News / Achievements of the Tusk's Polish government [538]

Point of information:
Burkina Faso means "Land of Incorruptible Souls" - everything else is up for sale

News / Achievements of the Tusk's Polish government [538]

Why are there 9 pages on Tusk's achievements? Seems excessive :)

Genealogy / Crest and the meaning of last name Sumski [33]

My wife's family has got a crest, but she's so embarrassed she's never shown me it.

Law / Starting a private kindergarten in Poland [44]

Warszawski - state kindergartens are not free!!

Law / Starting a private kindergarten in Poland [44]

Very interesting thread.

The private kindergarten in my Warsaw commuter belt village is massively overpriced, has poor facilities, is understaffed but the govt is pushing it ... because the alternative is good quality state kindergarten for a fraction of the price. Brainless beyond belief.

The govt has the ambitious idea that all kids aged 5 must go to zerówka - causing the debacle.

Language / Differences in Polish and English idioms [69]

BURIED DOGS!!!!!!!
This Polish expression always had me puzzled ... that is, until now. It's actually German!

begraben (buried) > Da liegt der Hund begraben.
That's the crux/heart of the matter.

Origin: The expression really has nothing to do with a dog (Hund). It goes back to an old German word for "treasure": die hunde. So the phrase actually means "that's where the treasure's buried."

News / A devestating verdict on the Polish church [279]

I was at an illegal demo in 1988.
Michnik had no problems with ZOMO precisely because he was a Commie.

Commie background - but he found himself on the losing side in the Party infighting of '68 (yes he was very young), but not without friends. This is how he managed to travel around Europe for next to nothing - it helps when consular lodgings are always available.

He was an intellectual who wanted revenge for his Commie wing losing.

Then lo and behold! he becomes an anti-clerical. Gosh, what a surprise!

Anyway, re the actual story that started off this thread, it's time the sensible people in the Church fought back against the morons who want to fight the great bash-the-anti-Poles brigade. These cretins have power within the Church to do real harm. The Radio-Kobylański Nazi wing should not be underestimated, but no support will be forthcoming from General von Ratzinger - thereby leaving the way open for endless attacks by the anti-Polish brigade.

Law / Zloty lifts Poland's Economy [58]

The article was pretty much spot on as far as I can see. Cautiously optimistic, I would say.

History / Roman Dmowski-Patriot, Nationalist, Anti-Semite? [252]

Raubl wasn't Jewish, neither was Braun. Hitler didn't have much of a sex life either. Just had Parkinson's, that's all. That's probably why he had to bring his long-desired war forward (in the Hossbach Memorandum of 1938 he was reported as talking about war starting in the mid-1940s).

History / Roman Dmowski-Patriot, Nationalist, Anti-Semite? [252]

Piłsudski was labelled a Jew-lover.

History / Roman Dmowski-Patriot, Nationalist, Anti-Semite? [252]

I know it's how racists are type-cast but ...

"One of my best friends" (he actually is!) is an ethnic Jew of German parents (mother got out thanks to Frank Foley, father was bought out of, I think, Belsen before the war). The point I'd like to make is that although the family had been Lutheran for 300 years, they never married out and all their friends, Einstein and Menuhin included, were Jewish. OK, birds of a feather etc but for 3 centuries?? He was the first one to marry out, to his knowledge, and his wife took advantage of English divorce law dumped him for another bloke and earned a fortune. So perhaps his forbears were right after all.

His parents got a substantial pension from the (West) German state to compensate them for loss of their Berlin properties.

And my mate is virulently against the Holocaust industry - "It's run by greedy, self-serving Jewish lawyers, who fleece anyone they can, with little money going to victims."

When in Poland I took him naturally to Auschwitz, where a lot of his family died. We researched what records they kept and found names. A thoroughly depressing exercise.

Life / Polish authors, books & literature. [95]

Richfilth mentioned Ferdydurke ... OMG

Set reading - my son is horrified by this book. Come back Giertych, the only Education Minister with sense in post 1990 Poland!

Life / Polish authors, books & literature. [95]

Merged thread:
Excellent book: Nadberezyńcy by Florian Czarnyszewicz

A good read, but these things are subjective of course.

Any other good books around?

News / Polish in vitro treatment fully refundable - bonkers! [62]

But folks, you see what I meant many posts ago?

The govt doesn't help anyone by this move, but it brings out the usual mob with their usual divisive politics. Pavlov par excellence.

So utterly predictable, utterly pathetic, utterly Communist! This is why both Platforma and PiS should be kicked out of Polish politics.

Law / UK driving license mess in Poland [72]

For what it's worth, I replaced my UK paper licence with a Polish photocard licence. My wife did too.

Life / POLISH MYTHS - let's debunk or prove them! [141]

I come from Yorkshire and have spent a lifetime with people who have chips on their shoulder. Then I met Irish people, then Poles ... chips with everything!

Law / UK driving license mess in Poland [72]

Sorry - I hadn't bothered to read the first posts.

I didn't know your UK licence could expire. Have you still got the card? One way ahead would be to go to the UK consulate/embassy/fortress (Ever been there? It's scary) and sign a declaration (equivalent to a notarial deed in Polish admin eyes) saying that you would be entitled to a UK licence if you lived there. Then give no more explanation whatsoever. That would sway any doubting Polish admin girl who doubts your licence.

But - does it say on the card that it has expired? If it hasn't, then there's absolutely no problem.

Law / UK driving license mess in Poland [72]

Hey - it's all bleedin' simple.

You go down to gmina (now this bit took me 10 years!) and you say "I would like to swap my UK driving licence for a Polish licence" - you hand over your application form (my wife kindly downloaded one for me) and your licence. They issue you with a new one in about a week and it costs peanuts (which incidentally sounds very funny when said by a Spanish girl, but that's another matter).

So, where is the problem?

Oh I get it - you're still paralysed by fear of not doing absolutely everything by the book. How charmingly English.

I used to behave like that. I proudly told a Polish consular official in London years ago, when applying for a visa just prior to emigrating, that I had sold my house in London and was going to live in Poland. Totally the wrong thing to do!! By selling my house I then had no "address" and was essentially stateless - Did I want to apply for political asylum? That way lies madness!

Life / POLISH MYTHS - let's debunk or prove them! [141]

Polish women have frown lines going vertical on the forehead, just above the nose. Polish men have mimic lines going horizontal across the forehead.

This is because women scoldingly accuse and men feign ignorance and innocence.

Life / POLISH MYTHS - let's debunk or prove them! [141]

But a draft CAN cause rhinitis ... oh, go look it up!

Sorry for the pedantry.

Old Polish people have this deeply engrained folk memory of TB, which killed millions and is making a comeback thanks to immigrants from the East and liberal healthcare policies (the authorities don't lock up TB-carrying drunks and the Church stupidly encourages drunks to gather in groups at a soup kitchen outside the Palace of Culture).

News / Polish in vitro treatment fully refundable - bonkers! [62]

Ah, Harry is going to enlighten us as to why Poland doesn't face a demographic timebomb like elsewhere in Europe.
Perhaps he has a solution:
Technology perhaps?
Global warming, making us all live more cheaply?
Making people work until the day they die?

News / Polish in vitro treatment fully refundable - bonkers! [62]

Sorry about that - just a Warsaw Voice information blip, not my fault!

One round of in vitro?? Daft idea medically. No, hold on a moment. Great idea! It won't change actual availability one iota (typically, you need a few tries) and it will divide the country. Brilliant.

Real Estate / Poland: the building boom goes on [28]

Yeah, sure the Chinese helped.
I mean, they have been awarded ONE cut price highway construction contract, and fairly minor at that.

However, what is slightly worrying is that the govt signed immigration deals with the Indian and Chinese govts allowing up to 100k people of each nationality entry into Poland. No-one kicked up a fuss at all.

Life / Barking Dogs in Poland [65]

Apparently chocolate is poisonous to dogs.

There is no way out of this.

When dogs are sold na wsi, their loud bark is given as a plus point. Don't attempt talking to the neighbour.

Pepper spray? Move?

Law / Poland's going forward while Britain is still trying to wake up [86]

Brown and Blair engineered the debt mountain on purpose. and they rode the tide of euphoria as everyone signed up to it. Thankfully, Poles are more circumspect about personal debt and here PFI is on the public books.

Oh and Platforma didn't sign up to the "stimulus" fallacy - one of their best moves ever. They're not my favourite people sometimes (and I dislike PiS too) but occasionally they get thiongs right ...

Law / Poland's going forward while Britain is still trying to wake up [86]

Foreign investment is good - shame it's leaving the UK ... as she sinks under her debt burden.

I hear the ConDems are having problems selling their policy to INCREASE the National Debt by ONLY GBP 470 billion over the next 4 years. Ha ha ha - and Brits kept on lining up for more of the same from Bliar/Brown. What berks!!

And as for Poland - go there to see some real nice houses - they've sprouted everywhere. As for flooding, at least it wasn't deliberately caused - as it was in Cumbria recently. But you wouldn't know that, would you? Information is so well CENSORED in the UK it makes me laugh.

Food / Bees - honey in Poland [13]

Depends how cool and how long you keep it! All honey would in the end, I imagine.

Anyway, if ever any honey crystallises, all you have to do is to gently heat it in a pan of water.