Life / Automobiles vs. Pedestrians in Poland [77]


It would help a lot. I'm almost certain that if we saw the formation of dedicated traffic police units, funded entirely by fines - we would see a huge decrease in stupid behaviour, especially if it was tasked with stamping out dangerous moves.

I even know myself - last night, compulsory right turn - but the road was empty and I could make a left turn (that I wanted to make). What did I do? Made a left turn, of course - the fine/points simply weren't enough of a deterrent, combined with the knowledge that the police are highly unlikely to be there, or care.

Life / K+M+B-2012 - formula on flats in Poland [63]


And that's exactly the issue.

The same arrogance caused the Spanish to reject the church, the same in Ireland - guys, learn from your mistakes!

Then again, when you've got people who blindly support everything you do for their own twisted reasons, it's no surprise that certain elements think they're untouchable.

Life / K+M+B-2012 - formula on flats in Poland [63]

Indeed, I could tell you about some real horror stories (in fact, I did tell you!) - but there are some great guys out there too.

I've noticed one thing - the more active a priest is in his community (in terms of doing things, not in terms of interfering) - the better he tends to be. It seems to be very much the ones who are "I'm a priest, bow down and respect me" who tend to be far worse.

Always thought that if the church had an effective mechanism to remove the bad ones and to deal with problems quickly - it would be a real force to be contended with, not only in Poland, but in the whole of Europe.


That explains why you're never in Warsaw to come to the pub :P

To return to the thread somewhat -

What's this about chalking it on the door frame? It's always chalked directly on the door here...

Life / K+M+B-2012 - formula on flats in Poland [63]


More flaming.

Mods?

Life / K+M+B-2012 - formula on flats in Poland [63]


Mods?


Actually, "millions" is a bit of an overstatement. You'll rarely see it in modern developments, and in older developments, those with their own doors (rather than the original) tend to shun it as well. I'm thinking of several of my neighbours - my flat was built in the 80's, and you'll only find this chalked on the "old" doors.

To someone who has actually been in Poland at all (ie, not you Polonius/Des) - have you ever seen this chalked on a "new" flat door?


Opłatek sharing has little to do with religion these days in Poland - it's becoming a secular tradition very quickly.

As for the final part of your post - why don't you live in Poland, rather than living in a country full of "sterile, secularist, materialist scum"?

(incidentally - Poles are as materialist as they come. You have seen the mass of disgustingly garish big houses in the Polish countryside, right?)

Life / K+M+B-2012 - formula on flats in Poland [63]

Of course, Polonius doesn't live in Poland. In fact, he's never lived in Poland.

What makes his post especially cute is that he completely fails to mention whether he has it on his own American door.

Life / Automobiles vs. Pedestrians in Poland [77]


Really?

Perhaps you'd like to explain why the figures for Scotland aren't comparable to Poland then, despite having some of the most isolated areas in Europe?

Life / Automobiles vs. Pedestrians in Poland [77]


Could it be because those countries actually bother to enforce driving laws?

Nothing to do with the laws on jaywalking, and everything to do with lack of enforcement.

Interestingly, Australia is safe, yet has quite strong jaywalking laws.

Real Estate / Residential real estate values go down in Poland [455]


You'd think that it would be easy for him, seeing as he watched it at the time.

Could it be that our old friend Mark is just telling yet more lies?

Life / Automobiles vs. Pedestrians in Poland [77]


It's quite normal in many countries. You have a red light, universally understood as "don't go". Cars get fined for going through red lights, why not people?


The law is clear - I don't remember the exact number, but there's a certain distance from a marked crossing - after that, you can cross where you want.


Not really, just read the relevant law and you're sorted.

History / Mother tongue in Poland - acccording to 1931 census. [174]

Interesting - they no doubt would have inflamed the local (majority Ukranian/Belarusian) population through such measures, though as is typical of the II RP, they made a total mess of it.

History / Mother tongue in Poland - acccording to 1931 census. [174]


What's also interesting is how the Poles and Austrians collaborated to keep Ukrainians out of education prior to 1918.

History / Mother tongue in Poland - acccording to 1931 census. [174]

Interesting question there - how would Polish, ex-military heroes treat Ukrainian peasants?

History / Mother tongue in Poland - acccording to 1931 census. [174]

Only speculating here, but it would seem possible that ex-soldiers could have been given land in these territories, especially in order to marginalise the Ukrainians living there.

Life / Babcia or Busha - any social class difference? [359]

One thing that doesn't make sense here -

The word somehow entered Polish-American speech via the Kashubian language or a tiny local dialect - how? It's just not plausible -

Interesting that it's an acceptable word in Kashubian - boletus has excellently proven that the word is either not Polish, or it's "as spoken by children". The latter is actually plausible - the uneducated peasants that emigrated to America wouldn't have spoken the language of the educated classes - and thus might not have featured in Polish dictionaries - because - who the hell was going to go to Kresy to talk to some peasants?


No, not quite. The existence of babusia is undeniable (heard it here myself) - but "busia" certainly doesn't seem to exist. Is there actually one book in existence that uses the word in Poland?

Very interesting stuff though - it actually goes a long way to prove that the word cannot be educated Polish origin.

History / Mother tongue in Poland - acccording to 1931 census. [174]


Funnily enough, those were the ones that were supposed to be autonomous (according to the agreement made with the League of Nations), but were then denied autonomy too.

Breaking promises seems to have been a speciality of the II RP.

Life / Price of cigarettes in Poland? [192]


It's not what we think, but what Irish customs think.

History / Mother tongue in Poland - acccording to 1931 census. [174]


Your chart actually proves that at least three voivodeships had a minority of Poles, with another one showing clear local allegiance over national allegiance.

Real Estate / Property taxation in Poland and inheritance (obligated by law to pay)? [32]


It depends on exactly where it is. Don't assume that the building will attract wealthy clientele - such people tend to steer clear of older flats in Poland, and they certainly won't be interested in a flat owned by an older person.

As for gentrification - unlikely in the short term. For instance, there are plenty of horrible Communist-era flats near Powstancow Slaskich with equally horrible inhabitants - and the older buildings are equally full of horrible people there. After all - much of central Wroclaw is still to be gentrified - this area is just too far out. Sky Tower won't change much - there are a lot of nice areas not far away from it (but not close), after all.


Not going to get 2500zl/month from a flat of that size near Sky Tower at the moment. 1500zl/month would be more realistic.

Real Estate / Residential real estate values go down in Poland [455]


It's almost certainly the same person - both Mark and Milky rant about Lublin, both Mark and Milky have posted the same thing on here and on other sites - I really can't comprehend why he keeps this up, but it seems to be the actions of a madman who is desperate for property prices to reduce.

The other telltale sign is that he seems to think that 50m2 apartments are "small", which is a dead giveaway that he's not a European. Someone from Ireland certainly wouldn't come out with this stuff - they were living for years in tiny houses.


We're definitely going to see it becoming tougher to get credit with the new rules demanding that all loans are calculated on the basis of 25 years. It's a very sensible rule, and will stop people lending up to their eyeballs.

My own feeling is that we might see prices actually increase in the small towns within 30-45 minutes train ride from the big cities. Property is still ridiculously cheap in those places, and young people especially will want to get a property somehow, even if it's not in such a desirable location.

Real Estate / Residential real estate values go down in Poland [455]


The thing to bear in mind is that while (in the city) - people will only be able to afford a 32m2 flat on low wages - the same low wages will buy you much more outside of the big cities. I've had a look just now, and if you go 30km outside Poznan, you can buy more or less double the size for half the price. And for low-level workers, the wages are pretty much the same.


Already bought by the Germans, Irish and Brits. Not much left here for the Chinese to buy.


Many of my peers own their own places in their 20's. It's certainly not out of their reach.

It's certainly out of reach of those on minimum wage, but since when has owning a house been a right?

Life / Fat People in Poland? [161]


Car culture for you.

Life / Are Polish roads really this bad? [237]


Final say - I'd say. They tend to be utterly obsessive about this, and I trust them.

However, they seem to be actually somewhat conservative - I drive between Poznan and Oborniki Wlkp. every day (I work there) - and the road is in excellent condition. If I drive at night, I can sit at a steady 100-110km/h.


You'd be surprised how much is decent really - even the bit of DK5 between Poznan and Wroclaw that's listed as "bad" isn't that bad at all - it's just a bit bumpy, but you can sit at a steady 90-100km/h there without fuss/danger of breaking your car.

Real Estate / Residential real estate values go down in Poland [455]


It would be interesting to compare the selling prices of 'new' properties vs older properties, actually.

Life / Are Polish roads really this bad? [237]

Best solution for now is to carry on with the existing approach - much of the pre-planning has been done, although I'd probably slap on tolls on the S5 Poznan-Wroclaw corridor in order to get it built earlier. Same could apply to the S8 from Warsaw-Krakow. The concession periods are for 30 years (I think) - at which point the roads return to the State. At that point, I'd bring in a vignette system - all the major roads will be built.

Could be one option to bring in yearly vignettes for GDDKiA-operated motorways while retaining tolls for casual users, though. I'd also look at bringing in transit-vignettes for the A4 between Zgorzelec and Krzyzowa - very little traffic is not heading across the border at that point.

There's also another issue with vignettes - it was mentioned to me by a senior engineer at Autostrada Wielkopolska that frequent toll booths (every 100km or so) are actually more desirable, as they prevent drivers from becoming mesmerised on long drives. That's perhaps one reason to retain the tolls and not switch to a vignette system.

Worth pointing out that the road surfaces on new roads tend to be fine.

Life / Are Polish roads really this bad? [237]


The problem is that much of the country is still nowhere near roads that would traditionally be included in a vignette - for instance, much of what I drive "normally" is on normal DK roads and not on S/A roads. It also only makes sense if the roads are all built by the state - but they aren't.

Life / Are Polish roads really this bad? [237]

Basically, to use expressways and motorways in many European countries (especially smaller ones) - you need to purchase a sticker that goes on the windscreen, known as a "vignette". Normally, they're sold for 7 days, a month and a year - though the duration does vary. The idea is that short term visitors are punished, while the cost is affordable for year-long versions.

Slovenia has a brutal one for instance - 15 euro for a week, 30 euro for a month or 95 euro for a year. You can see that the country is a major transit route - and so - they fund their entire road system through the summer transit traffic. Yet those living there aren't really suffering because of it. The yearly vignette is also valid for 14, not 12 months - so it's an even better deal for those living there. They - understandably - want to reduce traffic driving through Slovenia.

Life / Are Polish roads really this bad? [237]


That's a consequence of being a major transit route, both north-south and west-east.


Hard to say really - I think tolling does make sense in Poland, because it's concentrated on the major motorways. Vignettes only make sense if there's significant transit traffic on all routes - in Poland, cars only really transit along the A4/A2 which are tolled/will be tolled anyway - and trucks are obliged to use the ViaToll system which covers all motorways/main roads anyway.

I don't really see much wrong with the existing plans - except perhaps that Warsaw-Krakow should be covered by tolling (and made full motorway).

Vignettes are also a positive pain if you're not going far - for example, Brno-Bratislava requires a Slovak vignette for all of 50km or so, with no transit vignette available.

Life / Are Polish roads really this bad? [237]


Ah, knew someone actually living here would pop up with the facts soon ;)

Przemysl to Sanok is one hell of a fun road though - that bit when it climbs up with hairpins is "interesting".


I think you can quite clearly see political influence there - the powers that be have absolutely no interest in opening up that part of Poland.

Life / Are Polish roads really this bad? [237]


The original plan was that something will be open for Euro 2012, then close again to be finished. That's probably what will happen - the road will be "drivable", but unfinished.


Patience ;)

I think Poland will be unrecognisable by 2020 in terms of roads :)