USA, Canada / How do I find my 2nd cousin in IL possibly Chicago? [15]


Would seem to be the most sensible thing. I've got the contact details for the people who used to live here...

Ah, Dessie is back. Where's my popcorn?

Feedback / Read PF, but never post? [29]


I've never needed to change - I use about...bah, maybe 5-6 of them on a regular basis?

One from a phone connection (like now), three static IP addresses at home, one possibly dynamic address at work, another two static IP addresses at the place where I volunteer once a week (two connections) and possibly a couple of others too. You'll notice that I use all of them quite frequently - it's no secret.

You're no longer a moderator?


How strange. What's stopping him from using plain old Des?

Language / Learn Polish or Russian [86]


Along with Spain, Italy, France and many other countries. The monolingualism of the Francophone Swiss is also quite legendary.


No, it's a sign of peasants trying to pretend that they in fact weren't peasants.

Same nonsense is seen with idiot modern immigrants to the UK pretending that they've forgotten Polish.


We never touched Jews, or indeed anyone except our own.

Real Estate / Poland's apartment prices continue to fall [1844]


I'm sure I could find affordable property in the arse end of Poland too. Wouldn't prove anything.

Real Estate / Poland's apartment prices continue to fall [1844]


Not really. The thing that drove the housing boom in Poland was the unheard-of access to cheap credit.


Easy to say, but not so easy in reality for most Europeans.


I'm sure they did. Were these 5 bedroom houses in Ukraine?

Language / Learn Polish or Russian [86]


No you're not. You cannot possibly be Polish if you don't speak Polish. You're a plain old American.

Work / Is salary of 3000 Euros gross enough to live decently in Lodz, Poland? [53]

6,500 on umowa o prace...what's that, 4000zl net?

Real Estate / Poland's apartment prices continue to fall [1844]


Ah, I don't mean it in an offensive way, just that they're at the lowest point on the work ladder and salary ladder.

Then again, gdyniaguy seems to criticise Thatcher for selling off the housing stock, yet seems to think that everyone has a right to buy. Conflicted economics, anyone?

Real Estate / Poland's apartment prices continue to fall [1844]


I'm also pretty certain that the banks are taking a much tougher line on newbuilds too.

But really, what's happening in Poland happens everywhere. The working classes rent or share, the middle classes buy. What's new?

(interestingly, home ownership isn't popular at all in Germany or Switzerland, so it's hardly a reliable measure of wealth)

Real Estate / Poland's apartment prices continue to fall [1844]


Hardly an improvement if your 25 year investment looks barely fit to last. I've seen examples of nice new apartments falling to bits with large cracks in the wall/etc after 18 months - do you think any Pole in their right mind is going to buy such a thing?


The drop in prices can actually be attributed to the toughening of the mortgage criteria and the drying up of CHF loans. Nothing to do with the market as such, but rather a change in mortgage conditions.


I think it's pretty obvious that you don't have a grip on how Poland actually works. Let's see -

Local government offices? It's as secure a job as it gets. A couple working for the local government would easily have an income of around 4000zl after tax - which is more than enough to get a mortgage on a 2-3 bedroom property in the vast majority of places. No problem there.

Biedronka? They're pretty much the lowest of the low. What gives them the right to own property, given that they didn't educate themselves, didn't do anything for it and don't do anything particularly difficult?

Hotel and restaurant workers? Again, in what country do such menial workers expect to buy property?

What country in Europe actually lets such people buy property?

In Poland, just like everywhere else - it's the middle classes that buy property. The working classes in the UK only managed because of the right-to-buy - if ti wasn't for that, most of them would still be renting from the State.


Indeed. Poland is riddled with people who live in large flats by virtue of being well connected during Communism. Look in Wroclaw - the centre is hurting terribly because of such people.

We don't even talk about how flats lie empty because they inherited Babcia's flat and they think it's worth much more than it is. I lost track of how many flats I looked at that were exactly like that - Babcia had died, the flat needed total renovation and they still wanted 25-30% more than the rest.

But - to all the usual suspects - why do you think that the Biedronka worker has a right to buy a flat?

Real Estate / Poland's apartment prices continue to fall [1844]


The problem is that the new apartments are not necessarily desirable. For instance, I know of new apartments lying empty simply because they were built very much on the cheap - no-one is interested in them for exactly that reason. Nothing to do with supply and demand and everything to do with people not wanting to splash out on crap.


Too expensive? There's plenty of affordable accommodation in Poland. The real issue is that there is a strange cultural habit of not "upgrading" - so people will often stay in unsuitable conditions for much longer because they want the ideal property - rather than getting one property and selling it within a few years for something better.

Or, of course, there are family problems. It's not uncommon that the grandparents are alcoholics/ill, so the children have to stay there simply because the parents would have nowhere to go if they left. There is also that little law that requires children to take care of their parents...


No, they're up **** creek because they overreached themselves. Same story in most European countries - fortunately, Poland has far less of them compared to the UK, Ireland, Spain, etc.


The Polish housing market seems to be doing just fine. Care to provide any evidence to the contrary?

Work / 4-5,000 gross enough to live off for 1 person in Poznan? [13]

I'm not sure why you're trying to compare a chav-infested hellhole with a pleasant city like Poznan.

Love / Are Polish Girls scared of English Guys [124]


I know several. All of them are happy.

Real Estate / Poland's apartment prices continue to fall [1844]

What kind of status-obsessed lunatic would take a 110% mortgage? :/

Out of curiosity Harry, did you have much trouble getting a mortgage back in the day?

Real Estate / Poland's apartment prices continue to fall [1844]

The only issue is that you're forgetting that there's still a shortage of housing stock compared to the population.

History / Poland and Polish Anti-Semitism, c. 1918-1939 [148]

That's because Bolsheviks were Bolsheviks. Their ethnicity had little to nothing to do with it.

Work / Close Protection (Bodyguard) - popular line of work in Poland? [19]


Given that "security" in Poland tends to consist of "who can hire the guys with the biggest muscles"...


The industry is being deregulated as part of Gowin's reforms.


Plenty of demand from people who need professional security. I could introduce him to several clients in Poznan tomorrow if he wanted.

Feedback / Read PF, but never post? [29]


Fail.

It would be better if it was "Blonde 100% Polish Girl looking for Jewish-Asian sponsors" ;)

Life / Is Poland a poor country? [578]

Most people from the EU would never bother to register - so 5,600 will be the amount with valid residency documents.

UK, Ireland / Polish immigrants in the UK - the next generation [87]


Very independent. Ambassadors, because of the nature of their job, tend to steer clear of party politics unless they're symbolically appointed to high profile jobs like Patten was. On the whole, they can't afford to get involved with politics - why risk ending your career for the sake of partianship?

Anyway, it's been conclusively proven that the UK has no idea exactly how many non-UK citizens are within its borders.

Work / Cost of Living, Average Salaries and Job sites in Poland [263]


Dessie could learn a thing or two from you!

(still laughing at the thought of living like a Lord's bastard!)

Life / Is Poland a poor country? [578]

Of course he is, haven't you read his previous threads? The whole thing seems to be one big moan about the fact that he can't afford to buy anything here.

Life / Is Poland a poor country? [578]

Show me another similarly sized country, which emerged from Communism in 1989/1990 in Europe?

Ukraine is the ideal benchmark - and the mess that Ukraine is in nowadays versus Poland.

It's difficult to benchmark Poland even against Spain - as Spain economically liberalised long before Franco died.

Don't bother trying to compare against the Czech Republic, Slovenia, etc - they aren't comparable.

Life / Is Poland a poor country? [578]


How can you compare Poland to stable, wealthy Western democracies?

There are no valid benchmarks for Poland to compare herself to, apart from possibly Ukraine and Belarus.

Life / Is Poland a poor country? [578]


Greece is definitely in the middle and Italy in the rich category (at least, in much of Italy - some parts are middle).

I'd definitely argue that suburban areas of the better Polish cities are far richer than parts of Greece, Italy, etc.

Work / Poland Salary Expectations - Native English Speaker CSR [14]


Indeed, but that's why young people in Europe in general tend to share flats rather than living by themselves in major cities. All this nonsense about Poland being unaffordable means

It's an opening level, unskilled job, it's never going to pay amazingly well. I've just found similar job offers in London for the same sort of thing - from 250 to 500 pounds a week. In London!

Work / Poland Salary Expectations - Native English Speaker CSR [14]

Hmm... 2500zl net would probably be doable, but 3000zl might be too much for them. It really depends - but Wroclaw is starting to have the same problem as Krakow when it comes to being oversaturated with foreign men. The fact that you're female might actually be to your advantage :)

Health insurance is a big one - they do actually check rigorously if you're insured or not.

I'd sit back and see what they offer - the cost to them for 3000 netto is actually 6000zl to the company. But - I think it's not totally unrealistic, too. The real issue might be that they've mentioned "native English speaker", but in reality, they just want someone with a native level of English. There's also the issue that if you weren't actually born in America, they might just take you as being Polish.

Either way, good luck!

Work / Poland Salary Expectations - Native English Speaker CSR [14]


There's no harm in asking, but if it's for a plain vanilla CSR job, they might not be willing to go so high because there are plenty of other natives around who would work for less. (3000PLN netto is 5000PLN brutto) Where's the job located?

Have you been invited to an interview yet?

Do bear in mind that 3000PLN net with private lessons isn't the same as 3000 net working for a company.

Real Estate / What do you pay in rent/mortgage in Poland? [144]


What about you?

Travel / Ryanair travel by air - subtle scams to be wary of [98]


It's all in the name of money saving - other airlines get the gate staff to do it, but Ryanair (and probably wisely) doesn't trust them to do it properly. Given that for the UK at least, it's a 2000 pounds fine for the carriers when approaches passport control without valid papers - it would soon add up.

It also does save time at the gate and so on - and speeds up the whole process. One thing about Ryanair - I've always, always been on time with them.

What I like personally about Ryanair is that they've been incredibly sensible with their cash. When everyone else was spending huge amounts of cash for whatever reason, O'Leary was still telling airports and Boeing to get lost unless they gave him substantial discounts. Now that the good times are over, O'Leary is sitting on a cash mountain and a well run business financially, while everyone else is struggling.

And yes, I believe him. Ryanair have enough cash to do pretty much what they want - and how they want it.


Ridiculous. It's the same issue that brought down Alitalia, the same issue that haunts Air France and so on - and the same reason why Ryanair, Wizzair and Easyjet do much better.

Interestingly - there are still murmurings that Wizzair and Ryanair could merge one day once O'Leary retires - the two don't really compete, they have similar investors and so on. He's already said that he doesn't plan to stick around forever, so once he's taken Ryanair as far as he goes, I can see it happening.