History / Norman Davies - the Brit who loves Poland and becomes one of Us [250]

Well... from his favourite athor P.I. Rachkovsky.
I bet he has them leather-bound in his bookcase at home - and believes every word of them

History / Norman Davies - the Brit who loves Poland and becomes one of Us [250]

Still waiting for IS to declare which history books he likes.
Furnish me with particulars, my dear :)

The Protocols, maybe ?

News / Poland's elite more pro-US than society? [29]

You mean like in every conference in WWII, Roosevelt was betraying Poland. Churchill not being able to stop that?

Love / How easy is it to pick up a girl from a club/bar in Warsaw ? [65]


Ok but if you write "pick-up" and not being local...
Or you are Richard Gere or whatever... or you have supernatural charms.... or have nice CC?

Love / How easy is it to pick up a girl from a club/bar in Warsaw ? [65]

It is not my habitat...but if you go to "Paparazzi", "Cinnamon", "Sense"... lots of leggy blondes going out with you in exchange for your CC. From what I heard... I guess that is the same in every country.

But what do I know about the high life? I go with my wife to the movies... later for a quiet drink with friends, Saturdays with our cat to vet. Just life :) Guess I am oldfashioned :)))

Life / 55 minutes to write a ticket ("mandat karny")? [28]

And I have another interesting situation here... A pedestrian one :)
Last year 15 August I was walking here in my Bielany on a sunbaked street...completely alone (everybody else went to see Madonna :)).
Pedestrian crossing...no cars at all...red light... Never mind...
Suddenly behind me a speaker voice "Przepraszam Pana". Police car around the corner...
Got fined 100 PLN...

But I am sure they were waiting for me to pay a "subisidy". I mean one lonely pedestrian on an empty street...
Anyway I did not, got an official fine. Which is stilll hanging in the kitchen on the board..between the appointments for the cat to go the vet and me to the dentist :)

Anyway... from what I know, if you do not pay a fine, Urząd Skarbowy "might" take it from you. But I have colleagues at work who tell me that is a 30% chance....

How does it work?
I mean, if I have to pay I will do so of course. But I am waiting :)

Life / My own thoughts about life in Poland (have lived here for two years) [133]

Talking about perfume prices,there is a simple explanation for that.
They contain alcohol and therefore the excise part comes into play.

History / Norman Davies - the Brit who loves Poland and becomes one of Us [250]


As I said, he can be overbearing and at times tiresome. But also, as MG wrote Gross is a brave man, exposing most unpleasant truths in recent Polish history.

By the way his book "Revolution from Abroad - The Soviet Conquest of Poland" is a brilliant decription of Stalinist terror in Poland in 1939-1940

News / New cross war in Warsaw [530]

Still I am surprised by the absence of Rydzyk in the whole cross show.
Where is this guy? On one of his luxury holidays? Drilling yet another geothermical hole in Toruń?

I think the cross loonies are now getting marginalised very fast. Even PIS is not refering to them anymore on a daily basis. I am waiting for them to get transfer into snowmen in December :)

Law / Signing a contract from Poland Telecommunication (TP) I didn't understand [20]

Do not worry. I got a letter from ZUS yesterday. My (Polish) wife is still wondering what they were writing :)
I wonder if they themselves know it :)

History / Norman Davies - the Brit who loves Poland and becomes one of Us [250]

Well me being Flemish :)... Yes of course I know Simon Schama. I have his book "Citizens" about the French revolution (by the way, good book but way too tame and too nice on Robespierre. See "Terror - Civil War in the French Revolution" by David Andress). Also have his "Britain" trilogy on DVD and in print".

That said and done, I never read his book about your Dutch Golden Age :) Which was started by an influx of gifted Flemish immigrants I might like to remind you...

But we will not go down that road here :)

MG, did you read any books by Jan T. Gross? IS must hate his guts :)
Gross can be and is overbearing but still very good.

Serb....you as the expert on Polish history... Can you recommend maybe some books on Polish history? Please enlighten us....

History / Norman Davies - the Brit who loves Poland and becomes one of Us [250]

I miss IS here. But I guess he is only reading Dmowski publications, his suscription on Nasz Dziennik, and for sure Piotr Ivanovich Rachkovsky.
And where is the Serb ????? The expert on eveything Polish on this forum?

History / Norman Davies - the Brit who loves Poland and becomes one of Us [250]


What Harry is talking about is the bombing raid on Wilhelmshaven by 89n Squadron on 3 Sep. It was of course a glorious failure. Nothing to do with the courage of the crews, everything to do with pre-war politics.

News / Poland's elite more pro-US than society? [29]

I never understood the Polish slavish (sorry, no pun intended) admiration for the yanks. The way you support them everywhere in the world (Iraq, Afghanistan, Missile shield, CIA prisons and torture). Without any critical noise.

And for what? Still you need some measly US embassy official to approve your visa application.
You get outdated retired C-130's. F-16's which on the way to Poland break down.
So why are you doing it?
It is time some people in Poland - PIS - accept that Poland is a part of Europe historically, culturally, socially and economically...
Part of the EU.

History / Norman Davies - the Brit who loves Poland and becomes one of Us [250]

What irritates me in Norman Davies - and other posters already have mentioned this - is that he is highly selective in his books on Polish history (by the way I did not have this feeling in his book on Europe).

He tends to paint Poland as the martyr number one in European history (First Ally). Deletes anything remotely controversial in his narratives or drowns it in meaningless statistics or unreadable graphics.

In Poland he might be a hero (PIS for sure loves him) but there are other and better historians.

History / Norman Davies - the Brit who loves Poland and becomes one of Us [250]

Maybe we could go back to a discussion about Norman Davies (and perhaps other historians) ? Before we know somebody will claim Norman Davies was a Serb :)

Life / Reliable Weather Service In Poland? [25]

Thread attached on merging:
Weather forecasts

I checked this morning the weather forecast for Warsaw on 2 websites:
pogoda.onet.pl and pogodynka.pl.
And as always they show really big dfferences. Which weather site do you find the most reliable?
Pogodynka ought to be, they are run by the IMGW (Polish Meteorological Institute).
Still...

Life / 55 minutes to write a ticket ("mandat karny")? [28]

Aha, now I understand why one of the policemen told me it was my "lucky day".
On that moment I did not see it that way :)
I am driving on my Belgian licence, by the way.

History / Norman Davies - the Brit who loves Poland and becomes one of Us [250]


MG, Zamoyski write primarily in English. I have most of his books. His latest one - Warsaw 1920 - is written as a thriller. The same goes for Moscow 1812.

He is - as his name shows - a scion of the great magnate family of the same name.

I hugely prefer his books over Norman Davies.

Life / 55 minutes to write a ticket ("mandat karny")? [28]


Hmmm.. But it was not a bribe..It was an official fine and I got nice official receipt for it :)

It was the first time though I saw the Thin Blue Line on the hightech side... and I was impressed. I was a bit less impressed by my road antics :)

History / Norman Davies - the Brit who loves Poland and becomes one of Us [250]

Just checked it at Amazon. It could be a good addition to Anthony Beevor.

About Polish history, I can also recommend:
Bitter Glory - Poland and its faith 1918-1939 by Richard M. Watt.

History / Norman Davies - the Brit who loves Poland and becomes one of Us [250]

I have all his books...but I do not like him all too much. He is not objective and tends to "forget" things... If you read him, you would think Poland has never experienced antisemitism at all for example.

Also his book about the Uprising is very irritating in the way that he anglicized all the Polish names - and in the end devotes a very small part of a big book on the uprising itself.

His best book for me is Europe - A History.

I prefer Adam Zamoyski and Roger Moorhouse.


Yes Microcosm is very good - written together with Roger Moorhouse (who was his chief researcher)

Travel / Holiday in Poland - do I need to learn Polish? [26]


I guess that goes for any country :). Buy a phrase book, try to pronounce the basic lines and people will like you for that :)

Life / 55 minutes to write a ticket ("mandat karny")? [28]

That is only the case when you are not a EU-citizen.

Life / 55 minutes to write a ticket ("mandat karny")? [28]

In this discussion I have another question.
I got stopped by the police for speeding as well (+ crossing a white line) - in February.
Big black, unmarked Opel Insignia made me stop... and these days you get your own private movie seance...they showed my criminal act :) on TV.

Of course they were right to fine me, no question about that.

But although I have a Karta Pobytuna na stale they made me pay in cash on the spot.
Luckily I had 200 PLN with me. I got an official receipt afterwards :)
And the kind of receipt I got was one without points - like the one they would use for tourists. Also strange.
But isn't it so that in this case (when you have a permanent residence permit) you should be allowed to pay later on by transfer / or in the post office?

History / 15 August 1920 - the battle of Poland with the Red Army [24]

IS, are you not disappointed that your beloved Dmowski was not there?
The Old Marshal despised that warped antisemitic.

Life / Why Aren't The Shops in Poland Open on Sundays? [82]

Coming from Belgium, I was (and) am still astonished why the shops are open on a Sunday.
Where I come from you can buy on a Sunday morning untill 13:00 bread, meat and the local shops will be open - maybe.
Why shops have to be open 24/24 - 7/7? Soooo American.
It is not difficult to do your shopping on Saturday. Shop assistants have also the right to a normal life.

Work / Opus Dei opens school in Warsaw [21]

Yes, I heard that the first school excursion will go to interview the cross loonies.
You have to stay in your habitat as it is :)

News / New cross war in Warsaw [530]


This is something all Polska A knows since ages. The breathtaking arrogance of putting LK between the kings and true heroes of Poland (not that all royalty belonged to the category of true heroes, they never do in any country).

Anybody who wants to win elections over his dead brother...disgusting.

Walked today on K.P. Looks like BOR forced things apparently and finally.
OK tomorrow is Army Day and so K.P. has to be cordoned off anyway for the festivities. But this morning the police finally moved in, arrested part of the cross loonies (one women had an arrest warrant on her since a long time) on request of BOR.

The area is empty of cross loonies now. In the afternoon city workmen with Kaerchers were cleaning up the mess.
They forgot to bring a good sharp axe though.
This afternoon I heard the last joke. Seems King Zygmuny will loose his observation point. He will be replaced by a duck.

Life / what is with the blasphemy laws in Poland? [9]


For the cross loonies it is. They are just waiting for Torquemada to arrive in Okęcie :)