Life / Polish TV licence (abonament) - almost no-one I know pays [36]

I only want to focus on Poland, although it's interesting to read of Germany's arrangement.

Does anyone know how much I have to pay the TV licence organisation in Poland or have a link, please?

BTW In the UK, we have produced info in Polish for those in the UK who are from Poland and need a TV Licence:

tvlicensing.co.uk/downloads/multilingual/MultiLingual_pl.pdf

I have searched on Google and can't identify which link takes me to the Polish TV licence site - anyone offer any assistance ?

Life / Polish TV licence (abonament) - almost no-one I know pays [36]

Is the TV Licence still payable in Poland? How much is it?

(Someone told me if I switch off my cable TV I then have to pay the licence myself, ie if I receive TV through an aerial/antenna. Otherwise, my cable TV company pays I assume. I don't know for sure, I only found out yesterday about there probably still being a licence requirement in Poland.)

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

Apparently not. IE...


However, anecdotally I am hearing that wages are not rising and only unemployment is. Where there's employment it seems it's increasingly temporary or on a short contract.

Of course, looking around the malls today on my travels they seemed very busy. However, one or two shops were noticably empty, including one proclaiming 50% off shoe prices. That was surprising and I can only assume that even at that price people can go to Deichmann or another chain and get the same for less.

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

[quote=warszawski]Well here is one below those prices new build as well/quote]
The ones they checked are apparently a good part, along by Ul Sowia etc, the good part of Krzyki.

The end near Bardzka in your link is not the same i'm afraid.

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

Someone I know passed me the prices of property in Krzyki, Wrocław at present: from 5700 to 7500 a square metre

If they're the reduced prices, I wouldn't have wanted to see the full ones!

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

Spoke to two fairly young women at a mall yesterday who were trying to get me to apply for a sales promo as I walked past them. Got chatting very easily as both conversed in rapid, fluent English with me. They said and I quote "Hard to get a good job here, it's a network, you have to know someone....The rent is very expensive, half my monthly wages."

One of them had lived in Hampton Wick (a good part of outer London) for 5 years with her English boyfriend, and the other who was the more fluent and barely even had an accent said she had tried to work in Oxford City (as she called it) and to my surprise it had only been a cleaning job there. It fell through for some reason.

Both of these women were in their 20s and seemed super bright and the one that had worked in the HW coffee shop was a postgrad. Yet there they are giving out leaflets in a mall. Of course, the bar in Poland may be higher, or they may have adverse job references - but what they told me was not the first time I've heard that here in Wrocław. Yet to look at the top of the range motors on the roads here and the packed trams, it all looks very buoyant.

(The HW woman said she intends to return to the UK as she "can't make much money" in Poland, btw.)

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

What I'm hearing re unemployment: gloomy or even bleak for quite a few, but not so much for those with specialist skills (eg IT management, and of course some other industries I could list), increasingly companies are putting newcomers on short contracts (especially banks), skilled grads are finding work in retail (stock replenishing, KFC, etc), younger ones continue to look abroad to Germany, Eire and the UK.

That's what I find when I chat to people. It's not a scientific sample.

On the flip side, seems plenty of signs of wealth here in Wroc - flash new cars, Xmas malls pretty busy, although perhaps not quite as busy as I recall in 2010.

Season's greetings to all.

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

Thanks W

Yes it's 6.99, but I bought 2 the other day and one 10-month old one is a bit gritty, like farmhouse (I think it's the salt or maybe the crystals that form). So I can't say I like this latest batch as much as the last lot. I'm probably going to go back to C/City or Kerrygold on the block at Auchan (front of the cheese counter chiller, facing the yoghurt promo aisle).

Life / did/does Polish TV show any British Sitcoms? [35]


I tried to like it, but I just couldn't. I can sorta kinda understand why some people like it, but to me the humour occurrences are predictable.


Indeed!

Some of the things Poland's behind with would be best kept that way, for your society's sake.

Life / did/does Polish TV show any British Sitcoms? [35]


I didn't find most of BH that funny either, although I know lots of people that did.
Ditto Mr Bean, which probably you adored.


For anyone wondering, that was the episode where the main characters (priests) accidentally entered a dept store's ladies underwear section which was so huge that they couldn't find their way out of it, as if it were a jungle or forest.

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

It's a mild cheddar, Peter, usually sold sliced in a polystyrene tray at the front of the cheese carousel.

If your local Lidl stocks it, on 3 December if you're quick, you will have 3 varieties of cheddar, as Sobieski said.

West Country Farmhouse Mature 240g
Scottish Mature Coloured 240g
Isle of Man Vintage Reserve 240g
(6.99zl each)

The Farmhouse is likely to be the slightly gritty strong stuff which I don't like. Scottish Mature - no idea what that's like. Ditto Isle of Man Vintage Reserve - but probably very strong. They are all matured over 6 to 15 months, if that's a guide. They appear to be British made, so they should be good. They are fair to good value in price.


I bring hot news from the chilled cabinet at Auchan Wroc! Kerrygold Mature on a block - special offer seems to be 47zł a kg today and maybe tomorrow and for a limited period. Not much left there, however.


Much to my surprise, a local Lidl had these already yesterday, quite a lot too. They're not supposed to have them until tomorrow, and they had sold out of the last batch when I checked some days ago as above.

They're British-made, so probably are very good.

Life / did/does Polish TV show any British Sitcoms? [35]

I thought he meant on the main channels that are free to air, not cable or subscription.

Life / did/does Polish TV show any British Sitcoms? [35]

Keeping Up Appearances for one, dubbed with one voiceover

Mr Bean, dubbed as above where necessary

I think they used to show Allo Allo.

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

They had it last week too, apparently, it was sold out in a day or two here at my local branches.

Thanks for the tip, I will need to be quick on the 3rd Dec for sure.

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

I'll believe it when I see it - May is the next definite time I have been notified of. If you mean another promo then it sells out on day 1 or 2 in many branches.

Do you have a link please?

News / Stiffer traffic rules in Poland? [32]

Nevertheless it is only the police who are entitled to undertake dealing with these situations - I strongly suggest for your own sake that you do not put yourself at risk, physically nor legally.

News / Stiffer traffic rules in Poland? [32]


By that phrase, I hope you mean you would telephone the police and notify them of a suspected drink-driver, and not intervene any further unless you possess a warrant card and the authority to do so.

News / Stiffer traffic rules in Poland? [32]


They're all over my home town in the UK and have been for years, they are called average speed cameras.

News / More Poles speak English than French or Spanish! [34]


I always ask them if they lived in the UK. So far, the vast majority have not even been for a weekend.


Show off!


As long as you're not picking up any bad habits from some of the posters on the forum, with some of the supposed English teachers making spelling errors and not knowing where apostrophes go, etc etc.

Food / How common GMO Food in Poland is? [25]

Thanks Pip, although that link you gave seems supportive of GMO

Food / How common GMO Food in Poland is? [25]

What is the difference between GMO and all the different cross breeding of plant varieties that has been going on for many years before the term GMO came to the fore? I am just asking as not sure.

nongmoproject.org/learn-more/what-is-gmo/

News / Stiffer traffic rules in Poland? [32]

Shame there's no equivalent to this book for some Poles to read and learn how to actually drive rather than pulling levers and turning wheels that merely operate their vehicles

amazon.co.uk/Roadcraft-drivers-handbook-Essential-Handbook/dp/0117021687

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roadcraft

News / Stiffer traffic rules in Poland? [32]

Pedestrians should indeed use crossings defensively, and not just in Poland. Although here especially.

Drivers coming to Poland should drive defensively at all times.

News / Stiffer traffic rules in Poland? [32]

Many but not all Polish drivers drive far too fast in urban areas, are usually very reluctant to let someone cross the road on the black and white road markings perhaps because they are very numerous, I see more Poles on mobile phones here while driving than anywhere else I can recall in recent years, and the general atmosphere in cities such as this one is rush rush rush whether on foot or by a motor vehicle. You seldom see anyone walking at anything other than a fast pace - and this is then replicated in people's driving habits.

I don't know what it is - perhaps Poles are very industrious or just some of them are late for appointments or try to squeeze too much into a day - but rush rush rush is the theme.

I would recommend a driver awareness campaign informing drivers they need to stop at zebra crossings, that pedestrians always have priority, that speeding costs lives (for example, that at certain impact speeds a pedestrian is far less likely to survive if hit by a car) and that the police will impose stiffer penalties from now on.

As for the mechanical worthiness of some vehicles - I suspect standards need to be tightened. I have heard that drivers here may be driving cut and shutmotor cars (2 cars welded together) and tolerate wittingly or unwittingly a whole raft of other mechanically questionable practices.

Better roads also play their role. Some of the roads I have seen here, especially B-roads in this city, are little better than that you'd find on a disused industrial estate in the north of England. Perhaps worse. A lot could be done with the roads here to help matters.

At 40mph there's an 80% chance of killing the pedestrian, especially children. At 30mph there's an 80% chance the child will live.

youtu.be/HeUX6LABCEA

youtu.be/3iqCcMDByLA

News / More Poles speak English than French or Spanish! [34]

I was in a busy supermarket yesterday and an electrical retailer.

In both places, in-store demonstrators were selling products.

In response to their sudden approach to me and introduction in Polish, I merely responded in English with something witty in English along with the usual phrase said in Polish that means I don't speak Polish.

In the instance of the beer sales girl (aged about 18) she switched into English without hesitation and picked up on the wit and politely laughed. She seemed completely bilingual. I then told her something about the film and beer she was promoting, and she understood exactly what I meant and even asked me where I was from and how I knew. I was able to chat to her as if she was from Croydon or Queens.

With the coffee machine demonstrator, again she picked up on what I said from the moment I spoke English although I observed her looking to the left after I spoke as she translated the English into Polish in her brain. From that point, she conversed with me fairly naturally and I only saw the occasional look of bewilderment at some words I used. She maintained eye contact and comprehended almost everything I said and I was speaking at a normal pace.

All I can say is, the schools/universities/language schools and perhaps some of the readers of this forum who are teachers, have done a great job with the younger generation here. Of course their English is not perfect and if tested they would make errors and need revision, but on an everyday communicative level, it's hard to not be taken aback at how well they can already speak - and in the case of the two above without any thick Polish accent or anything. Some of the tutors here in Wrocław (or the towns these people originally come from) really know what they're doing, for sure.

Life / Opinion about Polish lifestyle: do you like? Strengths and weakness [8]


Do you mean the roads are not good? I agree. Some of the B-roads are appalling. I had to drive in fog the other night, and it was absolutely the worst urban road I have ever seen, the road markings and boundaries lack any reflective assistance and I was just guessing where the kerb and centre line should be.

As for brand names - the malls here are full of shoppers who are far more smartly dressed than in the UK. People take more care of their appearance here, and it tends to be the older ones buying the cheap clothes at the hypermarkets (and that includes me, although I also buy second hand and have had some great bargains)

I am almost 100% sure that the teens and 20-30 year olds try to buy brand names here, to impress each other.

Real Estate / Poland Agent refuses to let me see their tenancy agreement unless I sign to pay their fee [13]

Signing a document without knowing what is in the pipeline is out of the question. An agent should be prepared to show a prospective tenant a typical tenancy agreement and it is highly unlikely they'd have no idea what clauses a client landlord would want included.

Had I have asked for the landlord's name and address I could see their point. That I just asked for a specimen agreement to be shown to me and all I got in return was a form to fill in promising them my money, says it all. Case closed.

phrases.org.uk/meanings/a-pig-in-a-poke.html

Real Estate / Poland Agent refuses to let me see their tenancy agreement unless I sign to pay their fee [13]


I've already told them I don't want any owner details - just a specimen contract (so I can see what sort of barrel they want me over) :o)


They are working on doing that now in the UK - rental agents in the UK have been charging both sides, just as they do here.


I've told them to remove any details of the landlord etc - I just want to see what their contract looks like. Most agencies in the UK have one standard contract, known as an Assured Shorthold Tenancy agreement which has to comply with a housing law. Clauses can be inserted but may not be valid (covered by the Unfair Contract Terms Act). I wanted to see what terms the agent wanted for that flat before I wasted my time or theirs and viewed it.

This was their further reply today, exactly copied from their email:



I can only very vaguely see the agency's point, and I mean very vaguely, so I am going to avoid them just as you suggest. (Because the agency must know the terms the landlord has in mind and the specifics, to say they don't know at this stage sounds like nonsense. It sounds far more likely that the reasons for their secrecy are to my disadvantage.)

Real Estate / Poland Agent refuses to let me see their tenancy agreement unless I sign to pay their fee [13]

Well, I haven't viewed the flat yet because I want to see what the tenancy agreement says because some of them have clauses about monthly inspections and other stuff that I don't find acceptable, so don't want to waste my or an agent's time viewing a flat with that sort of agreement. All they have sent me is an agreement where I agree to pay them fees and 60% of the rent is the main fee (at the commencement). When I emailed them again to say that it's not their agency fee agreement that I want but the tenancy agreement (something I clearly emailed asking for in the first place) they sent me the above one-liner reply.

There is no way I would advise any person to sign any agreement with a trader when part of what they are signing for is unknown. At worst, you could be taken for fees and at best they have your personal data and a copy of your signature for no good reason.