Food / Types of CHEESE in Poland [150]

I just got back from Zakopane and they sell a fantastic cheese there, looks like bread rolls almost, but a great taste. I was told its a local thing, so I guess Asda will not do it:-(

Andy

Travel / Driving to Poland from England - any tips? [264]

I do Denmark to Częstochowa area of southern Poland as I work mostly in DK, but as an English man I have done West Yorkshire to Częstochowa perhaps 15 times in my life. Its more expensive, but I use the Hull to Rotterdam ferry. I don't like driving in the UK, its the one country I try not to drive in, its not worth the 6 hours to Dover for a cheap crossing, my choice. For the extra money to sail this route I get an overnight sailing and we are on the Dutch roads at 8.30 and from there we get home around 22.00 - 23.00.

Without I sat nav I would have thought finding your way around the dutch motor way network a struggle, you need to study a map and make sure you know which cities to aim for. We cross at Venlo into Germany. As stated before its often the case you pull out to overtake with no one behind you then your rear view mirror is full of German flashing headlamps seconds later, don't worry they are just happy to see you . Its a busy road with a lot of trucks crossing Germany, its a relief to get near Berlin and the last leg. I head towards Dresden and I cross at the German border near Forst. No passports to show, you still go through the old border control, so please slow down :-) There will be some customs bods hanging around.

The first 80km of motorway is hell. It used to be an A road which has been upgraded to a dual carriage. The old A road goes into Poland and the new one takes the traffic out. The deal is drive in the fast lane, its less bumpy and only pull out the way to let someone past and hope your teeth do not fall out. Everyone will be doing this, so go with the flow. After that it opens up into a very good motorway all the way to Katowice and then on to Krakow on the toll road. I get a 120km of A and B roads from Opole to Częstochowa. There are lots of parking places and gas stations, the Orlens 30km into Poland has great food BBQ style.

If you are going to northern Poland you will cross at Frankfurt Odder and they are doing a motorway link as I understand, but for now you have 120km of A road and most of Eastern Europe using it. Its a fast route, no one is hanging about. If someone is hanging on your rear bumper then try to run on the sort of hard shoulder and let them through, you may feel everyone is a mad driver, but they all do it, so it will be only you that is fact the hazzard, anyway is great fun to do 130 kph overtake on a row of trucks into oncoming traffic, it just is I love it. Beware this route has many cameras now and if you see flashing headlamps from oncoming traffic, slow down it will be a Police speed trap.

From around Nowy Tomysl there is the A2/E30 a newish toll motorway which points you towards Poznan/Warszawa and beyond.

As for winter tyres, I came into Poland from Denmark a few years ago with my DK car as snow hit, I bought a set while in Poland and found them to help a lot, but of course weigh up the cost option. We live in a village 18km before we get a treated road so come winter I change over. I had a PL van in the UK last January when the Bradford area got snow, a few cars following me never made corners, so I do believe winter wheels is a good thing.

I will put my neck out here as Brit and say I love driving here. I think we in the UK or perhaps the western world in general feel that driving should be a craft to hone, god forbid anyone should criticize your driving prowess. I would say here in Poland they do not have that feeling of driving excellence and rather just want to get from A to B as fast as possible. This might appear to have appearance of manic idiots to Western eyes, but join in its great fun, its my favorite place to drive.

Life / Does Poland have an equivalent to Amazon.com? [18]

I have just ordered a couple of books form Merlin, I will let you know how that goes, they took the money very quickly :-)

Life / Does Poland have an equivalent to Amazon.com? [18]

The book arrived 34 hours after ordering, well done Merlin, ohh it has some free coffee as well!!!!!!!!!!

Life / Car test..The Polish equivalent of the MOT [36]

I did challenge him on the time it took, his answer its a 3 year old car and the condition looks good, a car in bad condition or old would get closer attention. There was a car in before me and that was up on ramps and was still there when I left, so I assume they eye it up rather than follow a printed check list. All I got was rolling road for testing brakes, check to see if the lights worked and aligned.

I always enjoyed the British MOT at our local garage. The owner would spend 20 minutes complaining about everything under the sun, spend the rest of the test on his mobile, ask me to check the brake lights, then tell me its failed and will cost £1,000 to fix, laugh and give me the pass paper.

Life / Car test..The Polish equivalent of the MOT [36]

I would have thought anyone with the brass to buy new here would be looking after it. Mine was a crashed car from Germany, found one with a good repair to it, it has 20,000 km service intervals, so its gets a service every 2 or 3 months, our local mechanic is a very good guy, he advised buying this car after checking it, his word is good enough for me, so its a car that gets looked at a lot. Its not let me down in 79,000km I have had it and gone through the test, so this one at least is a good un.

Life / Car test..The Polish equivalent of the MOT [36]

I have to say some of the cars we looked at were shocking, I got this one last year before moved here, the wife and her sister bought second hand as well this year, so we did a fair old distance looking. We took our guy with us each time, pay him a good fee to pick the good ones for us. I would not buy a car without someone who knows their stuff along for the ride.

I had a look at new here in Poland, but they are silly money for the same thing you get back in the UK and I couldn't get the right toys in the Polish specced ones, so went second hand, so far so good.

Law / What is the quickest and cheapest way to send money to a bank account in Poland? [37]

Halifax charge to send and PKO have not taken any fees so far, 2 working days and its here in PL

News / RHD cars in Poland - my campaign to change the rules in Poland [128]

I think its fair that its possible in special cases that you could import such a car, your case seems worthy. I never considered to bring my UK car to Poland, the wife was quite attached to it, well at least until the seatbelt was fixed. I do prefer LHD as I am right handed, so its very natural, RHD seems the wrong way around to me completely. I hold a coffee cup, eat, answer the phone, grope the wife with the right hand, so its natural to do the same in a car.

I propose getting the UK into the real world, get them all on the correct side of the road, natural selection will sort some of them out and thus less traffic on the roads, its a winner and when they are all confused get rid of the imperial system.

News / RHD cars in Poland - my campaign to change the rules in Poland [128]

I wouldn't disagree with your opinion on this Harry, for me I prefer to use my right hand for many things which do fall on that side of the car, be it gear stick, radio, picking something up. Also I find, be it a truck, van or car, once to clutch has been used you have more room for your foot, so my personal choice is LHD.


Even proudly wearing my Queen Victoria Union Jack knickers I think clinging to that is pushing it a bit. Britain drives on the left and the rest of Europe on the right. The statement is correct to use, but only in the UK and for a few other countries that aren't close by. For that stance then cars in the UK will always get side swiped by LHD trucks.

Plenty of people on this forum complain about the standards of Polish driving, so would the prospect of returning Poles, buying cheap cars in the UK to drive in Poland concern you more?

The gentleman has a good case with a modified for disability car to use in Poland, but I don't think its a great thing to have it as standard practice.

News / RHD cars in Poland - my campaign to change the rules in Poland [128]

The old safety gag, the cornerstone of modern day UK PLC, pages and pages of hi vis paper churning out the bleedin' obvious to the PCed to death public. My dominant hand will have its dominate finger in my nose relieving an itch which is all about safety. I disagree, a Scania has no room to put ones left foot, apart from under the pedal it just came off, surely a PC nightmare of a safety issue when one has to disengage forward propulsion to prevent barging into another OAP driven Mirca. The LHD version has a handy rest for the foot with plenty of space raised up a tad to aid a quick safety de-clutch. We have 3 cars in the family, all got room, the RHD versions do not, because of the engine tunnel. I guess this all dependent of the model of car or truck, so your right and I am right.


....but if you do this in mainland Europe is not very safe is it. I never noticed any difference is driving a LHD or RHD vehicle regarding perception on the road, not in a car or truck, If this is true then in the UK all left handed people are a danger and all righted people are iffy in the rest of Europe. I see it as only more of a risk if you are nearer the curb. The driving test in the UK is not difficult and does not take into consideration actual full road testing, let along bad weather training, so this view is formed how.


That would depend on what it failed on. I think the best solution is RHD stay in the UK and LHD in Europe, the goods can go as unaccompanied freight and picked up by a UK trucker to delivered onwards in a safe manner.

News / RHD cars in Poland - my campaign to change the rules in Poland [128]

What is the complex task my right hand being used for, apart form steering, what do I miss, surely this complex task you talk of is steering a motor vehicle? What hand is attached to what part of the car is neither here nor there, I only say that its more comfortable for me and more relaxing to drive LHD, thats the important bit, being uncomfortable will lead to less concentration, likely to get more stressed, prone to bouts of tiredness. Now last time I drove though the land of my birth, people were shouting, waving fists at each other, the guy driving was shouting along the lines of no one can drive. Your dominant right eye will be useless if a fellow stressed Brit punches it out.

News / RHD cars in Poland - my campaign to change the rules in Poland [128]

Why would you turn around, most cars have 3 mirrors, if I felt the need to check a blindspot or ogle a lady then my head would go in the shortest way around, Harry I do not suffer form this inflection to turn my head the wrong way and never seen anyone struggling that I can remember.

I always use mirrors Harry, 100%, I can see no benefit to trying to look behind me, apart from losing were the front is. I have to say most of the things I drive don't have rear windows to look through or there is 45 foot of trailer in the way, its a fail in the test on big stuff, also most assessment drives in the UK will require you to put it blindside onto a bay with the windows up and using only mirrors. Lets beg to differ on this..... HOWEVER.

is is interesting


Also as dnz says. Never considered this part of your argument, very interesting indeed. Next time I am out I will be thinking about this and I have a trip to the UK also soon. (dnz....norfolklines?) For me I like to know who is in front, behind, coming at me, I would say what registrations and the type of car have also a bearing in how I drive, if I have something bigger to drive then also the bindspots down the side of trailer. I have not noticed any difference from LHD to RHD for me though.

News / RHD cars in Poland - my campaign to change the rules in Poland [128]


I fit fine here, as I do in any other country, just because I passed my tests in another country I drive as the conditions dictate. I stress levels would soon mount up if I tut tuted every daft maneuver done by a car driver, people drive as they do, let them get on with it and try not to add to the problem.

I have to say again Harry, even in the UK you will be asked to blindside a vehicle onto a bay using just mirrors on any assessment drive. Doing this allows to to see the back and front without moving your head, I know in the UK a car driver follows the spot on the rear window around the curb in the test, but its not the same on other tests on larger vehicles. I see no benefit to twisting your body around, you will not have full control of the car.

Now maybe your reply is aimed at the


part. You will be aware of the blind-spots regarding a large vehicles and laws regards how many mirrors and what the mirrors should point at. The main mirror cluster can hide a car at a junction, great for looking back but a big blind spot at say a roundabout, so it that situation I would be checking that blind spot, perhaps you are thinking I do not care period, then you would be wrong.


I would see them in the mirrors and just as important if they were crossing the front I would also see them. I see then same in the center mirror as I would by looking on the window itself, then what is either side of the vehicle with the door mirrors and also view the front of the vehicle, my chances of dwarf spotting are very good. I am stunned this is not taught in the test.

News / RHD cars in Poland - my campaign to change the rules in Poland [128]


Surely you can reverse using mirrors, front, back, left hand side and right hand side by moving just your eyes. Or what hanging out the window, back and left hand covered, or looking out the back window, thats a lot of flatten dwarfs around the front and offside.

Its the same to leave a parking place on the road, look in the mirror wait for a space, set off, no flat children or turn around, hang out the window and wipe someone out cause I ain't looking forwards.

Explain the life saver to me, never done any sort of bike test, I am interested in any form of knowledge furthering.


Designer, programmer, rigger, agency and tour driving, mostly just freelance programming now, Theatre/Area/Corporate mostly in Denmark. My age and the forth coming CPC requirements make driving unattractive as a job these days.