UK, Ireland / What's the best Polish restaurant in London? [26]

+1

Hardly surprising for the area though; I worked round there for years, so I'm not surprised that a once fairly cheap traditional restaurant has taken the "poncey" route.

UK, Ireland / What's the best Polish restaurant in London? [26]

Some of the reviews seemed to think it was, lol. I must admit I was a bit surprised.

UK, Ireland / What's the best Polish restaurant in London? [26]


So my favourite Polish plumper is muscling-in on the London market now??? lol, I'm so out of touch! :D Judging by my walk around town yesterday, she seems to own half the "tablecloth" restaurants in Kraków now :0

hehe, I used to go there with my wife, so we're talking quite some time ago (early to late 1990s). it wasn't exactly a Michelin restaurant back then, but we knew what to expect - traditional Polish food, in an old-style Polish atmosphere (i.e., one which anyone who grew up in the UK's Polish clubs would understand).

Not quite the sort of place you would take a new girlfriend to, but definitely OK to go to with 'er indoors :) We always preferred our own respective mum's cooking though.

The best place back then was the Patio on the corner of Goldhawk Road, W12 - wonderful food, a proper Polish "dining room" atmosphere, but (in true Polish style) the restaurant was too hot lol. Judging by reviews, it's gone downhill since then.


Always felt a bit out-of-place there, like we were too young to go. Come to think of it, I probably still feel too young to go there. Mind you, I hardly look like a typical middle-aged Pole, lol

UK, Ireland / Canada targets UK Poles to fill labour shortage [19]


Sounds like Canada is following the UK model: force its workers to accept worsening conditions, reduced pay and increasing hours... but the lazy and useless get everything for free, and don't even have to get up at 6am like I have to!


I've never believed the hype about Australia, either. Way too hot, increasingly expensive, and they don't have any water :D

News / Curb shack-up privileges - black MP John Goodson appealing to the labour minister [21]


Nowhere near as laughable as Christians who believe that non-Christians should be subject to the same rules; and, if they refuse to accept those rules, they are branded as (your words) "deviant". There's nothing "deviant" about sex outside marriage, unless you're religious - in which case, you are free not to break this rule. These rules do not apply to me, as I'm not religious. This doesn't make me a bad person, just a non-religious one. People were having sex outside marriage thousands of years before "modern" religions existed and imposed their pointless rules on everyone.

Besides, if children are indeed a "gift from God", as you Christians often proclaim, then please explain why God chooses to deliver those gifts to victims of rape, or why it's possible to get your sister pregnant? That's a funny interpretation of the rules on so-called "fornication" and adultery, don't you think? Then again, as priests seem to love sex with little boys, it's not just the secular who deserve to be described as "deviant".


+1

It could make me hate Christians as well. Fortunately, most Christians are decent people, and are not represented by some clueless, bigoted PiS-supporting Pol-Am.

News / Curb shack-up privileges - black MP John Goodson appealing to the labour minister [21]


Then it's time they left the Dark Ages and stopped their unwelcome, patronising preaching to those who do not wish to be converted. Some people aren't interested in being "saved" - get over it. If you think you need saving, then fine - go and get saved!

The most ironic thing is, Africans were originally far more spiritual than the colonisers who violently imposed a certain so-called superior religion upon them.


That's a separate off-topic issue, so stop trolling.

Of the most sickening values I can think of, most exist in ultra-religious countries, and not secular ones.

If you want to go back to Old Testament times, then perhaps you should move to somewhere where stoning for adultery or homosexuality is the punishment. I'm not gay or an adulterer, but I would rather live in a country with laws which are too liberal than one where laws are too extreme, particularly if they are backed up by religious beliefs. In case you haven't noticed, these countries are full of people who would gladly escape to a "sick" country like yours.

What people do in their bedrooms is NOTHING to do with you, and it should be nothing to do with politicians, and nothing to do with priests or vicars - unless you are a practising member of a particular religion. In which case, you are free to accept their rules, and accept their punishments. Or is stoning and burning only applicable to members of certain groups/ethnicities, and not offending Pol-Ams? That reminds me of a certain dodgy Austrian bloke with an even dodgier moustache - which certain US Polonia seem to worship. What a coincidence.


Many of us (expats as well as UK Polonia) are still waiting for the reply :D

Life / I hate Warsaw. The worst part about living here is the people who move here from small towns, villages.. [124]

If Dominika lived in Islington, she should love all those Nathan Barley types :)

I can send her a copy of the "Shoreditch Tw*t" if she's missing Islington circa 2002, lol.

Perhaps she has to live on some boring new osiedle in Białołęka, and that's why she's so fed up, haha.

News / 2012 - 2013 Will be the most severe Polish winter. [38]

Unlucky indeed, lol.

One day, I will eventually see Polish snow - when I get snowed-in and stranded at the airport probably, haha.

Life / I hate Warsaw. The worst part about living here is the people who move here from small towns, villages.. [124]


Earlier, you said you have "been" to London, not lived there. That makes a big difference.


That's a long time, especially in London. It has changed a LOT since then (and not necessarily for the better).


You should go back. I'm not saying that will make you love Warsaw, but you may find that London isn't quite the same place you remember.


This is good advice.


To be fair, it's never a good idea to take photos of other people without permission, any seasoned traveller/expat would (or should) know this.


It's all subjective. I've been to Paris once, and I'm in no hurry to return. I've been to Warsaw dozens of times, and I will be back soon :)


Indeed. Each borough has its own character. Enfield's probably the friendliest place I've ever lived in my life, yet it's nothing like the London which tourists would see.

Warsaw can't really be compared to places like London, Hong Kong or NYC, it's not big enough for a start.

Study / Phd Studies in Polish Academy of Sciences or University of Economics Poznan? [5]

lol, this is a wind-up.

Who on earth gets admitted to a university at doctorate level, without knowing anything about the institution's prestige and reputation? Or, more to the point, who would elect to undertake such high-level studies without learning about the above?

Unless it's one of those people you see on "UK Border Force" who claim to be studying for "Business Work Degree" at the "London College of Managerial Management and Science"... while this really means "working illegally in a private hire firm or take-away, because the college doesn't exist or is under investigation" :D

Life / I hate Warsaw. The worst part about living here is the people who move here from small towns, villages.. [124]


You've only "been" to London, whereas I have lived there for a third of my life. I can guarantee that there are plenty of arrogant, stuck-up, self-obsessed and money-orientated people there. Though I would add that this is the case in every major city I've lived in, these days at least.

Capital cities tend to have this on an even higher level, though. In some ways, it's justified - capitals tend to attract the ambitious (like me :) ), and it's true to say that I've achieved my greatest successes in London and not elsewhere. The downside is that you usually have to live in a totally different way to achieve this within capital cities (higher costs, longer travelling times, less space, more crime, no car, etc), which is partly why some people who live in places like Warsaw or London may think they are "better" - they aren't really, but if you are willing to endure certain discomforts in order to achieve success/money, it's hardly surprising that you may look down on the unambitious people you left behind.

This probably makes me sound a bit stuck-up lol, but I'm not, I'm just trying to explain that places like London are virtually a separate state within a country, and the rules are a little different there ;)

I like Warsaw - it's the only Polish city I really feel at home in, but I think that 12 months there would be more than enough for me.

News / 2012 - 2013 Will be the most severe Polish winter. [38]


Like the overused "tired of London, tired of life" quote, this is not strictly correct.

This only applies to colder weather. If it's too hot, and you're already in your birthday suit, it's bad weather, not the wrong clothes :)

Unfortunately, I work with a bunch of wimpy zmarzlaki who think that 23 degrees is "cold" :(


Whenever I've been in Poland in winter, it's always rained! I've still never seen snow on Polish soil (except high up in the Tatry, but that doesn't really count) - we get more "Polish winters" here! lol

News / Kudos to RCC for turning Poland into a laughingstock... again. [38]


Yet they seem to be quite happy to accept a foreign religion, lol.

Life / Is Poland a poor country? [578]


OK, perhaps it's more accurate to say "lack of whitespace" haha


I can't argue with that, lol :)

Life / Is Poland a poor country? [578]

Despite the almost p3undone-like lack of punctuation (lol), that's a great post.

You should teach that awful Polkatagalong woman something about humility.

Unsurprisingly, you have a boyfriend, and our self-styled "Miss Polonia"... hasn't :D


Well, they could, but suggesting that he's a "bitter because he still hasn't made enough money to buy a 30m2 flat in Poland and can't stop attacking Harry and Delph because of it" type person would be far more accurate :)


True.

Although there is also a cynical view regarding why Poles allow their parents to live with them, but I'm not in the mood ;)

UK, Ireland / Do the poles like British culture [127]


In another poll, 99% of North Koreans said they fully supported the current regime.

The other 1% were executed.

"You couldn't make it up", indeed.

UK, Ireland / Polish women in UK caught involved in prostitution scheme [39]


How can you say this!? Polish women are the most beautiful in the world!! It says so on PF, so it must be the case!!!!!

;)

UK, Ireland / Poles living in the United Kingdom - give us a shout [11]


English. Haven't you seen his spelling and grammar? ;)

Though it's obvious that his thread is not simply about Poles in the UK, but is actually a thinly-disguised attempt to get more tenants for his landlord.

Travel / Decent swimming pools around Kraków [3]

Thanks. No wonder Poland never wins any medals lol

News / UN names Warsaw world's 19th most prosperous city [6]


Apart from my relatives, I've only met three people from major Polish cities: a nurse from Poznan (great bloke), and my ex-girlfriend and her son - both from Bydgoszcz (allegedly - I suspect "wiocha" myself, lol).

Of the remainder, none came from Warsaw or the major cities, but small towns/villages I'd mostly never heard of. That tells you a lot about the kind of people who move from Poland to the UK. Most of the educated big-city Poles can find work back home, even if they have to move to Warsaw to do it lol. Just like over here, really - if you want to "make it", you probably have to move to London.


I've been saying it for years. Americans may knock it, but it's a city full of potential. Those who know, know. Those who don't know... get to know ;)

UK, Ireland / Do the poles like British culture [127]


We know you're not exactly Mensa material.

However, if you weren't too lazy or stupid to use Google Translate, you would have learned that "Znasz j. polski?" actually means "Do you know Polish?" (i.e., do you know the language).

So the reply "kind of" means that rozumiemnic knows a bit of Polish, not that she is part-Polish, fool.

Now stop the constant attacks on respected female posters, you sad bully.

News / Failures of Poland and Tusk`s government [191]


Hi Crow.

Now shall I ask isthatu2 to tell you what we think of Serbs, or shall I provide you with the polite version.

UK, Ireland / Do the poles like British culture [127]

It depends on how much you earn, and how you live. Someone who takes home £1200 a month probably can't, but I could easily save 50% of what I earn if I wanted to. I don't drink, smoke or take drugs, I don't eat takeaways (I had some pie & mash today though, and very nice it was too, lol), and I don't go out partying every night.

My biggest non-essential expense is sport-related - I spend 12 hours a week in the pool and 4-6 hours a week in the gym (sometimes more) and the cost of membership + fluids/supplements/clothing soon adds up. But I'm training for competition, so it's worth every penny :)

History / "Westerner's" most ridiculous beliefs about the time of communism in Poland [73]


Don't worry, I know you didn't ;)


That's about it - uninformed, and indifferent.


It was a long time ago, and I can't remember that much about the media reports, but I don't think that "culture" was really mentioned that much. But I don't think that this would make UK people think that Poland had no culture. I think most people weren't interested, that's all.

It affected families like ours, of course, because we had relatives over there, so we kept ourselves informed about life in Poland.

I think that most people would have thought of Poles as poor and oppressed, but not necessarily uncultured.

UK, Ireland / Do the poles like British culture [127]


This is a valid point, despite what some think. If I could earn £60 an hour in a foreign country for working in a cafe or in a warehouse, instead of what I'm qualified to do, I'd do it for a few years - because I could put a huge deposit down on a house upon return.


Not exactly - that would be like a Pole selling his house in Poland, paying cash for one over here, and living off their savings.


Please don't. It's oxon - he doesn't deserve apologies.

Travel / Is there a healthy expats scene in Poland? (drinks, food, golf, etc.) [143]


+1

They are mostly the kind of bare-chested, silver chain-wearing, tattooed thugs who put "Burnely (sic) til I die" on their Facebook page (or whatever inbred chav town they come from). People like that surplus c*** who gouged his girlfriend's eyes out. Unfortunately, my sister loves such losers :) Of course they will be "Burnley until they die", because (a) they will never hold down a decent job, and (b) they would lose their council house if they moved for a better one :D I would love to become a much-derided "expat", but I'm too old now, lol.

History / "Westerner's" most ridiculous beliefs about the time of communism in Poland [73]


Neither agree or disagree.

Most people over here simply have no idea about current Polish issues, never mind about how Poland was like over 20 years ago. Those who do have an idea are extremely unlikely to have oxon's attitude. Everyone I know who is not Polish, and had visited Poland before 2004, had nothing but praise for the people and the country.

Likewise, as I have mentioned before on this forum, there was virtually no anti-Polish opinion in the UK before 2004. The way that the trolls behave on here, you would think that we have been (for want of a better phrase) "white Pakis" for decades. This is absolutely NOT the case. Please do not think that the opinions of sad loser trolls on PF represent the majority of UK people.

History / "Westerner's" most ridiculous beliefs about the time of communism in Poland [73]

Haven't you learned that oxon can't be taken seriously‽ He knows nothing about the real Poland!


More evidence that oxon has never been to Poland, or he would have seen that Polish shops are FULL of western CDs/DVDs, etc.

Compare the shelves containing western films, to the "kino polskie" shelves in Empik. And that's just one example. UK/US culture is everywhere in Poland - some may say there's too much of it!


Rubbish. My mum was already a fan of the Stones/Beatles, etc. when she arrived in this country (1960s) - she became aware of this music by listening to the radio.

Even under communism, Poland wasn't a Third World village (even though people like oxon think it still is, lol.)

Life / Who's the best looking (and acting/singing) celebrity in Poland? [32]

It's all subjective ;)

Marta Żmuda-Trzebiatowska
She's so hot that the Devil briefly allowed Red Adair out of his air-conditioned room in Hell, just so he could go and put her out. lol