Food / Where to buy British mature Cheddar Cheese and salted butter in Poland? [289]

Your cheese updates are as always appreciated :)

Lidl seem to have stopped their 'weeks' recently, which is a shame.


I'll have a look, cheers :)

I'm still surprised that no-one has really cottoned on to the fact that this stuff actually sells in Poland.

Work / Information about jobs for Indian students in Poland [286]


Yes. Go to kebab shops and volunteer your services. 5zl an hour cash in hand is normal.

USA, Canada / Returning to Poland! Has anyone seen this influx of people from the US? [27]


There's a rule against changing names here.


The Polish, I imagine.

Work / Moving to Poland to work at a company (Warsaw or Lodz). Average expense per month? [57]


Such is the reality of most of Europe, which is a two earner society.

USA, Canada / Returning to Poland! Has anyone seen this influx of people from the US? [27]


Contribute? Most of them don't last - they soon realise that it's much harder to adapt to the European way of living than they first imagined. Then add in a liberal dose of the Slavic passion for nonsense and you soon have a climate that drives a lot of people away quickly.

As I said, I'd give him two years before selling up (at a loss) and going back home.

USA, Canada / Returning to Poland! Has anyone seen this influx of people from the US? [27]

And yet absolutely honest.

Those expecting to find something extraordinary in Poland are likely to be bitterly disappointed, especially if they've spent years building it up as some sort of utopia for racists.

USA, Canada / Returning to Poland! Has anyone seen this influx of people from the US? [27]


You'll probably move back after a couple of years when you realise that Poland doesn't miss you.

USA, Canada / Returning to Poland! Has anyone seen this influx of people from the US? [27]


Was it ever per TV in Poland?

UK, Ireland / Polish man on UK TV show, ,,Britain's Got Talent'' -- real or fake? [6]

:D I saw it last night, and a friend pointed out the original ;)

USA, Canada / Returning to Poland! Has anyone seen this influx of people from the US? [27]


Oh Marek, your knowledge about Poland never ceases to amaze.

You don't have to pay a fee per TV, you have to pay a licence to receive TV and radio signals. If you have one TV or twenty TV's, it doesn't matter, you pay the same.

UK, Ireland / Polish man on UK TV show, ,,Britain's Got Talent'' -- real or fake? [6]

It's a spoof - the original is at
youtu.be/r7iKduyAtjM

But it is well done and very funny.

News / Emigration from Poland (2.1m Poles are living abroad, most within Europe) [37]


It's more of an issue that new ones simply aren't being trained, I think, combined with the fact that the post-1989 governments didn't value higher technical education in the same way that the Communists did. Technical schools are expensive to operate, and with a university sector that is bloated beyond belief - a whole generation has grown up without those skills that the previous generation had.

News / Poland's Economy Is Booming! The EU's Success Story? [711]

Shh. The average person who believes such a chart clearly would only buy the cheapest anyway.

News / Poland's Economy Is Booming! The EU's Success Story? [711]


Except it isn't, because you aren't taking into account many other things such as taxation and other factors such as modernisation.

News / Poland's Economy Is Booming! The EU's Success Story? [711]


Hahahahahaha. I wondered how long it would be before someone brought this up.

For a start, what that graph fails to acknowledge is that taxes actually fell in that time. Then it also fails to acknowledge some of the realities - such as 2003's public transport network mostly relying on old Communist-era vehicles which didn't have to be paid for. Then there's the fact that some stuff (such as meat) is naturally more expensive simply because standards have risen - no longer is it acceptable to treat animals terribly.

As for petrol - I don't know how to explain this to you, but oil prices in 2003 were around $30 a barrel. Compare to today, where the price is actually over $100 - and you can see that the price hasn't risen anywhere near as much as it should have.

UK, Ireland / How to make my Polish friend's dad like me [25]


Quite. The poor woman will have to suffer her husband being loaded yet again, after all.


Trolling again, EM_Wave?

You haven't met any Polish students, so why are you saying such rubbish?


It's not a bad idea. Polish is a decent gateway language to other Slavic languages, and it's simpler than the others because of the vast amount of borrowings from German in the language. Not to mention that being able to speak Polish at even an intermediate level can help massively in the UK when it comes to supervision/management.

UK, Ireland / How to make my Polish friend's dad like me [25]

With some nice items from the Polski Sklep for his second (well, probably his first) breakfast. Can't lose.

UK, Ireland / How to make my Polish friend's dad like me [25]

**** that, if he's a proper moustache, just get him loaded on vodka.

Travel / Good Hotels in Krakow? [6]

Mocha, when you book flights, let me know and I'll help you find something decent :) Two weeks booking should give you a very good discount...

History / What does it mean to be "Polish"? Why does Poland exist? [13]


Polish history isn't very special in the last 100 years - plenty of countries such as Bosnia and Kosovo owe their existence to the Americans.

Life / Polish rock bands from the 70's and 80's. [16]


I do like them, cheesy though they are.

Perfect should be mentioned too.

It has to be said - Polish is a hell of a language for rock ballads.

Law / Registration of right hand drive cars in Poland - possible? [82]

That's what the complaint was about - in theory, you can register an RHD. The problem is that the technical check regulations treat an RHD as an instant fail, so you are obliged to convert it to LHD before it can pass the check.

It was my understanding that if you can persuade a bent garage owner to give you a pass for the RHD, then you can register it just fine.

Law / Registration of right hand drive cars in Poland - possible? [82]


It might, it depends how Poland reacts. Plenty of EU countries just ignore what laws they feel like ignoring, after all.


I really, really hope so. Better to pay a few million Euro in fines than to allow Pawel and his racist dickhead mates behind the wheel of RHD cars.

UK, Ireland / Former minister admits UK messed up on immigration [78]

I very much doubt he's ever been near Slovakia as well.

Lunik IX is a sad story, but well, isn't it easier to racially abuse them online than to help?

Law / Registration of right hand drive cars in Poland - possible? [82]

I absolutely agree. The downright suicidal behaviour of some drivers will only get worse if they're able to import ridiculously cheap (by Polish standards) RHD cars - there are still plenty of 10-15 year old BMW's out there in great condition in the UK, and Poles will snap them up once they can register them.

UK, Ireland / Former minister admits UK messed up on immigration [78]

Surely BBMan is more qualified to talk on the subject than I, given that he posted the pictures.

UK, Ireland / Former minister admits UK messed up on immigration [78]


Probably not, because one figure suggests that up to 300,000 Brits are leaving every year, so there's a place for them.

Travel / Getting from Krakow to Warsaw [99]


I have a general rule with TLK's - try and only travel on routes with a dining bar attached. I was one on a dreadfully packed TLK from Warsaw to Poznan, but the dining bar was...empty.

Law / De-registering as foreigner in Poland? [5]

No reason to even bother, although if you want to do things properly, you should inform the Urzad Miasta, the Foreigners Office, ZUS and the Urzad Skarbowy.

Leaving already?

News / Skins vs anarchists in Warsaw [93]

There was a communique published by the Urzad Miasta at 16:4? saying that it was cancelled - I think the worst stuff had already happened by then, and the police made it clear that they were going to go in heavy handed if there was further trouble.

I suspect the real purpose of cancelling it was that it gave the police a green light to disperse the crowd - but the President has already made it clear that they have evidence that the organisers allowed the troublemakers to rejoin the march after leaving it.

I'm all for letting them march again next year, provided a sizable bond is placed with the Urzad Miasta first and clear rules about when such a bond is forfeited. I suspect the organisers will think twice if they know that they're going to lose everything. The damage this year came to 120,000zl - so a 2 million bond should cover things nicely.