Life / Legalising Marijuana in Poland. Therapy available? [76]

Some churches use Ribena instead of wine for communion

Law / Questions regarding bringing my (Spanish) car to Poland [19]

Watch your insurance - it's often the case that a policy covers visits to any EU state, but up to a max number of days. Your Spanish insurance may, therefore, be valid in Spain but sooner or later cover for use in Poland will be lost. Many people get around this by taking the car across a border and back, no?

Oh, and you don;t just change plates, you re-register, which has a cost and a process incl production of valid insurance

Life / Legalising Marijuana in Poland. Therapy available? [76]

Alcohol is way too easy to make at home for a ban to be effective. And family in Scotland used to grow tobacco. But I do agree a ban on public sale might work - people can socialise, watch televised sport, etc without either ... it will just take some getting used to. Also, remember the BMJ support for banning the sale of cigarettes to anyone born after the year 2000? If it worked, one generation would basically weed out (sorry) the smokers.

Study / Opinions about '2 weeks intensive Polish course' [26]

The only similar experience I've had was with French. I'd learned French at school bu 20 years had gone by. I had 2 weeks holiday and went to a school in Reims where I struggled - what I recalled put me into a higher stream than what I could actually do.

But total immersion - living with a French family, talking French all day every day - quickly kicked my French up a gear and removed some of my inhibitions. I even found myself thinking in French.

So immersion can be very effective, not so much for new language/vocab but for consolidation and cnfidence-boosting

Travel / Holidaying with a 9 and 8 year old in Southern Poland August 2014 [10]

Only you know your children, but the official site for Auschwitz recommends a minimum age of 14. To understand what you see, explanations have to be pretty blunt. I'd honestly steer clear on this occasion.

On the other hand, as the children have studied some history, you can see places like the Polish Air Museum, to the north of the city centre (includes some planes from the personal collection of Goebbels), the Royal Wawel Complex, the rynek - known as Adolf Hitler Plaz while under Nazi control during WW2. The former Jewish quarter (Kazimierz) is across the bridge from the former ghetto in Podgorze, where you will find Ghetto Heroes Square and the Mueum of the Occupation (Schindler Factory).

There again, there's the tethered balloon, boat trips on the vistula, the fire-breathing dragon (on the river bank, below Wawel), the puppet theatre, the city engineering museum and a raft of other things designed for or appealing to, younger visitors.

There are a couple of water parks around Krakow, a white water canoeing centre out by Tyniec and the rivers and lakes .... well, the Poles love to be in and on the water, so where you find water you often find canoeing, rafting, sailing, windsurfing, swimming, paddling, etc, etc. One place you could look at is Zywiec, where we have seen small holiday villages with dawn till dusk activities, but if you take a look here you'll see more :

1904loghouse.com/about-krakow-on-the-water/
1904loghouse.com/about-splashing-about-in-southern-poland/
1904loghouse.com/about-krakow-for-kids/

I hope all this is useful. Krakow is a wonderful city to visit but I'm really pleased you will be exploring further - the hills and lakes are beautiful.

Life / Mall Madness in Poland? [8]

I'd have to say the impact of a mall depends on the city and the position of the mall. The best-known mall in Krakow is just outside the Old Town and rather than compete with the rynek/Kazimierz it complements it. The mall has a big car park even though it's in the middle of the city, and as the old town is pedestrianised the mall has become the shopping place of choice for those with a lot of shopping to do, kids, a wet day, etc, but in any event the tourists keep shopping in the old town alive.

In Nowy Sacz our rynek and city centre has a generous amount of parking, so those who want to shop there can, and the malls ... well, they open with a great fanfare and gradually fade away - we don't need the malls ... except for the paseo! ... and the Tesco

Thing is, though, you have to look at it from the consumer's POV. Personally, I'm in a wheelchair so street shopping is virtually impossible. But for many, many people the town centre is a bus or two away and a right pain in the ass to get to and especially from. So they prefer to jump in the car, drive to a mall, do all their shopping for the week and drive home. Of course that means town centre shops suffer, but that is because people do not LIVE in the town centre.

.
Just as one example - I lived in Enfield for 20 years, during which I shopped on Oxford Street exactly never!

Life / Mall Madness in Poland? [8]

In Nowy Sacz we have three or maybe 4 malls, all small and one or two really only surviving because they host a major store - Tesco, for example. They all otherwise seem to work on selling shoes, sportswear, computer accessories, mobile phone accessories and very little else. They all look the same and they all only get busy when it's time for the paseo. Do we have a word for that in Poland? The aimless wandering up and down, looking in the windows, looking at what everyone is wearing, having a coffee and chatting to friends. Other times, almost deserted!

Law / Advice needed on Inheriting loans in Poland, will they have to be repaid? [6]

"If it was so easy to wipe away debt in Poland"

Why should it be possible to "wipe away" debt? All an heir is entitled to is the net assets of the deceased - gross value minus liabilities and taxes. The concept of taking the assets but not accepting the liabilities is one I cannot understand. In this case, though, accepting liabilities which were unknown for all those years? I'd like to see a reputable lender try to argue their claim (or, at least, their claim to anything more than the o/s debt as at the time of death!)

Actually, in the UK one takes an advertisement in (? the Estates Gazette?) and asks anyone having an interest in the estate to make contact within a certain time or else the estate will be wound up and distributed

Travel / Cables on facades of krakow buildings [7]

Can you imagine the cost of burying all those cables and re-wiring the buildings, not to mention the damage to buildings hundreds of years old?

Law / A general legal question about inheritance in Poland - debts [31]

Who are the "other family" and how are they connected? Surely that can have an impact ... As could a lender's right to foreclose and seize the property - the legal details need to be checked. Worst case scenario I can see is that the lender forces a sale at below market value and your in-laws lose their home AND some of their money, UNLESS the other family are related and/or there is paperwork making your in-laws responsible for the whole debt, in which case they could lose their home and ALL the money they have ted up in it.

Don't forget that debt inheritance is not SO far removed from the UK principle of net estate - you only get the net value after all debts of the deceased have been settled. The law here, in allowing you to disclaim inheritance, at least allows you to walk away

Travel / Poland is unsafe for visiting British Citizens ! - so I've been told ... [18]

Since moving here I've found everyone friendly and helpful. If the neighbours see us on the street, they'll cross the street just to shake hands. Everyone tries to help.

Life / Cost of Visiting Sleep Clinic in Poland? [3]

Why not try one of the low-cost gadgets while you're saving up for testing and, if necessary, a cpap machine>?

For example : snoremenders.co.uk/HowItWorks.html?gclid=CKW8jMSU8r4CFSEewwodqxkA-g

Law / Information on which documents are needed to obtain a visa for a visit to Poland (non EU citizen ) [18]

I invited a friend from Argentina to stay at my place in London for a month a few years ago. I sent him, i advance, a letter addressed "to whom it may concern" and stating:

- that I had invited him and that he would be staying at my place from (date) until his departure date on (date)
- his flight and ticket numbers
- what he would be doing during his stay
- what I would be paying for
- that I would cover any unexpected expenses
- full details of my flat, accommodation and address
- explanation of my job, employer, address and salary

Also provided copies of a month of bank statements and three months' salary advices to prove cash reserve and income

Also confirmed I would be waiting for him in arrivals and gave my mobile phone number in case they wanted to interview me

History / Piłsudski's Cadillac to be rebuilt [8]

Have you any idea of what it costs to develop and build cars? And look at State cars around the world - they're rarely local-made. The Queen of England has a VW (Bentley). and so on! Better, if you're getting into historical alliances, to drive a Cadillac than a Merc or BMW....

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Official_state_car

Genealogy / Looking for Information on Saint Stanislaus Parish [9]

Does this help ? swstkostka.tarnow.opoka.org.pl

Travel / Driving in Poland, are there any rules at all? [149]

I think you're misjudging the speed, though I admit people (including me) drive with the flow rather than with both eyes on the limit. It's no excuse, but it's better to go with the flow than to make a bloody nuisance of yourself.... At the same time there are some idiots here, as elsewhere, as everywhere and perhaps the police focus is elsewhere. That's for the police and authorities to decide, based on their cost/benefit analysis of the resources available to them.

UK, Ireland / Help required with moving my art works and stuff from Scotland to Nowy Sacz [17]

Glad to read you got fixed up. Let us know when you're settled in Nowy Sacz as it would be good to meet up

Food / Refried Beans and taco seasoning to buy in Nowy Sacz [7]

I saw this and could not resist adding my genuine Mexican (ex)mother-in-law's recipe for re-fried beans. It's very simple. You start with yesterday's left over cooked red kidney beans.

Put a little oil into a pan and heat. Add chopped garlic and chopped chilli and cook then discard both, leaving you with spicy oil. Whack in the beans and, while they fry/warm through, mash them.

Result - delicious re-fried beans.

Incidentally, I'd never admit it to her, but I also love Heinz Baked Beans - add one beef Oxo cube ad some chilli powder and eat with bread and butter. Sacrilege, but delicious!

UK, Ireland / Help required with moving my art works and stuff from Scotland to Nowy Sacz [17]

Matter of interest - have you checked cards at your nearest Polski Sklep? Before we made our bog move there was some toing and froing of stuff between us in London and my partner's family in PL and we got in touch with one of the teams running a minibus and trailer regularly between London and PL. They had a trailer roughly equal to a half-luton van and could take seats out of the bus if you needed and paid for more space, or they could split your stuff over two loads.

Not sure if we can help, but I have an SUV and my partner has a big American pick-up and we're often in Krakow? It's 2 years since we moved and I think there's now a short-term storage place there. Or, potentially, we could store some stuff at our house for you - we're 15km from NS.

Further point = as a matter of interest, our half load of stuff cost us £500 to ship out on a shared van. OK there were issues, but that's not my point. My point is that fuel, ferries and meal costs us a lot more than £500 for the return trip!

When we made our own "trip with stuff" we hired a van and drove over - now THAT was expensive! Have you thought ... if you need a van once you're settled here, fly over, buy one, then use it to move your gear?

UK, Ireland / Help required with moving my art works and stuff from Scotland to Nowy Sacz [17]

Just for clarity, all the bidders had reviews - Andy's was no better or worse than the rest .. which included what purported to be much bigger and more professional companies which bidded 4+ times the price! That's not "a little"

Law / How to sell a ready made 'shelf' company in Poland (Gdynia) [5]

You've got what we (I'm a retired UK tax professional) call a bugger's muddle. You don't sell the company, you sell the shares so all you require is a contract and some consideration (zl) then a cancellation in the company's records of your ownership of the shares and recognition of the new ownership.

You mention the flat - is this owned by the company? Or is the company just registered at that address?

I'm not sure on transfer pricing. Conceivably the company might be deemed to sell at full market value whatever consideration you give for the land. This is why standard UK tax advice is to put all assets through the company EXCEPT land and buildings.

And as CMS says, the prospective buyer will need to be 110% satisfied that the company has no debts or prospective liabilities. If you just have an asset- and debt-free shelf company, the typical buyer would still most likely just go and buy his/her own.

UK, Ireland / Help required with moving my art works and stuff from Scotland to Nowy Sacz [17]

When we moved from London I went via a couple of removal bid sites - you list your details and movers give you their quotes. I picked the one I preferred and made a deal with him to collect our gear from storage (we drove to meet him) and bring the stuff to our house just outside, as it happens, Nowy Sacz. His name was Andy.

1. It was not Andy but a Polish guy my age (50s) who turned up
2. He would not help bring anything to the van, just loaded it
3. Andy had not fully briefed him in how much stuff we had - he has already a half load and we had stuff which would fill his van, so half our stuff was left at the storage place for later

4. Guy went off and we drive home to PL
5. Few days later his son called. He had left London with a mixed load of stuff under "contract" with Andy on the basis that he'd collect the ££ from people as he delivered. Andy, meanwhile, had called the clients and got them to pay him direct! So this guy had driven a van from London and received £zero so far. He was on the border between Germany and Poland - did we have cash for him or had WE paid Andy. Luckily we had the cash and told him so, so he drove on to us and helped bring our gear inside - nice guy - and we paid him (£500) and struck a deal that he'd collect and bring over the rest of our stuff for £100, in a couple of weeks.

6. After some calls to the storage place, everything was fixed up and duly arrived here.
7. We never heard again from Andy. .....

Law / Taxation system in Poland? My company is cutting 38%!? [25]

You've not said where you're from, nor have you said how much time you will spend in Poland. Essentially you need to look at the tax treaty to see where you will be tax resident and then which state has the tax right ... then look at social security contributions where the law can differ.

Real Estate / Are Mortgage brokers licenced in Poland? Can anyone become an real estate agent? [18]


No, you're not. When we bought our house the biggest hinderance was the agents!

Life / Business customs in Poland - liquor gift, courtesy toward women [9]

Joanna Lumley tells a little story of her days at finishing school when she was taught to sit in the car as the driver (male, of course) parks, gets out and walks round to open her door - "sit there like a cripple!". My experience, having worked alongside, under and above women for more than 30 years is that it's polite to open and hold the door, but if you rush ahead to grab the door and make a show of "politeness" the woman will think you are a ******!

Although men, women, everyone worth knowing will appreciate politeness, no-one likes to be treated like they're incapable of opening their own doors.

Life / International newspaper availability in Gdansk? [21]

LO Nick, you sound like me before I bought my first Kindle!

Life / International newspaper availability in Gdansk? [21]

Clearly you have a computer - why not just look at the e-versions on-line?

Polonia / Sending gifts from somewhere in the EU to Poland - options as shipping is expensive! [3]

HUNH? Go onto Amazon and order there from one of the European sites. As you'll see from a separate thread, co.uk no longer does free shipping, but it's £6.40 plus £1.10 per kilo so shop wisely

Travel / Have any Polish people been to Rajasthan,India? [3]

Hey - worked in Coimbatore (Kovai) and toured Rajasthan on holiday