Travel / Transport adventures in Poland [99]


Normal enough in PL where things are so often not thought through and where the institution is everything and the person is nothing.


No, they were all youngish men. I just ducked behind a car with some locals.

Travel / Transport adventures in Poland [99]


That's very Polish, sadly. Poles wouldn't see it as unusual.

They have standardised menus across all the franchisees or whatever they are; they should have a standardised contract for workers and an HR Dept to enforce best practice.

Travel / Transport adventures in Poland [99]


It goes up all the time. I remember when it was less than 20zl.

To be fair, that's their big seller and occasionally the dining cars are empty (or stuffed full of people not eating or drinking if the train's packed) so they may as well make some money. I like the way that the dining cars are rented out (by the state) to one-person businesses.

In a week or so I'll be on the Warsaw-Berlin Express and will have zurek and schabowy. So will everyone else.

Travel / Transport adventures in Poland [99]


That would be more comfortable and also safer however sadly it has to be the real thing.

Off-Topic / Trans-Siberian railway the most legendary ride of a lifetime [13]

Bloody dangerous with decrepit planes and drunken pilots. Mind you, Boeing aren't that safe either and both beat some of the planes I've been on in Africa that have bog roll stiffed into the ceiling to unsuccessfully stop them pıssing water from the a/c. The kind of airline that isn't allowed to land in some African countries, never mind in Europe.

Reading the Trans Siberian railway stuff, trains really are the best way to travel. I'd do it if it wasn't where it is. There are still some long distance ones that are cheap. Not as long as that one but still good. Warsaw to Paris is doable via Cologne, but is expensive. There used to be a Moscow or Petersburg to Nice/Monaco train that went through Poland. You could board there but it was hellishly expensive.

I've done the journey from Belgium to Poland via Eindhoven, Munster or Dortmund and Berlin a couple of times. Once it was about €100 and once about €130?. Probably cheaper if you travel on a quiet day and book well in advance. You can have lunch in a German restaurant car and dinner in a Polish one, and they both have proper kitchens and nice food.

Sadly the cargo ship that had a few cabins and went between Poland and the U.K. no longer takes passengers. I think it was about 3 days, sailed once a week in each direction. When I last checked a price, it was about £250. The ship still sails from Gdynia but unfortunately the port in Immingham no longer has passenger facilities or immigration staff since the ferries have all stopped there. It was disappointing to learn since I'd always fancied making the journey that way.

Travel / Transport adventures in Poland [99]

They'll come.

Right now, I'm almost at the end of an overly long stint in Africa (this has got to change) and am severely lacking mojo (and have a crazy amount of work to do before going). Plus I've got a two day journey without breaks, including 12 hours by road through mostly rebel held territory (I was shot at on the same route once) and a couple of long haul flights with a transfer in the middle of the night, followed by 9 or 10 flights in four weeks.

So transport is not a subject I'm motivated to write about today.

I miss a gig I had once in Poland, doing training courses two weekends a month in a hotel near Łódź for a big cigarette company. I used to get the pospiezny train from Łódź Kaliska back to Poznań. It took a few hours (so wasn't really all that pospieszny) however it had an old fashioned dining car (one of the older WARS ones) with net curtains and proper tablecloths. It was nice to travel in the WARS car for the whole journey, eating schabowy and getting slowly drunk.

Off-Topic / Still alive and well [359]


What is that? Is there a new legal system?


In English law, (Scots & NI law may have their own equivalents) there is an offence called "rape by digital penetration". It is not gender specific.


Why? Have they moved the Greenwich Meridian?

News / What will Britain's Labor Coup mean for Poland? [100]


How would you know?

What's interesting is that the politician in the photo is the only one who was in the slightest bit concerned about Poland's fate: the president and people of your country were those who betrayed Poland.

Remember, relations between the two nations (neither of which you've ever lived in or ever will) are very good.

News / What will Britain's Labor Coup mean for Poland? [100]


Sir Keir? Yes. The government have to deal with many things and that is not chief among them.

It doesn't particularly affect Poland as Lenka says. Trade and general relations with friendly countries are important however they are settled at the moment.


Labour.

Travel / Poland in photo riddles - part 3 [818]


Celery or celeriac?

Off-Topic / Moderators on PF are breaking the law: not only they can reported for it, but fines apply [96]


No they aren't.


Bitterness and a mental disorder most likely.

Life / Clothes and Fashion Polish style - then, now whenever! [25]


I would say so too.

The two maxi dresses suggest that. And they have a country look which suggests later.

Life / Clothes and Fashion Polish style - then, now whenever! [25]


Very much the second half of the decade.

My mum (who never throws clothes away in case they might be useful) finally got around to sorting an old box full of dresses like that, some of them with 'Op Art' and geometric designs, all of them quite fancy due to them coming directly from the fashion houses and being more catwalk than everyday stuff so kept in tissue paper rather than worn. Instead of just going in a bag with the rest to the charity shop, she sold them to a vintage clothes dealer who probably sold them on in London for a fortune.

Sometimes people say that the 60s didn't start until the late 70s and there's some truth in that. Even in the 70s you were more likely to see a beehive hairdo or a big perm than a Twiggy hairdo and people were still wearing patched up clothes from the 1950s.

Life / Clothes and Fashion Polish style - then, now whenever! [25]


This is the sad thing. Something like that would be wonderful now.


Why?


What is the 'proper' length? Those photos are probably a couple of years before the miniskirt. Remember, this was very new. Only a few years before, it was a twinset and pearls.


Pure art

News / What will Britain's Labor Coup mean for Poland? [100]


They almost never do.

Life / Poland Is A Gem In Europe [71]


As I remember, they used to have a lot of coats with West German flags on the arm.

There's a nice one in my town. It sells some unsavoury memorabilia as well but occasionally has nice coats .

Life / Poland Is A Gem In Europe [71]


Army Surplus stores?

Yes, real. They still exist nowadays but aren't as popular as they once were.

Off-Topic / Moderators on PF are breaking the law: not only they can reported for it, but fines apply [96]


One in each ear. I'd buy earplugs.

News / What will Britain's Labor Coup mean for Poland? [100]


I'll take boring over charismatic any time.


13 years last time and 1964 to 1979 (with a short break) the time before.


Yes and no. The "northern wall" is almost enough to carry any election and last time some of the seats there went for the first time in history to the Tories who promised all sorts of "levelling up " in desperately poor towns that had generated most of the country's wealth then been abandoned. Only for Sunak to be caught on tape in one of the richest towns in the world saying to local activists that he'd been secretly diverting funds from deprived areas to "places like this".

Labour basically control the north of England plus the urban parts of the midlands and Wales. It's a very strong power base and the Regional Mayors there are hugely popular.

History / Warsaw Rising 1944 - National Disaster or Triumph of Spirit ? [515]


I did. You do realise that's a book title...


You should ask yourself that question; an ethanol-induced stupor is never a good look.

History / Warsaw Rising 1944 - National Disaster or Triumph of Spirit ? [515]

You're still wrong.

Have you been imbibing strong drink?

History / Warsaw Rising 1944 - National Disaster or Triumph of Spirit ? [515]

It's still called the Warsaw Uprising...

Why try to change its name in a language that isn't yours?

History / Warsaw Rising 1944 - National Disaster or Triumph of Spirit ? [515]


I'm sure, however in England we like the language so much, we named our country after it.

In English, it's a synonym of insurrection or rebellion. One rider though is that it tends to be used for an insurrection in a particular region. That would fit since we're talking about Warsaw, however yes, Uprising is correct. Nobody uses rising in relation to the Warsaw Uprising.

News / What will Britain's Labor Coup mean for Poland? [100]


I'm away longer than expected in a hot place so I appointed a proxy. To do a postal vote, you need to sign the paper and they have your signature scanned when you request one.


You make him sound like a sort of charismatic dictator or a wannabe like farage her than what he is, a boring lawyer.

Remember, the Labour Party isn't like the Tories or the LibDem or a minor party. It's a mass member organisation, made up of hundreds of tnousands of members, mostly older people in the North, Scotland/Wales and the bigger midlands towns with a complex party structure involving affiliated trade unions. It doesn't matter that much who the leader is; providing they're not offputting to provincial voters like the last one who was voted in on a knife edge due to entryism in London and then voted out again.

Sir Keir doesn't have a cult of personality, most people couldn't name his wife and know nothing about his kids and he doesn't crave personal attention. He is not a Boris or a Nigel, or even a Tony.


Why do you think that given that their policies are so radically different?


Who? That just sounds like paranoia. The world is not so well organised.

Off-Topic / Moderators on PF are breaking the law: not only they can reported for it, but fines apply [96]


There's enough of them here who probably hear voices so best not add t9 that...

News / What will Britain's Labor Coup mean for Poland? [100]


Normal enough there. It seems the other 60% don't mind which of the two major parties is in office for two decades.


The only two important words in that sentence are the first two. You could easily say that the Tories only won by default last time.


You mean vote for Labour? A clear majority of those who bothered to vote in 412 constituencies put an X next to the Labour candidate.


Why do you think that, given that one increases poverty, reduces standards of living and enriches their chums at the expense of society as a whole and the other does the opposite.

Don't forget, in the first year of the last Labour administration, 2 million children were lifted out of a poverty that they should not have been in

When Labour left office before, there were 7 food banks, now there are more than 3000. So no, capitalists and Socialists are not "two cheeks of the same arse".

News / What will Britain's Labor Coup mean for Poland? [100]


Won. With a supermajority.


We wouldn't, if you look at the actual figures.


Their failures with the economy, the NHS and housing according to the polls. The public purse being left in the worst state since WW2 should be a clue.

Most people don't obsess about migration, and fewer than one in five voted for that fascistic grifter Farahe.

Aren't you happy we've got a Labour government again!

News / What will Britain's Labor Coup mean for Poland? [100]


That's not a 'desire for open borders' though, is it...


Those who haven't been granted asylum have to leave.

Remember, most people don't obsess on migration; the main issues in the election were housing, cost of living and the NHS.The party that's specifically against almost any migration won
5 seats out of 635.

History / Warsaw Rising 1944 - National Disaster or Triumph of Spirit ? [515]


'This' up?

It makes it clearer, however the words are interchangeable in English. And habit uses the word "uprising" for Warsaw.

News / What will Britain's Labor Coup mean for Poland? [100]


Where did you pull that one from. Neither support open borders even within Europe.