UK, Ireland / The Slavic Tax Thieves Stealing from the UK [29]


Oh, come on Seanus. When was the last time you got an invoice for dental work? I've never got one from any medical professional. As for car mechanics, I don't think they consider themselves part of the tax system. When I insist on issuing an invoice for my work, most non-corporate clients are extremely surprised. If the tax office got really serious about tax collection, this country would have a lot more cash to fix the health service with.

Real Estate / Banks in Poland selling fewer mortgages in 2011, down 49% [285]


As I said, the loan was for the second stage of building. The house was up, with internal walls and a roof, plus 4600m2 of land. All worth more than the loan.

UK, Ireland / Websites for Poles to benefit from Britain! [210]

Could you just send me a few quid? I can't be arsed getting on whizzair.
hudson. If you want to have a pop at someone, you know where to go. It's got a big clock tower and subsidized restaurants. Who can blame ordinary folk for playing the system? I'm sure if Poland were daft enough to offer generous benefits payments to the British, with webpages in English, there would be plenty of English shellsuits on the way here.

Love / 6 months with my Polish girlfriend and I still don't understand her.. [208]

If men were suddenly able to understand women, they might not like what they found out. Viva le mystère, I say. That's why I won't use the unisex toilet at work. There are some things I just don't want to know.

Food / Availability of salceson (Polish-style brawn/headcheese)? [5]

Needs a new name. I would never eat anything that sounds like a urological complaint.

Law / Medical Malpractice in Poland - seeking accountability? [146]

The way doctors make money is often a bit more sophisticated than taking banknotes in a brown envelope. Here's my experience of a couple of years ago. I needed a minor operation. The doc told me to come to his private clinic (a room with a wash basin in a town block). I paid 70PLN, as did 25 other people, for a two-minute 'consultation', the purpose of which was simply to put me higher on the waiting list for the op. He does this lucrative little gig once a week. The operation would have meant me spending three days in hospital. This was a very minor operation, but the hospital wants you in for longer so they can claim more from NFZ (a doctor friend's daughter was in for five days for a minor op). When I said I couldn't waste three days in hospital the doc had a solution. Come to his private practice and have it done for 900PLN. This is what I did. The op took four minutes.

Real Estate / Banks in Poland selling fewer mortgages in 2011, down 49% [285]

Yep, all paid off. The last 'holiday' we had was two days in Lublin years and years ago. A three-day trip to London for a funeral doesn't count in my book! I work pretty hard (twelve days straight before yesterday) but I like that. Just now I'm avoiding spending my entire Sunday proofreading a boring paper on management, which will be followed by a slightly less boring paper on bison poo. Better get back to work.

Real Estate / Banks in Poland selling fewer mortgages in 2011, down 49% [285]


We didn't get a mortgage. I borrowed about 50k from my own bank as a personal loan and took a year longer building. Next March I'll make the final payment. Then we might consider out first holiday in six years.

News / Poland a top pot producer? Legalization? [30]


He wasn't beloved (he lost by a landslide in the '45 election) and he wasn't a great believer in democracy; he saw it as the best of a bad bunch of options.

He also said that America could always be relied on to do the right thing. After exhausting every other possibility.
Churchill was also an alcoholic and chronic cigar smoker.
Perhaps if powerful warriors chilled out with a spliff now and again, the world would be a calmer place.

Real Estate / Banks in Poland selling fewer mortgages in 2011, down 49% [285]


I'm glad to hear it. Perhaps the newer banks are better than the old sharks we tried.


Same here. Tax, insurance, land registry, bank records, courts, etc. I half expected a strip search.

Real Estate / Banks in Poland selling fewer mortgages in 2011, down 49% [285]

Here are the reasons why I refused the offer of a mortgage a few years ago. My wife and I had applied for a loan to carry out the second stage of building our house, and had been granted 110 000PLN, to be paid in two tranches. After we'd read the contract we refused to sign it because of the unacceptable demands and greed of the bank.

1. We were told that we both had to open current accounts with the bank (not our regular bank) and that at least 70% of our income would have to go through these accounts.

2. The bank provided a list of stages that we would have to follow while finishing the project. Some of these stages were illogical, e.g laying underfloor heating pipes first, and then putting insulation on top, thereby keeping the heat below the floor. These demands would have taken away our right to adapt our plans as we went along, and would have imposed a rigid and inflexible timetable. Furthermore, any deviation from the bank's timetable would have resulted in fines. The bank demanded complete control, and we were not prepared to hand that over.

3. The bank was to release the first trance of 50% of the money and then issue the second tranche when that money had been spent. But we would have started paying interest on the full amount from the day the first tranche was issued. We would have been paying interest on money we didn't have.

4. Only interest could be paid in the first year. We would not have been able to make payments on the capital.

The bank staff were astonished that we had refused the mortgage. "All the banks offer the same terms!" the assistant manager yelped.
"Maybe so," I replied, "but that doesn't make it morally right."
So we hunkered down and took a bit longer to build. For me banks are simply usurers.

Work / Native Speakers increasingly desperate? Polish and African teacher forcing down wages.. [27]


Only if they have a deep and correct understanding of how English works.


99% of learners would disagree.


Fair enough.


No.

News / Palikot or the Poles getting rid of the Polish society old Taboos in 2011? [30]

Yes. It should be remembered that the word liberal is a term of abuse only among right-wing Americans of the Tea Party type. Elsewhere the word stands for tolerance, fair play, open-mindedness, willingness to listen, and intellectual curiosity.

History / Why have Poles contributed so little to Academics? (Particularly Science) [180]

Consider this. University staff are paid so little that they have to do two or more jobs just to pay the bills. One result of this is that they are very busy people who do not have time to spend developing their expertise to the extent that they would like. Compare this with an American or British academic who can afford to spend a great deal of time on independant study. There are very many academics who are doing great work in the universities and institutes, and their work is usually unpublicized, but there are others who are members of staff in two, three or more institutions in order to keep their families, to the detriment of their personal professional development.

News / Palikot or the Poles getting rid of the Polish society old Taboos in 2011? [30]


I wouldn't go quite that far yet, but Poland is undoubtedly becoming more socially liberal. Ten years ago my uni students did not criticize RC Church PLC, they felt free to use racist epithets, and the women giggled when the word feminist was used by a female professor. I have heard students in the last few years openly claim to be atheist, verbally attack the Church, talk about gay people with fellow-feeling (no openly gay students yet where I am) and generally show themselves to be much more tolerant than their parents' generation.


Lots. And there is a societal need for some of them.

USA, Canada / US Polonia 70% for Kaczyński [343]


I'll tell you who I voted for if you tell me who you voted for. How's that?

News / Will you be proud of tranny (transsexual) representing Poland ? [124]

And it's only from the waist up. Who's to say there isn't meat and two veg swinging away down below? Still and all, he/she looks pretty good.

USA, Canada / US Polonia 70% for Kaczyński [343]


Ironside is definitely part of an elite. He is in a class of his own.

News / Will you be proud of tranny (transsexual) representing Poland ? [124]


Me neither, as long as she stays out of my bedroom. Sorry, was that sexist?

Work / Long Term Stay Visa in Poland (ESL teacher) [6]


You're right to listen to your instincts. My job makes me cry only once a day so I can hack it. Seriously though, you don't need to put up with that kind of crap. Are you an EU citizen?

Genealogy / Why Polish aren't white?? [272]


Not in the Europe I'm thinking of.

Language / Kurwa? at end of every sentence [51]


True, but it's often said after the briefest of pauses.


Can't remember hearing a double K, but a I did hear a woman yelling at her husband, who was on his way back from the village shop after a few breakfast beers. After letting him have it she ended with, "Kurwa bardzo." Never heard that one before or since. Sounded almost polite.

Language / Kurwa? at end of every sentence [51]

You could be more selective in your choice of friends.

USA, Canada / US Polonia 70% for Kaczyński [343]


I just knew we had to have something in common.

USA, Canada / US Polonia 70% for Kaczyński [343]


Come to think of it, neither can I.


Was she as dreadful as they say?

USA, Canada / US Polonia 70% for Kaczyński [343]


You talking to me?

USA, Canada / US Polonia 70% for Kaczyński [343]


I am glad that I am no longer eligible to vote in UK elections because I contribute nothing to that nation. It seems fair to me that the people who live there can decide which politicians they want to represent them without interference from outsiders like me who have no intention of going back and participating in the life of the country.

USA, Canada / US Polonia 70% for Kaczyński [343]


Agree absolutely. I don't think I'm elibible to vote in the UK anymore as I've been away for so long, but even if I were allowed to vote, I wouldn't. I simply feel I have no moral right to do so. As for going of forums pontificating about how the country is run, well, that would be too absurd for words.

Life / How much money did you spend today in Poland and what did you spend it on? [33]


Reminds me of when I had a bad back. My wife, acting on advice, went to the vet for something you put on horses. The vet asked what kind of horse it was. She then admitted it was for me. The vet just said, conspiritorially, "You didn't get it here". It's great stuff and costs about 25zł. Can't remember the name but your vet will know.

Study / Ever meet a non-Polish teacher at a Polish university? [15]

I suppose in English you'd say I was a Junior Lecturer in the neo-philology faculty.