History / 20 years of Poland in the EU. [317]

I don't hear about it that much at all and am very pleased that serious crime rates in general are falling, though there was a knife murder in my town last year. The perp (or perps since there were two) weren't from outside Europe though; they were from the country that sits directly to the east of Germany.

And thank your lucky stars it's not guns..

Food / What do non-Poles think about eating the following Polish foods? [1450]


Very much so. The only difference is the size when you pick them. A bit like the colours of peppers.


Deirdre Hunt/Langton/Barlow/Rashid/Barlow's stuffed marrows on Corrie were famously bad. People used to make a sort of jam with them just to use them up. Courgettes are nicer though; however they're so ubiquitous in Iraq that I got sick of eating them every day in the camp canteen. That and pumpkins plus all sorts of squash. Every day for four years. The first two years were at an Italian oil camp so they boiled it all to mush.

I had sliced ones once that were 'quick pickled' and was surprised at how good they were when done like that.

Fried with garlic sound great, though I tend to boil them for a very short time, almost just blanching them so they're going translucent but are still firm.

Food / What do non-Poles think about eating the following Polish foods? [1450]


Size.

Plus the taste since marrows (being larger) are more bland.

Those in the photos are marrows. Our neighbour gives us some when she's gotta glut in her garden and I stuff them too, but only because I dislike throwing food away.

It's a good idea to use fatty meat as you have. In the Middle East they use lambs liver which works quite well

Food / What do non-Poles think about eating the following Polish foods? [1450]


Courgettes or marrows?


Pattypan squash? I always prefer that pickled. It has a nice crunch.

Travel / Best route for driving Berlin to Leszno, Krakow, and Vilnius [12]


Probably best to not hire a car and instead go by train. Also, a night or two in Berlin on the way might be worthwhile. Driving standards are low in Poland accident rates are very high and the train service is both excellent and cheap. To Vilnius, there are cheap and quick flights from Warsaw on LOT.

Looking at itineraries, Berlin to Leszno is a long drive, several hundred km. I'd stop off on the way.

Those itineraries involve a serious amount of driving and look very tiring.

History / 20 years of Poland in the EU. [317]

Of course.

We didn't actually do that much there this time, just relaxation and a bit of shopping since my OH can't walk very far, I was really tired (and hadn't walked more than a couple of hundred metres due to being in Africa for 90 days) and the weather was crazy hot.

Nice cold beer though

We did visit Frankfurt am Oder though due to having to change trains. A nice little town. I could happily live there even though the hill from the station to the town is so steep it's cruel!

History / 20 years of Poland in the EU. [317]


True. We had great kebabs in Kreutzberg though and plenty of walking around. Just a bit of relaxation after a stint at work.

My favourite bar is still there though, Brinks Eck in Hermannplatz. Still a Hertha supporters' pub and still a raucherkneip

History / 20 years of Poland in the EU. [317]

I'm fairly optimistic about the future.

History / 20 years of Poland in the EU. [317]

We've not had that as much fortunately; crime rates in the U.K. are actually dropping at the moment.

History / 20 years of Poland in the EU. [317]


They're just availing themselves of something we made available. One issue is that he UN has decreased infant mortality and increased life expectancy in the developing world but didn't think about how people would support themselves.

The door's not open as such given the horrendous journeys etc.

Worth mentioning that the ones we get are all relatively middle class. Poor people in the Arab world and in Africa don't make it any further than their own capital.

BTW, what's happening in Alexanderplatz? There used to be sausage and beer places but now there's a huge building site.

History / 20 years of Poland in the EU. [317]


We


That's not 'open borders' and we shouldn't hate people for doing it.

Europe has a low birth rate anyway and colour/ethnicity hardly matters much in the scheme of things since it's never static. The only answer is having bigger families. People will still come though.

I'd personally be happier if fewer came and they came more slowly however I don't see an easy answer that can be called humane.


Istanbul. Berlin, Warsaw, London, Yorkshire. Back at work now.

Berlin was nice. We stayed at a vey arty looking hotel near U Bahn Oranienburgerstrasse and they upgraded us to a suite. There for shopping on the Ku'damm and just relaxation

History / 20 years of Poland in the EU. [317]


We don't have that

They're a good idea

Off-Topic / Music Thread - part 2 [933]

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History / 20 years of Poland in the EU. [317]


Me too. You don't lose them and they don't end up littering the streets.


Me neither. Some people just don't like change.

History / 20 years of Poland in the EU. [317]


Some key figures actually want it o become a superstate with an army. A bad idea.


Meaningless.


The important thing is to keep the far right out of office and in the gutter where they belong.

Food / What do non-Poles think about eating the following Polish foods? [1450]


This is very true.

Off-Topic / Stock Market and Trading Talk [1011]


Same. The HR person where I worked at the time reccommended them. I've no idea how much or how little is in it, and haven't worked in PL for 15 years anyway.


That sounds a good deal.


Gold. The price is high now, but with time, always goes up. Silver too; underpriced generally since nobody uses camera film but important for computers in the future.

Food / What do non-Poles think about eating the following Polish foods? [1450]


Calamari? Like eating rubber bands.


In Greece?

Off-Topic / Stock Market and Trading Talk [1011]


I finally got the letter approving it this month so it's still new.


Commercial Union.


I bought mine in London but generally prefer Sovereigns.

Law / Gun control in Poland: should Polish people be allowed to own guns? [1070]


Major parties are opposed. We like safe environments.


Jealous of your stratospherically high gun crime rates? Are you on drugs?


I had a gun before in my last but one Africa job but never used it and eventually gave it back and come from the countryside anyway so am probably far more used to them than you ever will be. Like most people I dislike them and there's no reason for urban civilians to have them.

Off-Topic / Stock Market and Trading Talk [1011]


I'm always wary of cross currency stuff. Plus, like you, I'm sorting out the NI gaps. I've also got a Polish state pension (probably not much) and the private add on they introduced ed about 20 years ago.

The other day, I found out something interesting. I pay money to an a/c at a credit union in the U.K. for rainy days but apparently you shouldn't. If you're a member, they can't refuse your deposit or advise you not to for legal reasons but having too many people keeping decent savings in them but not borrowing really screws things up due to deposit/loan ratios.

Off-Topic / Music Thread - part 2 [933]

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Off-Topic / Music Thread - part 2 [933]

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Off-Topic / Stock Market and Trading Talk [1011]


It's bonds rather than units that are the reason people use them. Minimum 1000 GBP investment, quite a decent maximum and covered (I think up to 70,000 GBP) by the FSCS scheme. They do quite a few different investments however it's one particular one that attracts people and it's a 5 years plus one if you want to get all the benefit and not compromise it by early withdrawal.

I strongly reccommend having a look at their website; you'll need to scroll down a bit to find the product in question (there's a lot of demand for it however it was only ever intended to back up their main products which are for very small investors and which they want to promote).

News / Dirty deeds of foreign guys in Poland [128]


Indeed.

Very nice people in my direct experience.

News / Dirty deeds of foreign guys in Poland [128]


If anyone is going to insult 'Slavic tribes', they'd need a time machine.

Anyway, according to Crowie, everyone except 'Shiftars', 'Mujahideen', Turkey and the Vatican is somehow Slavic.

Off-Topic / Stock Market and Trading Talk [1011]


If you're interested in medium/long term safe investments, you can do a lot worse than Sheffield Mutual. No shareholders or whizz kids creaming off 'profits' from it and the sort of term deposit they specialise in consistently outperforms most other similar investments.

I suspect you need a UK address however I doubt they check if you live there. And it's FSCS protected.

sheffieldmutual.com

News / Is NORD STREAM dangerous for Poland's natural enviroment? [540]


In part because it was a hothouse before. Expecting permanent growth is as dangerous as getting in an orc tank.

The UK doesn't import any r*SSian hydrocarbons however its economy is doing well compared to other European countries. It was never 'the sick man of Europe'; that was wishful thinking by the French and Germans.


Me and all other members of that political party.

I was in Berlin three weeks ago. Seemed pretty prosperous to me. And now a couple of countries are going from development to production stage for crude, Libya is extracting and exporting at full capacity again (including joint ventures with Germany), and Lavroll has finally been told his fortune by Algeria (plus the North Sea is preparing to be maxxed out), I suspect Germany will survive.

News / Is NORD STREAM dangerous for Poland's natural enviroment? [540]

If you think the oil sales to Germany will resume this decade, you are labouring under a misconceptiion.

And Germany isn't 'massively poorer'. In any case, stupidity should always be punished and buying all their hydrocarbons from a pariah state was an act of sheer stupidity.

News / Is NORD STREAM dangerous for Poland's natural enviroment? [540]


No.

r*SSia did it by making war in Europe.