Food / Mushroom picking (and eating:) in Poland [36]

After Chernobyl the chanterelles were enormous. A guy I used to know told me about collecting them in those days. "You didn't eat them, surely," I said. "Oh, no. We sold them to Germans."

Food / Mushroom picking (and eating:) in Poland [36]

If you see locals buying mushrooms, they are probably ok. Don't go mushrooming without someone who really knows what they are doing. An old lady selling mushrooms in the market has probably been picking them since childhood. I wouldn't worry about it. Enjoy.

Food / Mushroom picking (and eating:) in Poland [36]

Just got back from hunting for Zielonki. These little devils are hard to find. Their caps are the same colour as the sandy pine litter they grow in. Yellow autumn leaves act as further camouflage. They will soak overnight to get rid of the sand, and then they'll make a great soup.

• 
  What's this?
  
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  Zielonki
  
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  Worth the effort
  

Study / Need some advice about suspending this academic year in Poland [6]

They'll tell you.

Travel / Białowieża National Park in Poland [461]

In my experience the average local knows next to nothing about ecology. I could go on but what's the point? You believe PiS, I believe every major scientific body.

Study / Need some advice about suspending this academic year in Poland [6]

See if you can get permission from your dean to undertake 'individual studies'. This option is available to, e.g. handicapped people, or those who are pregnant or have chronic health problems, but it's not limited only to them. You would have to meet various teachers perhaps once a month, and they would set work for you to do.

UK, Ireland / Are you able to hear the different English accents? [97]

Officially? The word apparently means whatever people want it to mean. I met a bloke once who told me he came from London. I asked whereabouts. Luton.

Travel / My Experience in Poland (compared to Germany) [100]

The 100 I referred to was not an attempted bribe. It was the fee asked for at a private clinic.

UK, Ireland / Are you able to hear the different English accents? [97]

A Cockney is someone 'born within the sound of Bow bells', but most people extend this to the whole of east London, and even to parts of Essex, where lots of east enders moved to after the Blitz. South Londoners like me never call ourselves cockneys, although the accents are very similar. There was a time when I could differentiate the accents of people from Greenwich, Charlton and Woolwich.

Travel / My Experience in Poland (compared to Germany) [100]


It is usually more subtle than just an envelope full of banknotes. As maf says, things are changing, but I've certainly had experience of doctors encouraging patients to visit them privately, with the implication that they will be moved higher up the list for treatment.

I had a very strange experience a couple of years ago. Not wanting to wait months for an appointment with a dermatologist, I decided to pay 100PLN for a private consultation. Time was tight and I expected to be seen at the appointed hour. I was kept waiting for 40 mins, and when I finally saw the doc I politely complained that I had gone private because I didn't want to be kept waiting. He got pretty angry, slapped my 100PLN note down on his desk and threw me out. It was hilarious. In my youth I was kicked out of a pub or two, but I never expected to be ejected from a doctor's surgery.

UK, Ireland / Are you able to hear the different English accents? [97]

Growing up in London it was normal for street market traders to call everyone darling, and I mean men calling men darling, but it was just street traders. Strange to remember that now.

UK, Ireland / Are you able to hear the different English accents? [97]

A Polish friend of mine who moved to Derby had to get used not only to the accent, but also to being called 'duck' by locals.

Travel / My Experience in Poland (compared to Germany) [100]


Probably not, but those of us who live in Poland would hear from our friends, family and contacts if they paid bribes. As has been said above, govt. contracts, etc. have always been open to abuse, but on a day-to-day level for ordinary folk, bribery does not happen on any significant scale. It certainly used to, and I could go into detail about that, but there has been a very significant change since Poland joined the EU.

Travel / My Experience in Poland (compared to Germany) [100]


I've been here for a long time. I've had to deal with all kinds of government offices, including during the long and complicated process of buying land and building a house. Perhaps speechless would suit you sometimes.

Travel / My Experience in Poland (compared to Germany) [100]

How on earth is paying bribes dealing with corruption? I'd love to be a fly on the wall in a government office when you offer a bribe in Poland. Twenty years ago maybe, or at ministerial level now, but not in everyday situations. EU membership has changed the mentality a lot. Perhaps you should stay where you are if your first thought about living here is to offer bribes to public servants.

News / How will BREXIT affect the immigrants in UK and Poland. [1114]

Casual, I'm afraid you are wasting your time trying to put forward facts. For many people on here the truth is whatever they prefer it to be. It makes life so much simpler for them. You probably remember Farage being asked if he'd accept a 52-48% vote in favour of remaining. He said no. You probably also remember election night, when kippers were howling about a rigged ballot, just like trump and his chimps did.

Life / Is it True that People in Poland Dislike Charity? [13]

There are a lot of charity scammers at the moment operating in PL. That makes people suspicious of other honest charities. We were cold called a while ago by a woman claiming to be collecting for the local hospital's paediatric dialysis unit. Our hospital has no such thing. Don't want to go into detail here, but that lady won't be doing that again for a while.

Life / Is it True that People in Poland Dislike Charity? [13]

If I've got this right, King, you are basing your opinion on the actions of one family.

History / Franciszek Kornicki - Son of Poland, WWII Flying Ace, Savior of Britain [6]

Yes, a hero for sure. And very modest, "I'm very surprised and even a little dazed by this news. I was only one of many and I knew quite a lot of better flyers than me."

Food / Herb used in Polish rosol (chicken soup)? [88]


Pretty easy round my way.


Sold in chemist's here as a hair tonic. I've made sage and onion stuffing for poultry but Poles gave it a suspicious sniff.

Travel / Białowieża National Park in Poland [461]

Braveheart. The world is flat. That is my opinion. I don't care how many snowflake long hair boffins say otherwise. This is the post truth world now. My fact carries the same weight as your fact. Fact.

History / Aurochs, the primitive prehistoric cattle of Europe, had lived in Poland? [48]


That's weird. It's been raining off and on for the last two weeks here (I live quite near the forest). Can they afford to cancel trips like that? Perhaps the company you booked with were hydrophobic, or perhaps it just wasn't worth it. The price you quote seems ludicrously low.

Travel / Horror House in Warsaw [20]


In my local town the tax office used to be a hotel which was the German HQ when they occupied the town between 1941 and 1944. Plus ca change...

Travel / What to do in Warsaw at Christmas? [21]

The National Museum is open on the 26th.


Believe it or not, yes.

Travel / Horror House in Warsaw [20]

The YT clip looks like those far out Brazilian scary pranks. Looks like you're going all on your own. That would make it even scarier, so you really get your money's worth. Have fun.

History / Aurochs, the primitive prehistoric cattle of Europe, had lived in Poland? [48]

100PLN/hr (three-hour tour) plus NP entrance fee of 8-25PLN.

History / Aurochs, the primitive prehistoric cattle of Europe, had lived in Poland? [48]


I've never heard of tours not happening in the Strict Reserve because of rain. I haven't been in that part for many years, but if I remember right, it cost about 200PLN for a group of five. One time we were lucky to have a retired director of the National Park as our guide. I asked him about lynx and he said that he'd been in the forest every day for the last fifty years and had seen them twice in the wild.

Food / Herb used in Polish rosol (chicken soup)? [88]

Lovage is an irritant that causes a tingling sensation in the knob, and was used as an aphrodisiac on account of that in olden days. A kind of ancient pornhub.

History / Aurochs, the primitive prehistoric cattle of Europe, had lived in Poland? [48]

They have (or had) lynx, too. Both of them 'rescued' as cubs by ignorant tourists while their mother was hunting.

Study / Recrutation at Warsaw or Wroclaw University closed? [18]

Become a member and PM me. I might be able to help if you are willing to go to another uni.