Life / What can citizens do to make Poland a better place to live? [125]


How about if you step off the pavement into the road while there is a car on it?

There are blind spots if th pedestrian is on the other side to the way your head is turned and happens, just for a second to be in line with the frame of the windows (and as I said, it was dark and he was in black).

Life / What can citizens do to make Poland a better place to live? [125]


To right! I was reversing around a bend and some guy just walked straight behind me (on the road) and set off my reverse beepers (tell me if I'm too close). It was dark and he was wearing black (and had his hood up, probably his I-pod on) and had no idea that drivers have blind spots etc. Another time I reversed off the path and there was a guy standing next to my drivers side. I asked him if he didn't notice that he was standing in the road and that there was a large car moving towards him. "Jest moja droga!" he rplied.

The thing with drivers which gets me is when you are trying to come out of a parking space and, rather than wait 20 seconds for you to get out and drive away and leave the way clear, thy try to push their car through the 20mm gap, thus blocking your way and theirs (and the guy behind them who moves when they do, so they can't reverse either).

Life / What can citizens do to make Poland a better place to live? [125]

Learn to drive! Seriously, people ask me how I find driving on the right hand side of the road. I don't have a problem... it's all the idiots driving on the left who are the problem. Audis overtaking 3 or 4 at a time in the face of oncoming traffic.

Also, try waiting a second for another car to move before trying to squeeze an entire car into a 1mm gap.

Pedestrians... try remembering a car can't always see you before you walk across the back of a reversing vehicle.

News / What's the stupidest question asked about Poland? [414]

In Birmingham (England, not Alabama) I was once asked, "Poland, that's near Greenland, innit?"

Also, when preparing to come to my wedding in Poland my brother-in-law asked, "Do they have beer in Poland? Cos I've only heard of vodka and I don't drink it".

Love / WHY DO POLISH MEN LIE? [150]


Most girls would say "Because they are men".

Life / Why do people think that I'm Polish ? [92]


How about "Can I take your order... would you like chips with that?"

As for Gunter Grass: Grass didn't join the SS, he was attached to them. Different thing. Incidentally, there were Bosnian Muslim units in the Balkan SS groups.


Depends where you look, Marek, but careful not to get arrested!


Well, don't forget that in past times people were "classified" as Polish/German/Polonised German/Germanicised Pole. The classifications were sometimes worked on language and religion' rather than 'ethnic features.

It's all a bit of a muddle, really.

UK, Ireland / What do Polish people think about Wales and Welsh people? [191]


It's a little joke from the time the Sons of Glendower were torching English holiday cottages. There was an advert on TV at th time for coal central heating "Come home to a real fire". The "Not the 9 O'clock News" team (Rowan Atkinson, Mel Smith et al) did a parody... "Come home to a real fire... buy a cottage in Wales".

I understand what you mean about the mines closing etc. My mothers side of the family are from Tyneside and my aunt was living in a mining village during and after the miners' strike. It wasn't just the Welsh Valleys which suffered. I grew up in Shropshire. The area around thre used to be full of mines. None now tho'.

I admire Welsh cultural patriotism. What does bug me is when it is just used as an excuse for anti-Englishness rather than promoting the positive aspects of Wales and welshness (same with any patriotism, really).

UK, Ireland / What do Polish people think about Wales and Welsh people? [191]

The countryside is fantastic. I like the way they've revitalised the language. The cheese is good too.

Shame they have a habit of supplying central heating to incomers' homes :D

Life / Is the word "Polack"rascist? [185]


Funny, I didn't think the Germans used Polack to describe Poles. I thought it was Pole/polnisch

UK, Ireland / The mystery of Ireland's worst driver "Prawo Jazdy" [37]

I was talking with one of my students about it yesterday and he whipped his out. He showed me his and I showed him mine (including my ridiculous green bit).

He had a plastic one and the top line looked like something in French or Spanish. Underneath was written Prawo Jazdy. Presumably his was from a different period.

He showed me his driving licence too.

UK, Ireland / The mystery of Ireland's worst driver "Prawo Jazdy" [37]


Well at least the Polish licence doesn't include that ridiculous piece of green paper. I get laughed at when I produce that. I once tried to hire a car in UK using just my plastic card and they wouldn't let me cos I didn't have my green bit!

A similar story; a friend of mine's father works in Spain. He registered for something in Spain and was asked his name. He gave them his id. Spaniards have several names, apparently, so it was a puzzlement for the clerk to be confronted by two names.

Jacek's dad left the office and later looked at the his piece of papr to find he'd been registered under the name of "president of olsztyn"

Just saw a prawo jazdy today. The title "pawo jazdy" is written one the second line, under something which looks like French. It's the same size lettering as the other info and so might be easily mistaken for a name rather than a title of the card.

Life / Is the word "Polack"rascist? [185]


Interesting. I'd read it was from Czechoslovakia (meaning, "field" dance).

Probably the use of the term "polak" comes from emigrants writing their nationality down as "polak".

History / Unusual soldier (The bear - named Voytek) [71]

There's an old book about Wojtek called "Soldier Bear". It still pops up on places like Abebooks or e-bay occasionally. I've got a copy upstairs with the puppets I made for a show about him.

UK, Ireland / Immigration and Identity: how to keep Polish identity when living in UK. [30]

I agree with you about the majority being short termers but you did say:


They might come to make money but the circumstances can change to make it better to set up home. It happens with immigrants everywhere. What about those professionals who move abroad and meet someone there and decide to stay (happened to a friend of mine in Ireland who's a trained psychologist, and still working in the field).

I just happen to know a few (admittedly not many) who are there for the long haul. The fact people are setting up businesses suggests they are intending to stay. Those that decide to leave their families might not find them there when they return (and I know a couple of examples of that too).

Even if they are short termers (however long 'short' is), it just makes (emotional/economic) sense bringing the family over in some cases.

UK, Ireland / Immigration and Identity: how to keep Polish identity when living in UK. [30]


Despite Shelley's ludicrous comments about no professional or intelligent Pole wanting to stay in UK, many do. Part of it is simply that work was/is available in UK and the career opportunities are/were better.

Example, several friends of mine have university education and no job opportunities in our region. They moved to Ireland and worked to get money so they could buy flats etc when they returned to Poland. Others found that they could get better paid factory work in UK than their specified profession paid in Poland. Making a career a career jump and discovering the opportunities, many have decided to stay in UK (at least for a longer period)... hence bringing their families over.

An example; a friend of mine is a teacher but teaching pays crap money in Poland so he moved to UK to work, found the opportunities of reasonably well-paid factory work and decided to stay to earn money for a flat. His university educated wife was unable to find full-time work and also has a baby. Hence, it made sense for her to move to UK to be with her husband. Creche facilities allow her to work.

Still others just found that th business opportunities were much kinder in UK than in Poland. example; until recently it took over a month to register and legalise a firm in Poland, before which you couldn't trade. In Scotland a 15 minute phone call could start the process and allow you to start trading. The red-tape in Poland has scared so many UK firms away in the past. I've spoken to several people who say they won't return to Poland.

As for your question about similarities in migration, there are different kinds of migration. In this case we are looking at a predominantly economic migration which will decline and reverse (as it already is). This is different from the wartime/post-war migration where Poles were largely refugees and ex-servicemen who had little opportunity to remain safely in the communist controlled regime.

Things to think about; church, food, language, social clubs, music (try looking up the work of Martin Stokes) and work (many immigrants might find work in the same areas, like post-war West Indians being employed in public transport, Irish in construction etc). Also, contact with "Old Country".

An interesting comparison might be with the 16th/17th Century Scots migration to Poland (look up website Electric Scotland and find books on Scots in Poland and Germany). You'll find many of the same patterns being rpeated: mass migration, niches in the markets, rising stars of the scene, organisation of communities and even some of the complaints sound the same "Scots are as bad as Jews!", "Send 'em Back!", "Scavengers, tax dodgers!". Then the eventual return of many home (and what they did when they got there) or intergration.

UK, Ireland / Immigration and Identity: how to keep Polish identity when living in UK. [30]

What would be even more interesting is exploring the different notions of Polishness amongst the different age groups. Example, how do the older Poles, from the war years, see Polishness in contrast to how the younger ones see it.

Example: Perhaps older Poles listen more to folklore groups like Masowsze, which would have most younger Poles diving for cover.

Language is another factor. I found older Poles less likely to speak Polish with me (as a learner) than younger ones (part of the process of intergration was their having to learn English). Often 2nd or 3rd generations of immigrants learn less of the 'old' language and it becomes an identity marker for the older generations.

Love / The age of consent in Poland is only 15 [147]

John, of course it's silly. The OP is an obsessed racist who finds any excuse to slag Poles because he thinks they are the reason he won't have a job when he graduates with a 3rd.

Example:


You mean like it is in England?

Love / The age of consent in Poland is only 15 [147]


Which shows she's not safe anywhere!

Love / The age of consent in Poland is only 15 [147]


Safer than being in Thailand where all the British paedoes go for holidays.

Or in UK where all the 13 year old Brit boys are having babies.

UK, Ireland / Britain... What the Poles did for us. [444]


Well, perhaps since they became involved in UK political parties like Labour/Conservatives, perhaps since they got seats in The Lords, perhaps when they embraced the educational system (more than a couple in Glasgow Uni) or since they opened up corner shops and worked hard (didn't Napoleon refer to Britain as a 'Nation of Shopkeepers'?)

Life / Tips on tipping in Poland [45]

I did give her a tip... don't try and rip off your regulars again if you want more tips.

Life / Tips on tipping in Poland [45]

Sorry Chaps, I posted before I'd read the whole thread.

Being from Britain is a problem, as many Brits have a habit of saying "thank you" (and "sorry") as punctuation for every action they do.

I recall the event which hardened me to it was when a gang of us had a meal for about 70 zlots. I gave the girl 100 and she never returned. I twigged what I'd done and went to ask for my change "But you said 'dziękuję'", she snarled snottily.

Yeah, baby, and we eat here regularly and it's obvious I'm a głupi foreigner.And who the hell gives 50% tips!!!!!?

Another time a taxi driver jumped when I said 'dziękuję' He looked at me amazed, "DZIĘkujĘ?" At least he was decent enough to check I hadn't made a mistake. He DID get a decent tip for that.

Life / Tips on tipping in Poland [45]

Big tip... DON'T say "Dzienkuje" when you pay for anything. They'll take it as "keep the change". Get your change before you say it.