Posts by delphiandomine

delphiandomine

11 Nov 2009

Life / British sky satellite TV in Poland [87]

Now you are getting desperate and childish, and TBH we couldn't give a flying cahoots whether expats use this or not - in fact it would be in our interest if they didn't as it will save us thousands of pounds each month on ISP transit costs.

Desperate and childish? You still haven't told us a straight answer to a straight question - what part of the Directive and the transposition into UK law is going to allow you to broadcast to the EU after December 19th?

And if you didn't care less, why have TVCatchUp being advertising so openly that it'll be available throughout the EU? In fact - TVCatchUp are seemingly the only people that believe that they'll be able to do so - legally. In fact, there's quite a bit of hype online about it - now, if you didn't want those viewers, why would it be encouraged?

What on earth are you talking about now? What thread where and when or are you pulling one of the fantasies out of the air....

Google (without the quotes) "TVCatchUp December 19th"

I get this - Hmm. Funny how the thread doesn't exist anymore, isn't it?

delphiandomine

11 Nov 2009

Life / British sky satellite TV in Poland [87]

I've just been looking on the TVCatchUp forum and it seems there's quite a bit of arse-covering going on. The moderators have been saying "...as soon as the EU says its legal" - which is quite considerably different from "available from December 19th" - and gives them a nice easy cop-out when the EU doesn't

I've written an e-mail to the "Citizens Signpost Services" of the EU to ask them their opinion on the legality of broadcasting UK FTA television to the EU after December 19th. We'll soon see...

delphiandomine

11 Nov 2009

Life / British sky satellite TV in Poland [87]

Time will tell and we will see in six months ok?

We'll see on December 20th actually ;)

Because we can rant on and on about this and I will not convince you as you seem to be on some personal mission over this.

Again - which part of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive and the transposition into UK law will allow you on December 19th to broadcast to the entire EU legally?

You can convince me (and any other cynic) quite easily by answering this one very simple question.

Just as a postscript we have 250,000 members at the moment with 2,500 signing up each day, I think our future is quite safe and secure and rather fun actually.
Oh one more thing, we are being reviewed on TV on the Gadget show before Christmas, should be a blast :)

Who said anything about your business model? I'm only interested in your claims that you'll be able to broadcast to the EU legally after December 19th. I actually think you've found a clever loophole in UK Copyright law - but this loophole certainly won't allow you to broadcast to the EU.

as with all new ideas it has it's haters who cannot see past their on limited understanding of modern innovation.

Who is 'hating' on your service? The only question that I (and others) want to know is the question that I've now asked about 5 times and still haven't received a straight answer about. In fact - looking here - forums.tvcatchup.com/showthread.php?t=4437&page=2 - there really is no straight answer being given.

Hahahaha!!! You couldn't make this up -

Sorry. The administrator has banned your IP address. To contact the administrator click here

Someone really has taken it personally!

(yawn - webproxies are so easy to use... )

delphiandomine

11 Nov 2009

News / Mass immigration to Poland - article and response [479]

Councillor Kevin Kiely says anyone living here who ‘can’t afford to pay for themselves’ should be sent home after three months.

It's actually fair enough - most EU countries deny residence to those staying after 3 months to those who aren't economically contributing in some way to the country, and I don't see why Ireland should be any different.

delphiandomine

11 Nov 2009

Life / British sky satellite TV in Poland [87]

Jealousy of what? People who can't give straight answers to straight questions? :)

It's a discussion forum and I like discussing things, simple :)

delphiandomine

11 Nov 2009

Life / British sky satellite TV in Poland [87]

I don't know about the finer points of that Directive

You've got a legal background Seanus, have a good read of the Directive and see if you can find anything in there that can confirm that they'll be able to broadcast throughout the EU. I'm just not seeing it - and our TVCatchUp representative here seems to be unable to point us to the exact part.

but I know that ukpolska has a very good setup in the making and I wish him all the best with it! He has given me the lowdown on how it works and I'm impressed with the expansion of channels. He can be proud.

They've certainly found a clever loophole in the law - and by all accounts, they've been fairly driving forward with making the service available on different platforms. The iPhone app seems to be a killer app too. It'll be interesting to see how it evolves in time to come - and I'll happily eat humble pie if they can get it working throughout the EU.

delphiandomine

11 Nov 2009

News / Mass immigration to Poland - article and response [479]

Explain to me why there are no developing countries in Europe?

Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova and others may wish to argue this.

delphiandomine

12 Nov 2009

Travel / Hard Candy - Krakow, Poland - reviews? [131]

If they want more foreigners in Krakow then the Police have to take some action and close bars like this..

Why? Call it a tourist tax...!

The exact same practice goes in throughout the world - London is notorious for it, though you don't often hear of complaints because it's often gullible/wealthy businessmen targetted.

Having said this, I always strongly advise foreigners new to Poland not to listen to the recommendations of overly friendly people in the street. It's a safe practice in general, and avoids situations such as this happening. The problem is that often, people are blinded by beauty and think with their little man in their trousers :(

delphiandomine

12 Nov 2009

News / Mass immigration to Poland - article and response [479]

arent they basically muslim states now?

Bosnia, no. The majority of people in Bosnia-Hercegovina are Christian, though divided between Catholic and Orthodox.

Kosovo is also fiercely pro-America (Bill Clinton Boulevard, anyone?) and Albania isn't far behind in their love for all things America. The latter two might be Muslim in nature, but in reality are very pro-European states, much more than Serbia for instance.

There are plenty of stories about how Islamic radicals attempted to get a foothold in those three states, only for the natives to effectively throw them out.

Is Poland a developing country? Or she is considered a well developed country? Pls, I just want to know the actual status of Poland in the world, not wishful thinking. Thanks!

It's one of the poorest countries in the European Union, but is considerably wealthier than surrounding states such as Russia/Ukraine/Belarus and also quite a bit wealthier than Romania and Bulgaria. In strict terms, probably best to describe it as a poor developed country, similar to Britain in the 1970's.

delphiandomine

13 Nov 2009

Law / Proposal to make Education subject to VAT [8]

I've just spied a poster in work about this today. Apparently PASE are going round all the private schools, getting them to put up posters and handing out petitions to be signed against a proposal to remove the VAT-exempt status from educational establishments. I haven't had time to check thoroughly what the proposal is, but it seems that private schools are going to be hit and hit badly by this.

The one good side seems to be that it will make small schools much more competitive if the VAT registration ceiling is increased to 150k like has been proposed - someone running from a two/three room school in the centre of a city will be able to offer courses for 20% less than the big schools.

But this could dramatically impact upon salaries - there's just no way that the market will be able to take a 22% increase in prices overnight, given the amount of competition there is at the moment. To that end, labour costs are going to have to fall - and may even make public teaching an attractive prospect for many young graduates.

Any thoughts?

delphiandomine

14 Nov 2009

Life / Is Poland a safe country for people of color? [241]

Poznan is very safe for someone of colour - there's a couple of neighbourhoods where it wouldn't be wise to walk alone after dark, but in the whole, no-one's going to bat an eyelid. You definitely won't hear any of the mindless crap that you might hear in economically run-down Eastern towns/villages - we're used to foreigners here :)

delphiandomine

14 Nov 2009

Law / Proposal to make Education subject to VAT [8]

PASE are claiming 22% - I haven't actually seen anything but the posters they've been distributing, so I'm clueless.

If you ask me, they would be far better off investigating the whole setup of 'education' providers rather than simply slapping on VAT. I don't think it's exactly a big secret that many language schools are fiddling their taxes.

delphiandomine

15 Nov 2009

News / Crucifixes to stay in Polish schools [364]

For me to see a country like Italy being forced to removed a Catholic symbol from public places signifies and end to Christianity as it stands...its a sad say...the EU are a foul stinking bunch of scum!

Just shows you don't pay attention to what the judgement actually says.

Italy is bound to removing the law in which it is compulsory by law to remove the cross. This doesn't stop schools displaying it if they wish - and which is why this judgement won't stop a thing in Poland because it isn't a law here - and is down to the free will of the schools.

delphiandomine

15 Nov 2009

News / Crucifixes to stay in Polish schools [364]

That's very correct. In all public school religious study is a must in PL, maybe not by law but the kids and parents will have a very hard time if they choose different.

That might be true in small rural backwaters, but it's hardly true in big cities. I doubt anyone will care or indeed blink if a child doesn't go to such classes - indeed, the only problem might be if the child wants to go to the first communion with their friends (and resentment when they see all their friends being bought hideously expensive things for it!).

Then again, I'm no fan of the one-sided concordat!

delphiandomine

16 Nov 2009

News / Crucifixes to stay in Polish schools [364]

so why the fuss?

Because people haven't read the ruling and have listened to the usually-hysterical Polish press. Don't forget - even left leaning papers like Gazeta Wyborcza has an interest in keeping their Catholic readership - and what better way than to whip up some nonsense that doesn't even apply to Poland.

English schools are far, far worse when it comes to religious nonsense than Polish schools - despite the open displaying of crosses in Poland.

delphiandomine

16 Nov 2009

Food / Wanna buy Spiritus Krakow [28]

(but who wants to drink 96% alcohol anyway?)

I can proudly report from a 'taste test' on some British friends that -

a) It gets you nicely drunk (or absolutely hammered if you drink three shots)
b) It's a cheap night out
c) No hangover

Seems good...if you can handle it!

delphiandomine

17 Nov 2009

News / Crucifixes to stay in Polish schools [364]

You completely missed the point, M-G. The Germans precipitated the Yugoslav War by expediting the independence of Croatia and Slovenia. The EU and NATO really made a mess in the Balkans.

Slovenia was fair enough - I don't think even the Serbs were particularly bothered about the independence of Slovenia as it was a vastly Slovene-majority republic anyway. But when it came to Croatia and Bosnia, the EU really should've laid the law down and told the Croatian Tudjman to wise up - he was certainly a nasty piece of work and every bit as horrible as Milosevic. Certainly, there's enough evidence to suggest that Tudjman and Milosevic would've happily partitioned Bosnia between them.

But then again, many of the problems in Yugoslavia were a direct result of Tito's 1974 constitution - I think it can be safely said that Yugoslavia only really worked as long as someone was running the place with an iron rod.

delphiandomine

17 Nov 2009

Real Estate / Where to look on the internet for Poland Real Estate [112]

in spite of all prices of real estate going down, are among the only ones who saw some imaginary 22% rise of prices (!?!?) in Lublin and Krakow... which brings big questions about the validity of this website

As I recall, many of the native English speakers working in 'property' in Poland use Mamdom - and these people are among the worst when it comes to property prices.

delphiandomine

18 Nov 2009

Law / Opening a Polish Bank Account by a foreigner in Poland. Recommendations. [299]

there's no where to complain to

You don't have to complain. Just take the money out and go elsewhere - simple!

They charge 5PLN for ATM withdrawals which ain't good. The staff are friendly enough mind you. Too many surcharges for my liking but I went through an arduous process to set up everything so I'm labouring on with it.

Is mBank no use to you where you are? They're wonderful here on account of WBK machines being plentiful (so free withdrawals!). Utterly painfree bank and certainly no hassle with stroppy counter assistants.

delphiandomine

18 Nov 2009

Work / Teaching English in Zakopane, is it safe? [45]

I just wanted to know what anyone Polish thinks of this plan?

It will be safe as long as you use common sense - but there is one important thing to consider. It's quite likely that you'll experience 'indirect' racism from students - there is a definite attitude in Poland that those of colour are inferior teachers. I've seen and heard this for myself - classes of well educated people telling me that they wouldn't want a black teacher, and even among my friends, I've heard such similar attitudes. It's not racism as such, more just a lack of experience with those of other races.

If you don't mind me asking - do you have previous experience in Poland with teaching?

delphiandomine

18 Nov 2009

Work / Teaching English in Zakopane, is it safe? [45]

I will be volunteering at a summer camp.

Aha - well, if you're happy with them using you, then you won't have a problem. But I'd actually try and recommend finding a paid summer camp in Poland - the money won't be that great, but it's certainly better than not being paid for it!

I wouldn't recommend summer camps where you volunteer for many, many reasons.

delphiandomine

19 Nov 2009

Law / How to register for doctor in Poland (by area) [16]

I've been paying ZUS from my salary, but I've never registered in medical site. Will it be free for me to go to the doctor's?

It depends on what kind of contract you have - either you should have the book, or if you have an 'umowa zlecenia' contract - just show the contract to the doctor when you register/go.

If you have the book but haven't updated it, it's absolutely critical that you do so when required.

delphiandomine

20 Nov 2009

Work / Does it make sense to move from the UK to Wroclaw for this salary? [50]

According to my (limited) knowledge of Polsih taxation system, it is not just 18% Income Tax, but also 10% ZUS? Is it correct understanding?

No, not quite correct - more like 20%. I don't have the exact numbers to hand, but it's around that figure.

delphiandomine

20 Nov 2009

Work / Does it make sense to move from the UK to Wroclaw for this salary? [50]

ZUS only, Tax is another 18% after ZUS has been taken away. But it can vary - the tax code here is a mess and riddled with exceptions and can often depend on so many things - it's really impossible to give a straightforward answer.

But there's a calculator here which gives an idea - calculla.pl/eng/poland_earnings

This is why anyone moving to Poland should negotiate net, not brutto salaries.

delphiandomine

21 Nov 2009

Work / Advice on Teaching English in Poland [709]

We do just that for people - lindenia.

You don't *have* to do this, but it can often be the easiest way to secure employment as many people don't want to have the hassle with work permits. As for how difficult it is - if you get someone who knows what they're doing, it's no hassle. You don't need a lawyer, but I'd recommend getting someone to assist. (I would say that, wouldn't I? ;))

delphiandomine

21 Nov 2009

Law / Climate change/environmental businesses or NGOs in Poland [66]

I don't know anything about Poland yet, my partner was selected for an expat job only last week. So I was looking for some relevant advice.

The truth is that the vast majority of these jobs go to people that are connected. Virtually every expat in Poland either started out teaching English or was placed here by a company, or they had connections with people who got them the job.

My company can use our connections to investigate the market for you and to promote you in the right circles.

delphiandomine

23 Nov 2009

Law / Non-EU country citizen on tourist visa - could anyone help me with Karta Pobytu? [63]

Seanus - thank you!

Generally speaking - I think they've made the right decision here. It's a principle that students should have the money upfront to avoid the situation where they work throughout the year to pay for living costs, often 'black' - and I think this is what they've done here.

The other principle is that you should be spending this money - it's not uncommon for people to deposit (for instance) 30k in PLN into an account to 'prove' that they have the income, only for them to send the 30k back to wherever it came from once the residence permit has been obtained. If you're not spending it, then they may very well assume that it isn't for spending and thus doesn't count.

The only real advice I can give here is to deposit around 30k into the account and provide them with proof of expenditure - invoices/etc. If you need more in depth help - we're at lindenia :)

(that 477zl figure seems way too low for Warsaw!)

delphiandomine

23 Nov 2009

News / RHD cars in Poland - my campaign to change the rules in Poland [128]

We tried to call them. They more or less told us we have no hope in hell.

That's to be expected - but the law did change on the 22nd September. They might try and cling to their old rules - but they legally cannot refuse the registration now.

Certainly try and do what Harry says - get something out of them in writing - or even just a letter refusing the registration and you should be in business.

delphiandomine

24 Nov 2009

Law / Non-EU country citizen on tourist visa - could anyone help me with Karta Pobytu? [63]

I'd use it myself were I not to keep abreast with modern developments and specific procedures.

The problem I think in Poland specifically is that you have to second guess them - if they ask for 477zl a month for living expenses, it's worthwhile to double that to 1000zl a month just to show that you won't be struggling in Poland. Likewise, it's sensible to have the money in one place at the start of the year - I can fully understand why they would be suspicious of someone who only had 9000zl in their account, especially considering Warsaw prices.

I think it can be most adequately explained as 'always cover ones arse' - and is generally the rule regardless of where you go where immigration is concerned.

delphiandomine

25 Nov 2009

Law / Stała Karta Pobytu and how to protect it in Poland [11]

What are you intending on doing with it? In my experience, barely anyone knows what it is - it seems that it's only of interest to others when you apply for credit. Even most governmental bodies couldn't care less about it - if you've got a PESEL, then it's assumed that you have the 5 year permit.

(WHY they don't give out proper residency cards is beyond me!)

Ack, I should clarify what I meant by 'barely anyone'.

Barely anyone in day to day life will be interested in it - even if the police stop you, they're not going to care less about you having it or not at the moment. You'll only really need it when it comes to signing certain contracts - and as I said above, the PESEL is enough for most people to know that you've got residency here.

You definitely don't have to bother carrying it around on a daily basis.