Genealogy / Is tallness common among Polish people? [201]


Harry she is realy quite similar to her sister from the facial features (you just don't have an eye for that ;)

News / Icy blast cleans the streets of the homeless in Poland.. [63]


first of all a true years-long alcoholic only needs two shots of vodka or two beers to get really drunk (it's physiological, perhaps it's because of the liver damage, but I know what I am talking about) - bad cheap fruit wine or liquor costs some 6 złotych a bottle - and the bottle is enough for two guys to get wasted - so no they don't get desperate - this is not the case of drug addicts who need 40 złoty for a daily dose

also years-long alcoholics have really degenerated nervous systems that don't allow snatching someone's wallet and darting away

Genealogy / Is tallness common among Polish people? [201]

177 cm woman is not an exceptionally tall woman - actually I only find women who are taller than me tall (I'm 182 cm - I don't even struggle to put that in in/ft)

Genealogy / Is tallness common among Polish people? [201]


well, Agnieszka Radwańska is not very tall I believe neither is her sister Ula

Work / Finnis is going to work in Krakow. IS 5500 gross + 1500 for apartment monthly OK? [14]


and you have to pay around 300 PLN (I can't remember the exact cost) monthly as health insurance (and there is some beaurocratic hassle added)

I wouldn't go for self-employed status for a start Finlando

Work / Finnis is going to work in Krakow. IS 5500 gross + 1500 for apartment monthly OK? [14]

Studio apartment in Krakow available for rent

here's one such

Work / Finnis is going to work in Krakow. IS 5500 gross + 1500 for apartment monthly OK? [14]

the personal income tax is just 18 per cent for your level of earnings (minus so called cost of obtaining) - it's the social security contribution that is included in the gros earnings that constitutes the biggest part of the deduction - the tax is counted after the deduction of social security contributions

News / Icy blast cleans the streets of the homeless in Poland.. [63]


I haven't seen such people being violent - they may well be obnoxious and that's it - it's up to them what they spend the money the get - as it is up to you if you give them any money - if you really want to help someone like that by providing them with some food (or a warm drink) why not go buy some food for them, return and give it to them - this solves the problem of the perceived fraud they make with the money you give them - I personally don't give money to beggars but if I can I often buy them some food

Work / Finnis is going to work in Krakow. IS 5500 gross + 1500 for apartment monthly OK? [14]


do you mean that your employer will participate in the costs of renting? or will they simply rent a place for you?

if you don't have family and will not pay for a lodging then 5500 PLN gross is enough for quite a comfortable living (it's close to 3500 PLN net)

History / Would you classify the Poland's Communist years as a "Soviet occupation" ? [221]

and PZPR members being the drunken ones ;)

News / Poland and the European Union Fund Allocations [59]


what is more a lot of these funds return to old Europe in the form of contracts (German and Austrian companies are very much involved in builidng Polish motorways for example)


it would be really interesting to know how much Polish people get in benefits in Britain - but then it may turn out that these are not massive transfers

I remember hudsonhicks stating from an article that Polish people get about 50 million pounds yearly in benefits for children who they have left in Poland (I believe it to be a fraction of all the benefits Poles in the UK get but this figure is not massive at all if you consider that there can be more than million Poles in the UK)

News / Poland and the European Union Fund Allocations [59]

in 2006 I have heard Gerd Poetering (then the president of the EuroParliament) saying on German TV political programme how much new EU member countries cost a statistical citizen of the OLD Europe - it was 26 euro yearly - even if it twice as much at the moment this is not a real burden I would think

History / Would you classify the Poland's Communist years as a "Soviet occupation" ? [221]


so what? many of those people where there just to be able to have some career - opportunists don't make opressors - compare the membership in PZPR to the membership in SLD after the democratic turn

History / Would you classify the Poland's Communist years as a "Soviet occupation" ? [221]


most of Polish populace were happy they were gone - that should tell you a thing or two

News / Poland and the European Union Fund Allocations [59]


if you want to build a motorway network in Poland and in Estonia are you going to spend the same amount? - or the network of the same density in Poland will cost 10 times more?? -

btw Poland is much more of a transit country than Estonia and so needs the motorways much more
- if you want to achieve the 10 per cent level of electricity coming from wind farms in Poland and in Estonia will you spend the same amount in Poland or in Estonia or will you spend ten times more in Poland than in Estonia? (10 times is just a symbol figure - i don't know the precise surface, population and energy consumptions ratios between Poland and Estonia - it can well be 20 perhaps)

News / Icy blast cleans the streets of the homeless in Poland.. [63]

simple - people don't report it (because these guys are not really a threat - if you feel threatened than it's just your perception) - then what do you expect: a policeman at every ATM? - locking them up for just approaching people (not possible according to Polish law)?

History / Would you classify the Poland's Communist years as a "Soviet occupation" ? [221]


Soviet occupation sensu lato ;) (there was a time of Soviet occupation sensu stricto, no worries)

News / Icy blast cleans the streets of the homeless in Poland.. [63]


they are not very happy to stay in shelters because it is not allowed to drink alcohol in the shelters - for the same reason they will evade jobs (if you direct them to some menial ones) and in that they differ from prisoners (who are actually quite keen to work especially outside) - most of those people who are homeless and don't have serious alcohol issues have permanent places in various centres be it state run or charity (domy opieki społecznej etc)

News / Poland and the European Union Fund Allocations [59]


total numbers mean nothing - imagine China was receiving such financial aid - per capita would be more than 20 times lower than in Poland - will it affect Chinese economy to any percieveable degree (substitute India for China if you think China is not a good example)


I am not complaining - I am putting things in right perspecive - right?

News / Poland and the European Union Fund Allocations [59]


there is also another thing to this - the 65 billion allocated to Poland is the maximum sum we can get (IIRC the last budget period 2004-2007 ended with Poland about 60 per cent of the budget allocated to it) - but it's not a sure thing - many (like most) projects that receive grants have to be in significant part also funded by the Polish side (it is 50 per cent very often) - you then have to allocate some 10 billion euro to meet these demands - Polish government already anounced that it cuts spending on new infrastructure (road) projects in 2012 (TBH I don't know is it's gonna affect the usage of the 2007-2013 budget allocated to Poland)

News / Poland and the European Union Fund Allocations [59]

well, if you state that Poland receives the most EU funds why don't you look at how it looks from the per capita perspective - from per capita point of view Poland is by no means priviledged :

kpmg.com/RO/en/IssuesAndInsights/ArticlesPublications/Press-releases/Documents/EU%20Funds%20in%20CEE%202011_KPMG.pdf - page 7 of the document contains the critical data

(if you ever wondered Poland receives the least EU funds per capita among the countries who joined the EU in 2004, Romania and Bulgaria receive two times less then Poland though (they joined later on different conditions) - Czech Republic, Estonia and Hungary all receive close to 50 per cent more EU funds per capita than Poland

Life / What is the school bus security standard in Poland? [18]


it's a basic thing actually - it takes time to change to a different standard, different technology, different materials etc etc - also there is truth to what Chinese manufacturers are saying - China is different road conditions (overcrowded streets often quite narrow) - now put an American school bus in the environment - looks a bit too big to me

btw the question of safety is not only in the hands of manufacturers - you need to inspect and test vehicles to see their up to safety regulations

History / Was the Polish/ Lithuanian commonwealth a European power? [111]


actually it was one guy's personal ambitions that drove Poland into decline (ok it coupled with the ambitions of the magnates and their greed for land) - I mean Zygmunt III Waza en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigismund_III_Vasa - he started wars with Sweden and meddled in Russian affairs (including bloody raids by early Lisowczycy) which eventually led to the Deluge

News / Icy blast cleans the streets of the homeless in Poland.. [63]


and you are right

Travel / Trying to plan trip to Poland for 2012 [10]


it's gonna be significantly shorter now as there is motorway from Gdańsk to Toruń ready now (and it's still gonna be free this summer as far as I know)

Travel / Fastest way to get from Warsaw Airport to Lodz central on Monday at noon. [42]

pks.lodz.pl/lokalny_03v2.php?kurs_=9120270096 - I have no idea if there are more of them - just found this one

OK I found another:

fabryczny.pks.lodz.pl/r_2006/lokalny_05v2.php?kurs_=9120280282& kod_prz_=15140075

there is also a late one (goes through £ódz but does not finish there so you have to be careful -

fabryczny.pks.lodz.pl/r_2006/lokalny_05v2.php?kurs_=111730005&kod_prz_=15140075

Law / Bank account in Poland which does not use SMS [13]

accessing the account is something different to validating transactions - even if someone has by some chance acquired a password to your internet account s/he won't be able to make any transactions if a seperate one-time code is needed for every operation - this is what scratchcards are for or some other means

Life / What is the school bus security standard in Poland? [18]


it very often is not the case - where I live the school bus takes children to school about 7 am and then brings children back from school twice at about 1 pm and then at about 3 pm - the gap is not big and you have theoretically time for just one typical bus run - in reality here where I live the service is provided by local firm which does not otherwise work in regular public transport - so the bus serves only as a schoolbus on the week-days - I think it is the same case in many places (public transport companies work differently from logistics point of view usually not being based locally)

Life / What is the school bus security standard in Poland? [18]


oh harry there are school buses in Poland - perhaps not just not in the cities - plenty of elementary schools had been liquidated and children need to be take from smaller places to where schools are - also after the creation of gimnazjums children need to be brought there from entire gminas in rural areas as there's mostly just one gimnazjum per gmina - the thing is these buses often are not conspicously marked as school buses and are no different than public communication buses

as for safety issue - hmm - I don't really know if these buses are better controlled than other buses (it seems purposeful to treat them differently i.e. inspect and test them more thouroughly and more often)

Life / Moving to Poland - how to go about it? [6]

if you own a house and farm then you should be fine with getting a residence I believe and they will not ask you about employment and income - this is my understanding but don't take it for certainty - there is a British guy here in the forum who owns a small farm in Koszalin area - his nickname here is wildrover try PM-ing him - maybe he can give you some insight

other difficulties may arise - like if you wanted to run a farm and pay KRUS (health insurance and retirement plan) instead of ZUS - I know some foreign people own land and run farms in Poland but I don't know if you still need to have some special licence to do that (foreigners cannot freely buy agricultural land in Poland untill 2014 without some consent from agricultural ministry or at least wojewoda office AFAIK)