Life / Welcome to winter in Poland! (-19C tomorrow) [64]

Sorry I can't send you some hotpot; it sounds as if you could do with something hot inside you. I bought the lamb in Lidl, by the way. Delicious. Don't you have a janitor for your building? He should know what's going on.

Please stick to the topic

Life / Welcome to winter in Poland! (-19C tomorrow) [64]

Quite a heavy snowfall in Podlasie overnight. The dog started howling to get out in it at 0430, so I went out to start shovelling while my dear wife made me a Lancashire Hotpot, which I started shovelling at 0730. Did anyone have a better breakfast today?

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  Hotpot
  

History / Polish conscripts to German army [132]


Was he one of the top brassicas?

Life / Living like a local in Poland - What does it even mean? [30]


If you are referring to political and diplomatic events, there is a very great deal happening. If you choose to ignore events, then that is your choice. It certainly makes sense if you believe that you as an individual can make no difference to what the political elite does. Which has just reminded me of an anecdote Peter Jay, one time UK Ambassador to Washington and FT leader writer, used to tell. A sub-ed questioned what Jay had written in a leader column, saying that he didn't understand it. Jay replied, "I wrote that to be understood by half a dozen people in the world, and you're not one of them.

Life / Living like a local in Poland - What does it even mean? [30]


That's a strange question. I think most people here shop at more than one supermarket. Biedronka and Lidl keep their costs down by stocking a very limited range of lines, so you might find only one or two brands of, say, tinned peas instead of ten kinds in bigger places. Biedronka has improved over the years but I still find it dull. As others have said, its meat and fish departments have done well to compete. Personally I use Kaufland for my main shop, and look in Lidl and Biedronka to see what bargains they have.


Maybe in the big cities, but we have two good butchers in my small town.


When you can pick just one paper napkin from the dispenser in a milk bar, you'll have truly arrived (I still can't do it).

Food / British food products in Poland? [334]


Interesting, thanks.

Food / British food products in Poland? [334]


It was a few years ago, and at a time when security measures were still quite chaotic and arbitrary (shoes off, no electronic car keys).

Atora, Harry?

Food / British food products in Poland? [334]


I've become accustomed to it, and slather it on. Great for opening the sinuses!
Isn't it strange that Polish food doesn't really feature hot dishes but does have dynamite horseradish?

Food / British food products in Poland? [334]


That's probably because there are so many types of mustard to choose from. Polish mustard is fine. Just try a few and stick with one that most closely resembles Colman's. Polish horseradish sauce is better than anything you find in the UK, especially if you buy it from old village ladies who make it themselves and sell it in market places. They usually colour it red with beetroot.

Food / British food products in Poland? [334]


Kaufland beans are very good, and Heinz beans are not the same since they changed the recipe.
I always stock up on Atora suet when I go to the UK. The last time I brought Marmite, the lads at Heathrow confiscated it. Two huge jars. They were sympathetic but took it anyway, along with several kilos of semtex cheddar.

News / British schoolboys very sensibly dealt with by the Poland's authorities after theft in Auschwitz [45]

I haven't been to Auschwitz, but I have been to Majdanek, and I wouldn't describe it as a Disneyland. It was disgusting, sickening and heart-breaking, and put me in a state of depression for a day or two. This is what it's all about, or should be. Lest we forget. Your family members have every right to their opinion, but I believe these places should be kept, at least in part, so that future generations at least have the opportunity to learn from the mistakes of others.

Law / The right to own guns: would you support such legislation in Poland? [2237]

From dolno's link:
"This does not change the blunt truth that the Polish government is more afraid of its people than Alexander Lukashenko is of his."

I'm not sure I follow the logic of this assertion. I thought that governments being afraid of their populace was a good thing. In democracies the people can vote out the government. In, for example, Texas, where people can walk around town openly armed, I doubt very much that the state or federal governments are afraid of the people's weaponry, as they have the capability to quell any insurrection very swiftly. If I had to bet on the result of a fire fight between a highly trained and highly armed assault team of, say US marines, and a couple of hundred armed civilians, I'd bet on the former.

Law / The right to own guns: would you support such legislation in Poland? [2237]

dolno, would you be happy to see your neighbours walking around town with a holstered weapon on their hip?

Law / The right to own guns: would you support such legislation in Poland? [2237]

A question for Polish people living in Poland: Would you like to be able to open-carry a firearm in public?
The answer to this question is so obvious that it doesn't even need to be stated.

Food / Bologna & onions in Poland? [44]


Is that where 'windy city' comes from?

Life / All Things Christmassy in Poland [332]


That's a little unfair. I'm glad our town's beautiful decorations stay up until Candlemas. This winter has been extremely gloomy so far, and the lights cheer up the place no end. This year they are projecting moving snowflake patterns on the ratusz, and it looks great.


A very old tradition with pre-Christian origins, aka the Feast of Fools, when the usual social order was overturned (see Shakespeare's eponymous play). At the old universities the dons would serve the students dinner.

Genealogy / I am an ethnic Pole. What is my blood type group? Need help translating. [12]

Sounds like you have a document. Post a photo of it (you'll have to join first).

History / What are Poland's pagan roots? [62]

bbc.com/news/magazine-35120965
Very interesting article on what Jesus probably looked like and wore.

News / Should Poland exit the EU immediately? [377]

From a BBC interview with President Duda on their website today.
"Poles are pleased that we are members of the EU. For many Poles this has a big symbolic meaning."

BBC: Why are PiS Euro-sceptic?
"That's what we are known as to some, but that is simply not the case. It's an attempt to build a false image of us. We are not Euro- sceptic; we are Euro-realist."

Any comments from the PolAm experts?

Life / All Things Christmassy in Poland [332]

Thanks for that, Atch. It's easy to forget just how much love there is in the world. Got me all misty-eyed. Hope I get that welcome when I go to Dublin next Feb!

News / Should Poland exit the EU immediately? [377]


You don't live here, have never been here, and never will.
Now you are claiming to be an authority on understanding Polish attitudes.


Poland doesn't want to leave the EU. It's not even debatable. EU membership is hugely popular in Poland.

Life / All Things Christmassy in Poland [332]

Someone put this on the office pinboard.

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  Pinned up in the office
  

News / Should Poland exit the EU immediately? [377]

That's right. There is no better position for Poland to be in. That's why there's overwhelming support for it among real Poles in Poland.

Life / All Things Christmassy in Poland [332]

We threw lumps of coal at neighbours' doors, and made a din with pots and pans. Along with the boats on the Thames blaring their horns it was a fine racket.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

Well, the sun is far over the yardarm.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

The plain fact is that although PiS won the election fairly by the same rules that applied to other parties, the rhetoric employed by its leader implying that those who oppose PiS are the enemy within are sinister, and also absurd given that the vast majority of eligible voters did not vote for PiS. Polonius's repeated analogies with Nazism are distasteful in the extreme.

Life / All Things Christmassy in Poland [332]


That I do. It's the wine and chocolate that makes me fat.


Good grief!


My turkey and ham pie has been a revelation to friends. "Meat cake", my in-laws call it.

Life / All Things Christmassy in Poland [332]

dolno, I can't see me buying that lamb. The guinea fowl, however, does look really good. Each bird is about a kilo, so after cooking I reckon one could feed two people, three at a pinch.

Life / All Things Christmassy in Poland [332]

That's right. The joint in the picture was 125PLN before the reduction. It'll have to be half that before I'm half tempted.

Life / All Things Christmassy in Poland [332]

Just back from the shops. The (on topic Polish Christmas) Lidl lamb is now down 16% to just (!) 49.90.

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  Lidl today