Mazowiecki all clouds turned black and all the next 30 minutes I drove like through a waterfall. Impressive :)

Travel / The Great Mazurian lakes in Poland - visit Mazury! [2]

Do not forget the tractor-sized mosquitoes though. They just laugh of about any kind of insect repellent you throw at them :)
For the rest, indeed a wonderful place. Shame half of Poland has the same idea in Summer though...

Travel / Where would be good for this long weekend in Poland? [12]

I can agree with Harry. I will even be able to find a place to sit outside my pub in Nowe Miasto :)

Life / Some advice required please about living in Kędzierzyn-Koźle. [4]

My brother-in-law lives there... In which part of the city are you going to live?
Kędzierzyn or Kożle ? They are two separate towns in fact

I am going to K-K next weekend... karkówka on the bbq & beers with my brother-in-law... Now it is the time to ask your questions :)

So I was this weekend in Kozle. Neat town, good public transport, has all the shops you might need. As for nightlife, there is a very good pub called Papugi (Parrots) on the outskirts of the town which frequently hosts life concerts. It is on walking distance from the town centre.

Life / What are your favourite Polish Radio stations...? [27]

I used to like Jazz FM quite a lot, but that has sadly disappeared and the frequency has been taken over by Chilli ZET.
Radio PIN is also very good, world music and lots of good info programs.

Life / Polish hospitals and the medical system [10]

The best hospitals in Warsaw supposedly are the one from the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MSWIA), NFZ funded but hardly impossible (or so I am told) to get in, and the Military Hospital.

At the moment Medicover is building a state-of-the art hospital in Wilanów. Good news for me because covered with my Medicover card...

Life / Are there any expat Neighbourhoods in Poznan? [16]

I live in Bielany, Warsaw, in a stara kamienica, entirely devoid of any kind of expat life. All our neighbours are 100% Polish. Thanks God for that, not having expats as neighbours thank you very much. No Mokotów snobbery here. My neighbour might not know where the next sushi place is - and thanks God he does not even know the word, which shows he is normal -. But if I have at 7 in the morning a plumbing emergency he will help me out without any question. he will find an excuse for his boss to come late to work... Me too by the way...

Oh yes, I will buy him later a Żywiec or two, but what the heck ?

Life / Decently priced gym or health club in Warsaw? [17]

Gymnasion is really good. They have a chain of gyms all over Poland. I am going to the one in the Olympic Centre here in Warsaw. Costs 700 PLN for six months.

gymnasion.pl

Life / Where to buy a Moses basket in Poland? [14]


A bit sad.
On this kind of moment in life I would think that money - a lousy 25 pounds - would be the last concern.

Life / Nice place to buy art prints/posters in Warsaw? [5]

On the Rynek is a shop, but not exactly cheap.
Also I think the Poster museum sells them...

Life / Culture Shock Since Moving to Poland - Anybody Dealt With This Before? [52]

Culture shock.... hmmmm I am living in Warsaw since 2004... and how my daily life compares to the one I had back at home in Antwerp, Belgium?

- I have to get up the same time (05:30) to go to work, as I did at home
- Way too many cars on the road (why everybody has to go to work on the time I am leaving). Most of them drive like nutcases, but hey this is Poland :)

- Work is work, they speak Polish (and so do I) but for the rest.... same stress, same office politics...
- Not enough time to spend with your partner, happy to meet friends in the weekend, satisfied you finally manage to put your car through the car wash...

- Spending ages in Tesco or C4 but OK, you have to adapt to that... I take a Newsweek and manage to read the entire magazine before it is my turn... Surviving...

And then it is Monday and the circus starts again...
but was massively exacerbated by me not being able to speak Polish

In Poland the staff in C4 are NOT required to speak English. To expect them to do so.... Very sad.

Life / Where to buy bathroom items in Poland? [8]

Wal-Mart? Isn't that the colonial empire which rules its inhabitants with an iron fist and pays peanuts for horrible working conditions ?

Leroy-Merlin, Briko... Ikea.... take your pick.You find them everywhere

News / Problem getting Polish TV by satellite [14]

Merged: FTA satellite reception in Poland?

A friend of mine here in Warsaw, would like to have sat TV at home, but she does not want fork out on a subscription.

How to arrange FTA reception? With a "blank" smartcard?