Travel / Only in Poland - about unique things and customs [9]

[Moved from]: Life in Poland has priceless moments! (peasant collecting potato beetles, Chopin

I just love Poland sometimes - in between working on my computer I've been watching a peasant collecting potato beetles from his field - then just a minute ago 2 storks flew overhead at the same time as my daughter started playing a piece by Chopin on the piano.

Priceless.

You can't get that in England. And not because of the lack of the stripey bugs!

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.

Language / Can you recognise the nationality of foreign Polish speakers by their accent? [43]

Pascal Brodnicki

I knew his cousin - we worked together. Apparently when not on TV he speaks normal Polish without a fake French accent.

People at work find it funny when I speak Polish with a heavy Yorkshire accent just to show them what the local working class accent is like.

Little anecdote on accents:
After a very heavy night out in Leeds, I took a bus into town the following morning, feeling worse for wear. Behind me 2 girls were speaking Portuguese - I guessed at them being Brazilians. So, in my state of near stupour I turned round and said, "Czy Pani mowi po polsku?"

- "Owszem"

Turned out her grandad was Polish and I'd heard a faint echo of an accent ...

News / Komorowski - Russian stooge, traitor background [42]

Thread attached on merging:
Komorowski and Kwasniewski - problem of their fathers

Look up Kwasniewski on Wikipedia - and unlike every other president you can think of ... he has no father!

Why? Because his Lithuanian father was in the Russian security apparatus! And friends with Danuta Huebner's father - who was actually Polish.

Komorowski. My goodness! Poles simply can't help voting for sons of traitors. His father - a minor Polish noble - was in the AK (Home Army) during the war. Taken prisoner by the Russians, he was immediately appointed an officer. What's more, he assumed the country estate and name of a dead man called K-O-M-O-R-O-W-S-K-I

Liar, cheat, thief, traitor - though doubtless this apple will fall far from the apple tree :)

History / Warsaw Uprising - The Forgotten Soldiers [117]

My wife's great uncle "Z", who was in Bataliony Chłopskie, hid 2 Jews during the war. One became Bierut's adjutant after the war and repaid the debt by protecting Z's private business (timber yard) during Stalinism. The family has since prospered through their connections.

Oh, perhaps I'm assuming you know who Bierut was ...

News / Komorowski - Russian stooge, traitor background [42]

Try to find Wikipedia - intense intellectual struggle for some.

Compare Kwasniewski with any other political leader of a similar position ...

News / Komorowski - Russian stooge, traitor background [42]

I don't use bad language and I have not knowingly told a single lie here.

Have you found Wikipedia yet?

Genealogy / Komorowski clan-name Korczak [16]

We have been told by the MOST IMPORTANT PEOPLE on this forum that they have personally inspected Komorowski's credentials and have established beyond all reasonable doubt that anybody who mentions anything to do with the facts that:

(i) Komorowski was the first defense minister after independence and ideally placed to be in charge of WSI (military intelligence), which was shown to be totally infiltrated by Russian spies and subsequently shut down, and

(ii) Komorowski's father and grandfather were Russian stooges,

IS A LIAR!

Sorry, Ironside, you too must be a LIAR.

Signed,
Varsovian the LIAR

Mediocrities of the world, I absolve you!

News / Komorowski won Poland's presidency vote? [125]

He was in charge of WSI, military intelligence - which was closed down because it was utterly compromised by Russian spies. And he was the first bloke in charge of it after independence.

Law / Driver's licence - How to exchange British one to Polish legally? [34]

If you are permanently resident in Poland you can drive here legally on a UK licence for (can't quite remember) 6 months or one year. Then you must change it for a Polish licence.

I had no problems whatsoever. I went down to my local council and filled in a form, handed over my licence and they issued a new one pronto. Ultra efficient and pleasant.

You will have no problems driving in Poland on a UK licence - I delayed changing mine - but there again I wasn't involved in a nasty accident.

Are you 100% sure you won't have an accident where the other party will resort to every trick in the book to cause you trouble? If you are, don't get a Polish licence. Alternatively, why not drive legally?

News / An Open Letter for newly Elected President of Poland [8]

Sad, sad, sad.

True, the opening post was slightly naive perhaps - then out poured so much vitriol in unmeasured terms. Seriously bad taste.

It could have been developed along the lines of the medical services available in the Warsaw area v other areas, and private v public.

But no. Attack the messenger instead.

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.

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 ...

Life / Daycare / After school care? Warsaw [3]

There's been a massive expansion of kindergartens in recent years - of varying quality. One thing you'd have to be aware of is they usually put the kids to bed in the early afternoon - this is hotwired into pre-school culture and you might not like it.

As many of these places are privately owned, you might want to try your arm with negotiating fees - but demand is so high to get a place that you may not be successful.

As for home v. pre-school, this is very much a question of personal belief and the knowledge of your child that only you can have. It's good for some, bad for others but mainly neutral :)

Life / Barking Dogs in Poland [57]

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?

UK, Ireland / The secret Polish gay men in the U.K [133]

I have a very good friend here in Warsaw who is gay - and ashamed of how backward Poland is towards gays. Being badly beaten up in the street by persons unknown didn't help matters.

He far prefers going to England for holidays - takes his boyfriend, wishes he could have a legal union, like his gay friends in England can. Although he views the situation in England as not ideal, it is still far in advance of Poland in terms of letting gays get on with their lives without feeling persecuted.

Personally, I don't like having someone else's sexuality rammed down my throat, as they do in gay pride marches. But neither do I think it's healthy when strangers come up to you in the street and beat you up on suspicion of you being gay.

A serious topic, and in Poland it's one that brings out all sorts of kneejerk reactions - mostly anti-gay at that.

Real Estate / Do any UK banks offer mortgages for Polish properties. [37]

The years ahead promise violent fluctuations in exchange rates.

UK, Ireland / The secret Polish gay men in the U.K [133]

Back in the 80s many Poles didn't think there were any gays in Poland!

Seriously, I dislike activists in general - they tend to get everybody's back up. Gay activists too. Tax breaks for couples were generally designed to help them have kids (no kids, no future for a country, remember?).

Gays generally, aren't interested in child-rearing. That's a good thing - kids have a hard enough time as it is anyway.

Life / POLISH YOUTH compared to the youth in other Western countries? [57]

They aren't as disruptive in class as the average UK kids - and I'm talking about normal schools, not language schools.

This will inevitably change as the govt follows its plan of dumbing down education in the international "race to the bottom".

News / The chances for Warsaw to become capital of eventual Slavic confederation? [183]

Ukraine was destroyed by the Russians and hasn't rebuilt itself. West Ukraine should have split off and east Ukraine should have returned to Mother Russia - that way a viable Ukrainian state would come into being.

Love / Are Polish Girls scared of English Guys [124]

Getting married at 30!! Over the hill - sorry.

Work it out - assuming you want 2 kids (not unreasonable) that makes you about 50 when they leave school and about 60 when the second one becomes truly independent. And you deprive your grandkids of grandparents - still, I suppose that comes from your own deep-seated hatred of your own grandparents, doesn't it?

What? You loved your grandparents? So, give your grandkids the chance to love you (and you the chance to enjoy them before you're too old - or too dead!).

Life / As EuroPride visits Warsaw - is it the start of overdue social change in Poland? (homosexuality promotion) [144]

Thanks for the info - interesting.

Hate the foul language others use - real lowlife speak :)

Life / POLISH YOUTH compared to the youth in other Western countries? [57]

I talked earlier about disruption in class and someone asked about figures. You can't meaningfully quantify disruption in terms of figures - you have to talk with present-day teachers about disruptive behaviours and compare with your own teaching experience.

Polish teachers are being undermined by a series of dumb govts, so the problem is being exacerbated here - very much as it was in the UK a few years ago.

Life / POLISH YOUTH compared to the youth in other Western countries? [57]

Re schools:
I've taught in a couple of English schools (one state, one private) and chewed the fat with teachers from dozens of state and private schools in England, including my wife :)

And I've talked with teachers in Poland, some of whom I'm related to - so, yes, I have a fairly good general knowledge of the subject.

UK, Ireland / Not all is bad for Poles in Scotland! [167]

I see Eanus doesn't do humour - must be the lack of sun,

News / The chances for Warsaw to become capital of eventual Slavic confederation? [183]

And for our next trick - let's reunite the north and south in Ireland and put them under absentee aristo landlords - that's bound to work