Travel / Poland traffic signs are confusing.. Do you agree? [30]


It is always safest to treat all crossings as potentially in use as you approach at traffic light junction turns. Even if they are crossing on red, the courts would likely find a driver guilty of careless driving if he were to injure someone crossing on red or green. In the UK, we have no such contradictory signals, and therefore I agree that filter arrow signals should flash green or amber, preferably amber.

Law / Registration as a Sole Trader in Poland [21]


No, at least 2 of them told me it was a thousand and something now. I can't find the notes for that, but I can find the present intro ZUS 431.18


I asked a few weeks ago, I think I posted at the time, they just said that's the figure now and I recall their laughter when I expressed my fear at what it would be in 2 years, anyway whatever it was I said it was back then is what they told me it was now if not on the 2 year intro. I'm not asking again, they up the bill when I ask a question. Don't tell me to find someone else, it was a nightmare finding anyone at all sub 300zl a month. Something like 5 out of 7 here wanted 300 or 250 a month plus VAT for fees


ZUS clamped down on what sort of work they'll allow for that and people told one of the accountants that they suddenly faced back claims for unpaid ZUS. Don't shoot the messenger, I'm, just reporting what I was told. Additionally, Donek (Tusk) is supposed to have said something about ending these contracts or ending the ZUSless element of them. Do a news search if you have time, and you might find the story somewhere. Like I say, this is what I heard, might've read it here from someone else, but if I was told correctly then TPTB or the unions aren't wearing it any more for those contracts and the current situation is they've scaled back what they will allow those contracts to be applied to.

That's what I heard anyway, if it turns out to be untrue or misreported, perhaps you can set the record straight.

Food / Are eggs in Poland refrigerated/not refrigerated? [33]

Lots of supermarkets do too. I'm not sure of the legal rights and wrongs, but it's definitely happening.

Law / Registration as a Sole Trader in Poland [21]


Honestly, I've no idea how that's so that you're on 'just' 987.39. If they won't charge you just for asking, please ask your accountant why you get that small discount (any discount being better than nic), because as I said before mine has already warned me to expect some figure just over 1000PLN in 2016, no maybes, no ifs, no buts. I think it was 1050 or 1080. Now it's 431.18.

I hope all goes well, OP.

Things seem rather quiet at present, either because of tensions in the region or because it's just one of those things only effecting some of us (or just me). Bear this sort of thing in mind when committing to a business as the NI has to be paid, come rain or shine.

Law / Registration as a Sole Trader in Poland [21]

Or more precisely, I think it's PLN431.18 and PLN1050 respectively, although one established and respected poster here said he 'only' pays PLN985 a month.

For the self-employed it's a flat rate (but perhaps higher for higher incomes, not sure) and has to be paid to Uncle Zus whether you made a shilling that month or not.

The NI or ZUS may not sound a lot until you realise that earnings here are a lot less than the UK, by and large.

Even if you're going to web develop for companies back in the UK, if the Polish Inland Revenue decide "the centre of your activities" are in Poland, you have to pay tax to Poland, AFAIK.

Law / Registration as a Sole Trader in Poland [21]

In a nutshell, for the first 2 years you have to pay (figures in GBP approx.) 85 a month to the NI office whether you make a penny or not. After that, 200 a month, ditto.

Tax is about 20%, but you get a tax free allowance of about 600 p.a.
An accountant can set you back 70 a month, but if you look hard you'll find some will do it for 30-40 if your accounts are simple-ish.

Best thing to do is find a good but not expensive accountant. Took me a very long time.

Language / Thank you note/letter to a professor in Polish [14]


Are you physically attracted to her?

Thanks, a nice thank you card and a Tesco gift voucher should suffice, if you truly just want to say thanks.

Life / Directory for Wroclaw cell numbers? [18]


Really? The debate in the UK was everything to do with privacy when ID cards were protested against. Please see
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_politics/7441693.stm

We certainly do not have to carry any ID in England & Wales, and that includes no need to carry a DL. And we had our Data Protection Registrar legislation from the start, having been set up in the early 1980s. Yet relatively few are ex-directory in Britain, unless there has been an accelerating trend in recent years.

I haven't given my number out either but I still get marketing calls, at least one a week. Most of the marketers can't speak English and hang up when I tell them I don't speak Polish. A small proportion seem to be automated recordings.

Even the folks back home in the USA don't like ID cards
aclu.org/technology-and-liberty/5-problems-national-id-cards


Invasion of Privacy: Arizona State to Use ID Cards to Track Students
policymic.com/articles/12254/invasion-of-privacy-arizona-state-to-use-id-cards-to-track-students

The mods will bin this if we deviate off topic any further, so I'll rest it here. Be sure, however, we take privacy very seriously in the UK (hence the rejection of ID cards) and yet we still expect to be found in The Phone Book and few bother to opt-out and go ex-directory (although that number may have increased in recent years, I grant you).

Life / Directory for Wroclaw cell numbers? [18]

I have a paper copy of the Wroclaw phone book, and although it's thinner than average for a city this size, it's still reasonably thick like a medium size town's phone book in England. The year of the book is 2007 and it has an orange cover. Most of the entries are surnames, about less than 1/10 is the business section. Over 1000 pages.

I have never observed any defensiveness about privacy from Poles. And that's unsurprising, considering that Poles are expected to carry their pink ID card at all times, and carry their insurance and driving licence for immediate inspection if driving. In the UK, you can produce any documents required at a police station in some days if not on you.

In Poland, telemarketing calls still reach my mobile and people's landlines, despite the fact none of us are in any phone book. Perhaps they random dial.

Life / Directory for Wroclaw cell numbers? [18]

The same etiquette exists in the UK. However, numbers are still published without any undue concern in phone books etc. No, I have not noticed the guarding of privacy at all here. I think Brits are more concerned about ID theft and the like. Here Poles must carry ID cards and must carry their driving licence if driving, something that'd never be tolerated in the UK. (In the UK you don't have to carry any ID nor even a driving licence when driving. You get a period of time to present it if required by a police officer.)

Life / Directory for Wroclaw cell numbers? [18]

Surprising cultural difference because in the UK the vast majority of people's phone numbers can be found free online using one of many online directory services, for example

thephonebook.bt.com/publisha.content/en/search/residential/search.publisha

Life / Directory for Wroclaw cell numbers? [18]


I'm not aware of any comprehensive online non business telephone book in Poland, so if you hear of one please let me know.

Law / Which Poland bank pays the most interest on pounds/GBP? [6]

HSBC does not have a branch network in Poland for personal customers, as far as I know.

Santander Consumer Bank Poland are visible in many streets but you can't easily or at all bank at Polish branches as if they were Santander UK; they don't seem to be able to access Santander UK's database from Poland. I believe they're 2 separate subsidiaries.

In short, no, there are none of the big personal banking UK names here that I can think of. Maybe in Warsaw but not here in Wroclaw. Probably not in Warsaw either.

However, there are some close relationships between UK and Poland banks, especially between Natwest and one of the banks here (PKO BP I think). Ask at Natwest before you leave.

Life / Jack Strong ( Film about Colonel Ryszard Kuklinski ) [48]


I agree with your post, however Walesa refused to pardon Kuklinski (for whatever reason). But even Walesa eventually gave some ground:


community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19980428&slug=2747661

Personally, I'd have no problem with anyone breaking 'oaths/rules' if to save life and limb. Especially the life and limb of millions of innocent people. But, perhaps that's my silly and quaint free world thinking!


My last post on this, and the last word in my last post on this goes to:


nytimes.com/2004/02/12/world/ryszard-kuklinski-73-spy-in-poland-in-cold-war-dies.html

Life / Jack Strong ( Film about Colonel Ryszard Kuklinski ) [48]


Doesn't mean anything. You know the term, sheeple. How many concentration camp guards just got on with it? Probably almost all. Wasn't the right thing to do there either, was it? Anyway, thanks for sharing your views, although I can't agree I greatly appreciate your and Harry's putting the other view to me, and of course there is merit in Harry's point about RPII, but I still can't say what I read about post-WWII was better, well not for ordinary non-commies anyway.

About the prison or camp, this is the most succinct summary I could find:

en.tracesofwar.com/article/30960/Concentration-Camp-Bereza -Kartuska.htm

This former Polish concentration camp was opened on 17 June 1934 to detain people who were viewed by the Polish state as a "threat to security, peace and social order" without formal charges or trial for three months. From October 1937, notorious and financial criminals were also detained here. Citizens suspected of pro-German sympathies were first detained in Bereza in middle 1938. During the first days of the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, Polish authorities started mass arrests of people suspected of such sympathies and members of the German minority. The camp was closed in the night of 17/18 September 1939. At least 13 people died in this camp.

More here:

encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Concentration+Camp+Bereza+Kartuska


I sincerely admire your honesty for posting that.

Life / Jack Strong ( Film about Colonel Ryszard Kuklinski ) [48]


It was a prison AFAIK, not a concentration camp. Most countries have prisons, for better or worse.

I'm not sure about how Kuklinski got into the army, but even if he signed up willingly, if he then discovered plans for an offensive war and so forth, his obligation to humanity overrides all else. Just as any Nazi concentration camp guard can't hide behind talk of oaths and orders either. There was no excuse for exterminating camp inmates, no excuse for even harming them. Most were innocents. I'm sure you'd agree their oaths or orders were worthless too. And that's regardless of how those Nazis got their office.

I don't expect you to agree. I don't expect everyone reading the history of Poland 1918-39 to think it sounds like a barrel of laughs either, because it likely wasn't. But that doesn't mean what came post WWII was the solution. And more importantly, that supposed solution wasn't voted in. Therefore, that Poland wasn't 'his country'. It's quite reasonable to expect the actions he took were to get things back to the Poland he could consider 'his country' (and in the process, thwart an offensive). Ultimately, it boils down to whether someone thinks communism was good or bad, when they judge Kuklinski. Talk of 'breaking oaths' is a sideshow.

Life / Jack Strong ( Film about Colonel Ryszard Kuklinski ) [48]


Oppression is clearly wrong. Starting a war rather than defending from one is wrong. Preventing those things is in no way anything other than heroic. Solemn promises or oaths to people (or more precisely, leadership groups) who took power without the sworn person electing them? No such thing. It's like someone squatting in my house with menaces and yet you telling me off for phoning the old bill when they went to the loo.


1918-1939 wasn't known as free Poland, ie RPII? Could you please elaborate on the concentration camps you mention, pre WWII? The history I know of suggests Poland was free, some sort of struggle as has often been the case, but essentially free. I'd be grateful if you'd fill in the blanks that you believe I'm missing.

Life / Jack Strong ( Film about Colonel Ryszard Kuklinski ) [48]

Seems more likely to me that he did in fact do what he did for Poland, actually -- the Poland that existed before communism was introduced without an election. Unless, of course, a majority of Poland's population voted in communist rule. Otherwise, if you're just handed a situation and told to get on with it, him being labelled a traitor doesn't stack up at all, except in the eyes of people who derived some benefit from communism and were sad to see it go. Of course, such people did well under communism, and they probably still exist today, as do their relatives in various countries and descendants.

Life / Jack Strong ( Film about Colonel Ryszard Kuklinski ) [48]

Who were the other side? The free West, seeking to defeat the oppression of communism, or some other 'side'? Did people have a choice but to live under communism? I was told they had to live under communism whether they wanted to or not. So, if someone sought to break that oppression and as in this case avert a catastrophic war, it was a bad thing in some people's eyes as the polls and your posts suggest. But, I don't agree. I couldn't disagree more, in fact, based on what I've read. If you have an alternative version of things, please feel free to post a link and I'll be pleased to see if I can truly grasp this alternative viewpoint of his as anything other than a hero.

Life / Jack Strong ( Film about Colonel Ryszard Kuklinski ) [48]


I'll grant you that.


cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/summer00/art03.html


rlisu.wordpress.com/2010/12/08/the-spy-who-saved-the-world-the-tragedy-of-colonel-kuklinski/

News / Poland shall dominate Europe. Ongoing process [30]

This is incredible stuff to me. I believe what you're saying, but it's just it seems everyone here has loads of kids. It seems to be the complete opposite here of a low birthrate. Maybe there's something in the water, locally!

News / Poland shall dominate Europe. Ongoing process [30]

Honestly, I know I'm just giving you an anecdote that's pretty much worthless, but I find it so hard to believe the birthrate's down. There are kids everywhere. Noisy, screaming, pavement hogging, childseats in every car almost, packed buses, young people just everywhere and it not only gives me a headache and gets in my way so I can't even sit down on a bus or walk a pavement without having to step on to the road to let a buggy coming opposite pass,but it just makes me feel so very old. I am a miserable b*gger I know.

News / Poland shall dominate Europe. Ongoing process [30]

How few is few? Wrocław is full of young kids everywhere you go. Mums and dads pushing buggies on every footpath I walk and always in my way, buggies loaded on to packed buses several times a day when I travel, screaming kids in the corridors of every block I've ever lived in. More kids here than I ever see when I am back in Britain, and no I don't live in Eastbourne. So, if this is "few", I cannot imagine what it was like before. It must have been like one big kindergarten, although it's not far from that now.

In any case, even if few babies are being born here (which I doubt, whatever the stats may say), they're being born in the UK and Eire, and it's not impossible that many will return to Poland. I have to say, however, Wrocław seems very over-crowded already. It's hard to imagine busier streets or busier sidewalks most times.

Life / Jack Strong ( Film about Colonel Ryszard Kuklinski ) [48]


Not my words, but many will suggest to you that talk of him taking money is propaganda. Decide for yourself, obviously.


rlisu.wordpress.com/2010/12/08/the-spy-who-saved-the-world-the-tragedy-of-colonel-kuklinski

Life / Jack Strong ( Film about Colonel Ryszard Kuklinski ) [48]


Didn't he prevent atrocities? Wouldn't those atrocities have led to a situation where it's likely many of us would not even be alive today? That's not a hero in your book? Isn't it a soldier's duty to prevent the death of innocents? Streuth ! :o(

Life / Jack Strong ( Film about Colonel Ryszard Kuklinski ) [48]


So, if a Nazi in a concentration camp carries out atrocities but 'explains' "I was just following orders, I didn't want to break my oath" that's OK with you is it? Must follow orders at all costs, yeah?

Reminds me of this: spring.org.uk/2007/02/stanley-milgram-obedience-to-authority.php

Kuklinski was most definitely a hero. All else is bunk.

News / Is this the first clear and open signal that Poland makes preparations for war with Russia? [163]


The very obviously horrible, horrible thing about nukes is if they go beyond being used as a deterrent and kill or poison totally innocent civilians and conscripts. Although there is some argument that they have kept the peace for some time due to MAD, which is obviously a plus, they and chemical weapons should have been banned. That said, when a war comes along it's hard to imagine that a desperate and losing side would not get hold of them again and use them. So, yes my argument is naïve.

News / Is this the first clear and open signal that Poland makes preparations for war with Russia? [163]

Assuming he wasn't misquoted, Donald Tusk warns of ramifications:

News / Poland free market ( EU ) [11]


Zero. None. Nic.
nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk/advice/planning/jobprofiles/Pages/estateagent.aspx

I have no idea what you mean when you say certifieds have to sign off a contract. Lawyers or conveyancers do that, conveyancers need to be licensed.

A long overdue call for formal qualifications has now gone quiet.
old.estateagenttoday.co.uk/news_features/RICS-calls-for-compulsory-qualifications-for-all-agents

What's worse is you get unqualified agents calling their market appraisals "valuations" which is supposed to be illegal, and has been for 20 years. Only a chartered or similar surveyor can do a valuation, although in practice they often phone agents for prices.

General car repairs/servicing
uk.answers.yahoo/question/index?qid=20120418051433AAV6XkW

News / Poland free market ( EU ) [11]


Yes, England, Wales & Northern Ireland. Scotland might be different, but probably not. Optional certification. Optional trade body membership.
You can also run a UK garage to repair cars without a certificate unless you want to conduct statutory safety or emissions tests.