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Posts by bullfrog  

Joined: 23 Apr 2009 / Male ♂
Warnings: 1 - A
Last Post: 19 Aug 2015
Threads: Total: 6 / In This Archive: 4
Posts: Total: 602 / In This Archive: 446
From: istanbul
Speaks Polish?: trochke

Displayed posts: 450 / page 1 of 15
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bullfrog   
20 Aug 2015
Travel / Ryanair flying domestic in Poland? [46]

Buses are much better than Ryanair:i never had to wait in line for 30 mns before boarding a bus, with no seats available!
bullfrog   
20 Aug 2015
Travel / Ryanair flying domestic in Poland? [46]

Then to top it all you find you have been dropped in a disused airbase two hundred klics from your destination..:)

Yes, it is indeed a joke; sometimes the taxi/train ride to get to the centre of the city costs more than the air ticket... I have flown once in my life with Ryanair from Marseille (MP2). The boarding process was so horrible (standing in line for God knows how long) that I promised myself never to use them again (the flight itself was alright).
bullfrog   
20 Aug 2015
Travel / Ryanair flying domestic in Poland? [46]

IST has massively expanded - to the point now where it's stuffed with people

Yes, it was in 2014 the 4th busiest airport in Europe and will most probably overtake Frankfurt to become the 3rd one in 2015 after Heathrow and CDG. As you point out, it is already saturated but funny thing is that contrary to what happens usually the issue is not one of takeoff/landing capacity but one of size of terminal buildings capacity. Anyway that's why Erdogan wants to build a 3rd (hugely controversial) airport in Istanbul which will, when fully completed, become the largest in the world with an annual capacity of 150 M passengers.
bullfrog   
19 Aug 2015
News / Poland's President-Elect Duda leads in public trust - CBOS poll [185]

This Duda can no more stop that than Canute could hold back the tide.

As much as I would like you to be right Pol3, as much I fear that it is Jon who is on the right path. History has taught us that humans, like electrical current, take the path of least resistance or, said differently, prefer instant/effortless gratification to the long winding (and uphill) road of effort, whathever satisfaction might follow. And Poles are, after all, humans..
bullfrog   
19 Aug 2015
News / Polish-foreigner marriages increasing [48]

Any cross cultural marriage is good news, it broadens the horizons of both spouses and that of their children. True, it is often harder to make such marriages succeed compared to monocultural marriages, but on the whole its benefits the gene pool and humanity. Reduction ab absurdum, just look at what happens when the opposite is pushed to its logical limit, ie inbreeding
bullfrog   
18 Aug 2015
History / What was better in Poland under communism? [67]

Now you have to drive to Arcadia, leave your car in the underground car park

The tram stops at Arkadia (and not Arcadia, Pol3, getting Americanized, you've been away from PL too long!!)
bullfrog   
18 Aug 2015
News / New constitution In Poland? [57]

one should first ask oneself is the American and French system of government undemocratic?

Cannot vouch for the US system. As far as the French one is concerned, while I would not go so far as to label it "undemocratic", the French themselves recognize that what is in theory a republic is in fact a disguised monarchy. The difference is that pre 1789 the French king was " de droit divin" (his power came from God), today he (there hasn't been a she yet) is elected.
bullfrog   
18 Aug 2015
Work / First English teaching job in Poland (Katowice) [75]

True, Krakow is only Poland's former capital city, home to one of the oldest universities in Europe and a leading centre of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life.. Not good enough for Mrs Know All..
bullfrog   
15 Aug 2015
Travel / Ryanair flying domestic in Poland? [46]

The partnership is nothing new - they've both been in Star Alliance with Lufthansa for a while.

No Jon , this is something new, in addition to their existing agreement. It was announced 2 days ago.

hurriyetdailynews.com/polish-and-turkish-airlines-extend-cooperation------.aspx?pageID=238&nID=86902&NewsCatID=345
bullfrog   
14 Aug 2015
Travel / Ryanair flying domestic in Poland? [46]

and LOT has also just signed a partnership agreement with Turkish Airlines. Not sure exactly at this stage what it means, we will see...
bullfrog   
14 Aug 2015
Life / What are the things which cause culture shock in Poland? [164]

am still surprised about how many get ill in the wintertime despite all the patent medicines and the overdressing.

Yes, that's because the overdressing prevents Poles from developing a resistance to cold. In this respect, the Scottish method is much more efficient. Throw them half naked at a young age in the snow and those who survive are by definition the ones who are resistant! :)
bullfrog   
14 Aug 2015
Life / What are the things which cause culture shock in Poland? [164]

I have seen this with the kids from UK parents too

Maybe in England then. Scotland tends to be the exact opposite of Poland in this respect. I cannot remember the number of times I shivered just by seeing half naked youg lasses in the streets of Glasgow in the middle of winter. It is true that alcohol keeps the inner parts of the body warm..
bullfrog   
14 Aug 2015
Life / Catholic idol worship in Poland [29]

Don't forget Meryemana, near Selcuk, where Mary is supposed to have settled and died, or the icons in caves in Cappadocia (most of which have been literally defaced by idiots).

Indeed. When my wife and I went to visit Meryemana last year, the group of 5 people that was coming out of the house as we arrived was, guess what.. Polish!!
bullfrog   
14 Aug 2015
Life / Polish maid very flirtatious? [36]

" Do black men have big knobs".

Haven't seen one of those for some time; same re real estate threads, which used to be the bread and butter of PF (remember Milky?), they seem to have largely vanished..

Let's back to the topic please
bullfrog   
14 Aug 2015
Life / Catholic idol worship in Poland [29]

look down on the Catholics as mere "Papists" and their religion as a lot of mumbo-jumbo, full of outdated and primitive ritual symbolism.

Saw recently in a museum in Marseille (MUCEM) a very interesting exhibition about shared sacred sites between Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Quite fascinating to see that there are a large number of such shares sites throughout the world including in the country where I am currently living (Turkey): Muslims make an annual pilgrimage to the Church of St George on Buyukada!
bullfrog   
14 Aug 2015
News / Poland in ruin or flourishing? [35]

Youthful rebellion is nothing new

With most individuals (including yourself Pol3?), such rebellion starts in their teens, ie pre University years and dwindles as the individual matures. On the contrary, in the case of Michnik, his Uni years appear to have been the starting point of a lifelong choice.. Not quite the same..
bullfrog   
13 Aug 2015
News / Poland in ruin or flourishing? [35]

He palled around with other nomenklatura kids who were in the same boat. It was only at uni that he became a political dissident.

Precisely Pol3, don't you think that it takes courage to take a path like he did, against his family, when his parents were members of PZPR? Especially that it happened in the sixties, 20 years before the regime would finally crack?
bullfrog   
13 Aug 2015
News / Poland in ruin or flourishing? [35]

Believe me, a lot of people in Poland don't even make 2,000/month (for instance school teachers, shop assistants ....)

Roger has been living in Poland longer than you, I don't think he needs you to tell him things he is (and we are) already aware of

I helped some poor families from Praga North through charity

Good; so we now know that you are a good citizen and give to charity and to cancer research; many others, including I am sure on this forum, do the same without finding the need to broadcast it constantly

authorities should do something against poverty.

Maybe decide to go back to communism?
bullfrog   
13 Aug 2015
News / Poland in ruin or flourishing? [35]

the millions of young Poles who have left Poland left 'Polska B', meaning that PO lost millions of votes in those regions.

Yes, but since Poles are also able to vote when abroad (at least in the general elections), that should have no impact on the overall outcome
bullfrog   
13 Aug 2015
News / Poland in ruin or flourishing? [35]

The point is whether the improvement has been equitably (I didn't say "equally") distributed. Poland now has a caste of overprivileged and everybody else.

Maybe you have a point.

What has always struck me is how divided the Polish vote is geographically, ie the Eastern part voting PiS and the Western part voting PO. I initially thought that this might be linked to a difference in the origin of the population with proximity to Russia on one side (less developed) and to Germany on the other (more developed). That doesn' t withstand deeper analysis because we all know that Western Poland was repopulated with people coming from the old eastern territories.

I think the split comes from inappropriate/late policy decisions by the successive Polish government in the 1990's/early 2000s, and especially the lack of focus on infrastructure issues. Motorway links between the East to the West were not built at the time when Western firms were making decisions about the location of their Polish factories. As a result most factories were located in the Western part which was already connected to the Western European markets via a preexisting network of motorways. The East West network now exists, at least partially, but it was built far too late when most investment decisions were already made. Show that also in politics time is of the essence..