Law / Is it REALLY that easy to get car insurance in Poland ? [14]


Not really. It was age and address and value of car (and I think maybe how long I'd been driving). I remember that I had a student who had a Subaru WRX (and a seriously souped up one) who had twice lost his licence (once for speeding and once for drink driving) and had had several accidents. I at that time had a completely clean licence and had had one accident (17 years previously). We were both paying 4.8% of the value of our cars for our insurance. For a laugh I got a quote for my grandmother (clean licence and not an accident in 50 years' driving) driving a 2003 Skoda Fabia Classic (i.e. what would be group one in UK): the quote was 4.8%

Law / Is it REALLY that easy to get car insurance in Poland ? [14]


Things must have changed a lot since 2003 (ever since then I've just renewed my existing policy, after checking with a friend's brother who is an insurance agent).

History / Are Poles grateful to the Russians for winning the war? [120]

If they have one, they aren't telling anybody about it.

Real Estate / How to get my property back in Poland? I left 36 years ago. [59]


Sounds like you've lost any claim to the property. But seriously: contact a lawyer.

News / Polish president traveling LOT? What about POLISH AIRFORCE 1? [23]


Sorry pip but got to disagree: the average age of LOT's fleet is apparently 8.8 years. By comparison: Continental 10.1, US Airways 12.2, Delta 13.8, American 14.7, Northwest 18.5.

airsafe.com/events/airlines/fleetage.htm

News / Polish president traveling LOT? What about POLISH AIRFORCE 1? [23]


It is actually at the expense of the Polish taxpayer, which I believe makes your views irrelevant.

News / Polish president traveling LOT? What about POLISH AIRFORCE 1? [23]


Unfortunately even the most basic grasp of economics is far beyond little Deepak.

Study / Eastern European Studies internship/ job [10]

Based on 15 years of living and working in Warsaw, I would have suggested trying one of the major property firms here, some of them use English as a working language and thus have staff who don't speak Polish; however, the last time I made that recommendation the post was moved to off-topic, so perhaps the mods here know far more about the companies which I work with on a daily basis. Probably best if you listen to them and consider any recommendation to contact the major property firms here as being so useless as to be off-topic.

History / Are Poles grateful to the Russians for winning the war? [120]


No, I did not ask to a link to a wikipedia article about the plan, I asked for a copy of it. Do you have one or know where I can get one?

UK, Ireland / Culture shock (my neighbours in the UK are Polish and Slovak) [88]


The Kale, Sinti, Romanichal, Manush and Romanisael might just disagree with you there.

Real Estate / How to get my property back in Poland? I left 36 years ago. [59]


I'm not saying that you know nothing, I'm saying that if she acquired ownership of the property less than 20 years ago (i.e. neither of their names were on the deeds before then) and they were still married when she did, he might have a claim.

But you might also want to note that my advice to him was to try to settle it with her and then to speak to a lawyer.

News / Poles are able to forgive their enemies - how noble. [68]


Although Hiroo Onoda might have views to the contrary.

Real Estate / How to get my property back in Poland? I left 36 years ago. [59]


But by your reasoning, a couple could buy twenty rental flats and then when they divorce 25 years later one party assert that the other had no claim to the properties as no use had been made by that person of those properties.

It also depends on when she acquired the flat and when they divorced (from what I'm seeing, they didn't own the flat when he left but she acquired it at a later date).

Real Estate / How to get my property back in Poland? I left 36 years ago. [59]


Depends on when they got divorced then.

History / Are Poles grateful to the Russians for winning the war? [120]

Do happen to have a copy of that plan? I've been looking for one for ages.

Real Estate / How to get my property back in Poland? I left 36 years ago. [59]

So try and settle it with her and then speak to a lawyer if she won't settle.

Real Estate / How to get my property back in Poland? I left 36 years ago. [59]


In 1981 what?

Food / Coffee in Poland: cheap and undrinkable / expensive and good [89]


Was that the groupon offer at half price? I was tempted until I saw the courier charge was 20zl for a 50 gram package!

UK, Ireland / Culture shock (my neighbours in the UK are Polish and Slovak) [88]


History lessons at Polish schools do leave quite a bit to be desired. British schools aren't really that much better, but at least Brits have less experience with history changing!

Real Estate / How to get my property back in Poland? I left 36 years ago. [59]

Are you still married to her? Was the property acquired during the time you were married? If the answer to those two questions is yes, you are most likely still the owner of half the property as it will be common property.

However, the first thing to do is to try to settle this matter with your wife without getting any lawyers involved. Getting lawyers involved won't mean there is any more money for the two of you to share, it will just mean that there is less money for you to share. I'd suggest you ask her to have the property valued by three independent valuers and then ask for half of the average of the values. You can discuss with her payment terms (i.e. all spread over say ten years, half now and half over ten years, all now, etc).

If that doesn't work, you need to contact a lawyer in Szczecin. I can't recommend anybody there personally.

Food / Coffee in Poland: cheap and undrinkable / expensive and good [89]


Yes: local specialist shops. I use a little one halfway between San Lorenzo restaurant on Jana Pawla the McDonalds on the corner of Solidarnosci and Jana Pawla but there are lots dotted round the city. Another alternative is Green Coffee: they sell their coffee beans to go and it’s all freshly roasted too, not sure about the price though.

Food / What's your favorite Polish beer? [870]


There is some Polish beer which is very similar to Ukrainian beer. And vice versa, in fact I have heard of Ukrainian beer being tried to be passed off as Polish beer, but never with any success.

Work / Looking for accommodation & teaching job in KATOWICE [78]


That very much depends on whether one views the only tolerable children as being those which are at least a couple of hundred metres away.

Love / Foreigners: would you have moved to Poland if it was full of fat/ugly women? [42]

I've met more than a few who were just here for the money, I even know some who still come for the money (although admittedly now the cushy expat packages are generally a thing of the past, much of that money is the money that they will be earning after being promoted when they return home and are promoted).

Love / Foreigners: would you have moved to Poland if it was full of fat/ugly women? [42]


What's wrong with Subway? Pick the right options and you can easily eat three meals a day there and consume less than 1400 calories per day.

Love / Foreigners: would you have moved to Poland if it was full of fat/ugly women? [42]


I believe the correct term for those is not 'sweathogs' but actually 'British tourists'.

News / Poland Parliament elections in October 2011 [944]


No necessarily. If the wife/son in question have the skills, experience and qualifications to do the job, I see nothing wrong with it. It's even possible to argue that they should get the job over slightly better qualified candidates as the relationship the employer has with them is very much a known quantity and so there is no risk of personality clash (those tend not to come out during an interview).

Love / Foreigners: would you have moved to Poland if it was full of fat/ugly women? [42]


a) I thought you came here with your husband when he got a job here (didn't you?).
b) I have never actually met you (so you could technically be a 400 pound teenager who lives in Des Moines).

Work / Looking for accommodation & teaching job in KATOWICE [78]


So you have taught a couple of hours and now feel that there is nothing you need to learn from discussing things about teaching. Your students really are so lucky to have such a dedicated and professional teacher taking their hard earned money.

Love / Foreigners: would you have moved to Poland if it was full of fat/ugly women? [42]


No, the PF assumption being that foreign men are more likely to come to Poland and are far far more likely to stay here for more than a couple of years. In fact, now that I think about it, in the 15+ years I've been here, I have never met a foreign woman who had been here more than a couple of years and was not married to a long-term expat or a Pole.