Life / Washing machine in the bathroom of Poles [78]

When I had this house built the electrician did ask how many electrical sockets we wanted in the bathroom? He had told us that he had worked in UK and Germany.....so I tested him.....I said what do you think...with a big smile......he said " No plugs, no switches, and the lights have to be special sealed type lights Yes???? correct said I......and he did a good job. But some of our Polish friends houses we visit...water everywhere, washing machines..electric plugs hanging off the wall???? Disaster waiting to happen.

Life / Do young Polish people believe in their religion and God? [155]

Well Peakus, remember that I only live in this part of Poland.....but for spying and to look like an ordinary guy, you need, a cheap leather jacket, bad shirt/loud or blatantly American T shirt, jeans from one of the 'second hand charity given' clothes shops and a pair of fake label trainers...you need to drive an old but good condition Audi 80 or to go rellally upmarket an older A4. You do realise that (in this part of Poland) once you have a successful established business you will be looked on as some kind of 'Lord' yes I like that it upsets people...so Lord it is. You will be able to exploit the peasants and employ them for as little as £1 an hour (like my wife does).......you may only get drunks and idiots.....but hey all the good people have gone to UK, Germany etc etc, where 'the streets are paved with Gold'. I wish you well, if your product is good and your sales methods suit the area then I hope you make a good few bucks and put some back into the local economy. Ps. once you have money and employees you won,t need to go to church.....you will control them by their employment and as they are all related, what happens to one happens to them all.

Life / Do young Polish people believe in their religion and God? [155]

Do bear in mind what I said about it being more important in the villages......you may have relatives in the big towns to whom the church is not important at all and social standing is based on how you dress, car you drive etc etc.

Love / Polish Catholic girl - do you have the same relationship problem as me? [28]

I do realise that this part or Poland that I live in is not quite as advanced as other parts of Poland, and that old customs die hard....but around here they often speak proudly that their family is inter related on both sides. I do not blame them that much though, real roads around here came late......hell the road I live on was just a mud track 5 years ago, part of it still is. Communism didn,t help, they didn,t encourage you to travel..... even if a young guy had time to go wandering to another village, the locals would treat him as an enemy who was out to steal their girls/sisters......all in all it was best to just play in the barn with sister or cousins....and around here you married who daddy told you to, still do on the farms. Maybe Poland needs it,s own film on a theme like 'Deliverance' to make people wake up and join civilisation...that film certainly focused America which had similar problems in the Ozarks and which until then, it had swept under the carpet as a huge embarrassement.

Life / Do young Polish people believe in their religion and God? [155]

I have no problems here and I have met 2 priests socially, you will find that they are realistic and not willing to try and convert you, they know full well that they are going to have their work cut out hanging onto the ones who have already been brainwashed. (Oh and this is the 'Pod' where they go to church sometimes 3 times a day and several times a week.) Your big problem might be with your Polish family who would feel that their 'position' in the community is diminished if you don,t attend services. Position is very important....even more so in the villages.

Life / Washing machine in the bathroom of Poles [78]

Electricity...in bathrooms???? need I say more.......much like all this driving at high speed on ice and snow etc???

Food / Where can I buy lamb in Poland? [89]

I live in the 'Podkarpacie' and we had trouble finding lamb.....the solution was to raise a couple of lambs and have them slaughtered then freeze them...still eating some now. Locals here will not touch the stuff they say it is poisonous???? as they say...go figure. Really interesting watching the local farmer slaughter the lambs (look away now squeamish person) short axe to the head, then swift knife to the throat...it only took a few minutes for them to die in agony...One took three good whacks to make it stay down!!!! But he did skin them in quick time....and we saved the guts for our dogs who lived the 'fat life' for a time. Nothing but nothing was wasted...one of my dogs was even carrying a little 'hoof' around with her months later. This is life on a farm..... raw and brutal. (but farmers here are all fat)

News / Poland is the source of horsemeat in burgers? [169]

Ha ha..so many people who have never been really hungry.

Law / European Law in Poland to register UK cars [6]

No No No Wroclaw Boy........all I ever hear from Poles is 'its not their fault...the roads are bad'!!!!!!! did you Poles never hear of 'driving with regard to the conditions of the road' ?? In simple terms that means if the road is bad...you slow down....Poles just don,t know how to do that and so...the carnage continues. Eventually the EU will force policing measures on you that will have your cars taken away from you and crushed if you are caught speeding.....how many times will that have to happen before you learn to drive carefully. (Please take this to heart...Poland is lovely...I drive slowly and am able to look around and see more of this beautiful place.....I want you all to enjoy it as much as I do!)

News / Poland is the source of horsemeat in burgers? [169]

Meat is meat, I,ll eat it.....(though I don,t think I would eat my faithful dogs 'Szarik' and 'Freya' (unless I was starving)) don,t know what all the fuss is about, people from UK need to travel more.....on second thoughts they do...but they never ask what the meat is that they are being served in restaurants......eek they ate someones dog without realising.

Love / Polish Catholic girl - do you have the same relationship problem as me? [28]

I have to say that speaking from a viewpoint based way out here in civilisation, your parents are living in the dark ages. Back here where the hills have eyes the parents all want their little daughters to grow up marrying their 1st cousin. Yep those of you who are educated will realise that the local surgery is full of children with their internal organs all over the place and worse, just because mom and dad and both grandmas and grandads wanted to keep the wealth in the family and only marry cousins. Well what I see in your parents is just as bad, I,m willing to bet that if they could find you a 1st cousin they would marry you off to him. Girl...you need to get out of Polish inbred society and out of crazy Catholicism...marry a guy who you can love and who will Love you and always treat you like his own personal princess..but not too close in the family. Run away now and as fast and as far as you can...you are being abused, but have been brain washed so you can,t see it.

Life / Do young Polish people believe in their religion and God? [155]

Thanks gumishu I enjoy the Banter here, and for Pawian back in UK I was very embarrassed by and outspoken against those very 'white trash' you referred to.

UK, Ireland / How might Britain`s withdrawal from EU affect Poles there and here? [474]

Just a small personal view (not really valid now becaue I intend to stay in Poland for the est of my life unless there is some huge political upheval that makes it impossible) For UK I would happily lose all the Pakistanis and Africans and replace them with Poles....No lets say I would happily lose all the people who do not and will not integrate and replace them with Poles who are a. culturally closer to us and b. will probably, mostly integrate eventually.

Life / Do young Polish people believe in their religion and God? [155]

Damn!!! that,s the first time I have been called white trash??? I got called 'posh boy' and middle class in UK. I,ll get my complex,s seen to, I promise.

Law / European Law in Poland to register UK cars [6]

I am English and I personally think it is in Polands best interest not to allow RHD cars here in Poland. Firstly and you might not like this, is that it will add to the appaling death/carnage/maiming rate on the roads......combinations of bad driving/drunk/psycho/both and RHD will only add to the carnage. Plus it will destroy what small amount of new car sales that there are. UK cars are relatively cheap and why pay an excessive price for a new car here when you could import an almost new luxury UK car for a huge amount less.

Life / Do young Polish people believe in their religion and God? [155]

Well, I live in the 'Podkarpacie' and yes I consider that all young people are brainwashed from an early age......But I don,t mind, it,s your poor idiots they are brainwashing and it makes my village a safer place.....once you get to know the local priest everyone is 'kowtowing' to you and priests are generally intelligent enough and interested enough to be friendly to foreigners who are not Catholics, hell last year I was even driving the priest around when he went on his (brown envelope - not compulsory to give..but you,ll go straight to hell if you don,t!!!) in the snow in my 4x4. Why does it make the village a safer place???.....I,ll explain for those who are not brainwashed already.....In Uk if you saw a group of 7-8 young men walking towards you along a dark street at night, you might start to prepare yourself for at best losing your phone, or maybe a good beating (if they are black/asian) several stab wounds of possible life threatening intensity!!!! But here, they will all want to shake your hand and will all to a man be polite and say good evening (equiv.) thats the church for you. even drunk they still fear the church and retribution to their very bones!!!! woe betide any of them who are abusive etc and it gets back to the priest and their family name is bandied about on Sunday!! that young man who gave the abuse or was not polite should prepare himself for ostracism and at least a good bashing at the hands of male relatives for bringing the family name into dis-repute. (personally I think telling lies to small children is not a good thing and I wouldn,t allow it with my children) But I don,t mind the church spouting it to locals, it makes me feel like a Medieval Lord who knows the truth, but the locals are all kept in Line for me by fear of God!!!

Life / I'm British in Poland and I think that it's time to go back to the UK! [240]

Polish staff??? I assume??? if so must have been from this area.

Life / What is the penalty for driving a car without the annual technical inspection? [17]

No emissions tests here in this part of the 'Podkarpacie' if there were? then one hell of a lot of cars would fail immediately and almost every bus I,ve ever seen. Half of the trucks on the road are ancient and their engines were not designed to meet any emissions requirements? Or when I take my vehicles for a test, did they do an emissions 'test' in which they just glance at the exhaust end and say....yep no black cloud...he,s OK to go.

Life / What is the penalty for driving a car without the annual technical inspection? [17]

I have a 'collector car' (1971 Steyr Pinzgauer 710K) and it had one big thorough test and that was it!!! I now have to maintain it and ensure it is mechanically good (which I always did anyway - which I do to all my vehicles anyway!!) As for the 'test'.....all they test here is lights on a machine, brakes on a machine and track rod ends/swivels...takes 10 minutes. We (my wife and I) always joke that if they brought in a UK style test for cars, trucks and busses here....what do you think? I,d say 90% of the road vehicles would fail on major items.....Poland's road transport system would fold up overnight.....so no chance of things changing for Oh.....I,d say 10 years or maybe more.

Travel / Driving from UK to Poland in Christmas Time - winter tyres? [46]

I just read the bit about how much £££ a corner this and that tyres are.......I was really wondering how much a corner is the loss of a leg or arms or spinal cord?? I daresay an agonising death in a burning car is a bit expensive, not to say traumatic as well. But enough of this frivolity.....I live in the 'Pod' and drive a UAZ 469b on Russian snow tyres all year round so what do I know? UAZ = no airbags, steering column through your chest....etc etc...madness!!!! (come the to the 'Pod' see men ploughing using horses....see even poorer men ploughing using their sons to pull the plough!!! this is Poland...but Raw and honest.

Life / I'm British in Poland and I think that it's time to go back to the UK! [240]

I just have to add that around here things haven,t changed much since communist days and I have seen local men when the shop manager appeared take off their hats and 'bow' to him.....for real..... all you have to do is mention this word 'kierovnik' and they are on their knees grovelling. Attitudes have got to change somewhat, these kierovniks are just ordinary people doing a job, they work for you, not the other way around is what I try to tell people here......I actually had someone come up to me and ask how I can talk to the local Mayor like he is just some other guy???? Well he is just some other guy!!! he drinks beer and goes to the toilet just like the rest of us...I,ll bet he has a favourite pair of slippers, but they treat him like he is some kind of god. (Now in Spain you have to treat the Mayor like he is god....(he can take your house and land if he feels like it!!!)...but then Spain is a very corrupt country...I mean more corrupt than Poles think Poland is!)

Travel / Fishing in Poland - where to go, what to catch? [74]

I have to ask why such fish as minnows are protected......OK OK I know all of the watercourses are poisoned (round here all of the overflows from shambos run into the streams which run in to the rivers and I certainly wouldn,t entertain eating a fish caught here) but even so, not enough to kill off all the sticklebacks and minnows. If you think about it, young boys in UK have been catching small fish with nets since before records began and we have huge amounts of them. Is it just this strange Polish thing about regulating everything so that the 'river warden can have his little bit of power like in the communist times?

Travel / Fishing in Poland - where to go, what to catch? [74]

I teach a young girl English here in the Podkarpacie.....one day her pet goldfish died.....I said no problem we,ll clean the tank and get some minnows and other small wild fish to put in it. (I used to keep wild species in UK, they don,t need heaters etc) But she said, we won,t be able to as it is against the law!!! Don,t be silly we are talking netting minnows!!! but we checked as I could not believe it and it is apparently the law, children here are banned by law from the childhood joys of netting minnows on the riverbank.....I despair sometimes...kids around here have been arrested and taken home for their parents to pay a fine for them catching minnows???? Poland is striving for civilisation...this is one black mark against them ever achieving it for sure.

Life / I'm British in Poland and I think that it's time to go back to the UK! [240]

I know this is an old thread, but for anyone in the same position, please don,t hold it against the Poles, history is against them and I,m sure that if you come back in 10 years it will be a lot better. Just think of trying to settle into a village in darkest Cornwall back in the 30,s..the mistrust, the resistance? would you even get served in the local shop..'furriner'!!!! I have lived in the Podkarpacie now for 3 years, still struggle to speak Polish and these people don't even trust the people from the next village, sod it they don,t trust anyone who is not immediate family!!! let alone foreigners...I love to shut down the local Biedronka....all I have to do is start speaking English to my wife....Mouths drop, grannies hold on to their crosses and breathe protective curses!! its a good few minutes before life gets back to normal.......My wife who is a Poles but spent 30 years in UK now goes armed with sheets of paper with laws and EU regs on them, resistance is useless, she always asks for the manager who lasts about 3 minutes and then she gets everything she wants...don't let underlings tell you that you have no rights, the bosses know all the rules and regs, they have just been able to bully the peasants for so long...needless to say my wife threatens legal action, EU courts of Justice and the miscreants then go out of their way to help her!!! I,ve seen her get her money back, travel money and money for a plumber to take a bath out that had a crack in it!!!! Living the good life like I couldn,t in UK!!!