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


Could you cite a reliable reference for that?

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


What makes you say that?

History / Weapons of WWII (Poland and other countries) [239]


I re-read page 5 and don't see any reference to a modern-day British gov't justifying civillian deaths in Dresden.

Only a link to a wikipedia article which, inter alia, mentions the extreme unease in Britain about the bombings.


At Mai Lai? Women and children were chased, cornered, aimed at, and shot by gunmen. That was deliberate. And not unique.

History / Weapons of WWII (Poland and other countries) [239]


I think 5, in a friendly fire accident. Pales into insignificance compared to the wiomen and children deliberately burnt to death with napalm by the Amerivcans in Vietnam. Plus the other atrocities causing them to hide from the ICC.

Life / 3 reasons why you hate Poland. [1049]


Or even ten deep with Poles, happy at how civilised queueing is in the UK as compared with PL

News / Poland's Organized Crime [58]

Gazeta Wyborcza (sorry, I can't find a link) printed a map of which gang controls which part of Warsaw. Apart from the usual suspects mentioned above, there were also other Mazowsze ones, eg. Nowy Dwór, and gangs from Białystok and Gdańsk with territory here.

But if your luxury car's stolen, it's probably off-duty police.

Food / Problem to find "cream" in Poland [23]

£ukasz is right. The stuff for coffee is similar to British cream, but not really cream - some sort of substitute instead.

I remember when I first ate a cream cake here, and thought the cream had gone rancid.

Sometimes you can get the right stuff by asking for 'śmietana słodka' - that shouldn't have the sour taste preferred in Eastern Europe.

But French 'creme' is a bit harder to find. I saw it once in Leclerc (the big Leclerc near the junction of al. Jerozolimskie and ul. Popularna) and I think Mini Europa have it.

Real Estate / Renting in Krakow, Poland - the safest district? fairly close to the city centre... [25]


I agree.

I used to spend a lot of time there on business. It's pleasant enough and never any trouble, even in the bars at night.

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


I opened my account there with 10zl.

Nordea are OK, and their customer service is more Scandinavian than Polish.

UK, Ireland / Fish and chips - do Polish people in the UK like this? [108]

I remember being in OK (Yorks) with Polish visitors who time and time again wanted to eat pie and peas. Or Fish Butty with Curry Sauce.

UK, Ireland / Fish and chips - do Polish people in the UK like this? [108]

That sounds right.

To be honest it was a while ago since I was last there. I remember the bakers best, not least for the butteries :-)

UK, Ireland / Fish and chips - do Polish people in the UK like this? [108]


Maybe not the main market. A seventies building near (downhill from??) Union street.

Really nice baker's shop on Union street just by the turnoff to the street with the chippy.

UK, Ireland / Fish and chips - do Polish people in the UK like this? [108]

Remember they have fried fish here in Poland, as hard as leather and fried so long there's no flavour left. And chips here means frozen chips.

So British Fish n' Chips is a revelation.

As for Aberdeen, I once had some lovely fish and chips there, just off Union Street, not far from a market.

Food / Types of CHEESE in Poland [150]

90% of Polish (non-white) cheese is bland factory made pap that doesn't grate properly.

There is however a new producer who makes real farmhouse cheese, exported abroad and already won a few prizes. Excellent cheese.

It appeared in my local shop for about a week, but there's no real demand here. The market is for processed and sliced, factory made mild yellow, or imitation Brie. Good cheese here means expensive imported cheese. Or Oscypek.

Maybe Piotr and Paweł stock it.

Food / Bread Baking in Poland [65]


Hmm, kotlet schabowy, kotlet mielony, placki ziemnaczane, pierogi. To name but a few.

Travel / Mosques in Krakow? [131]

There must be plenty of students plus perhaps a consular presence.

I live near the mosque in Warsaw and it seems quite busy.

As for paying, I think there are often contributions from abroad, charitable foundations etc.

Life / Charity In Poland (tradition and attitude towards door-to-door collecting) [19]

There were collections for the big tsunami a couple of years ago, and after earthquakes etc the banks usually accept donations. Also on TV, (TVN at least) they run appeals.

And there's always the Wielka Orchiestr, and supermarket collections around Christmas.

Food / Can you do online food shopping in Poland? Supermarkets. [42]

I don't know about Tesco, but there are several companies here in Warsaw who do online orders and then deliver.

Genealogy / POLISH NOBILITY NAMES IN -SKIi [82]


Quite, as Mr Kowalski would say too.

Life / 3 reasons why you hate Poland. [1049]

Not usually a problem - sharing rooms is normal here. If they look a bit put out that there are no twin beds, even the frumpiest hotel receptionist won't suspect immorality! :-))

Life / 3 reasons why you hate Poland. [1049]

I don't hate Poland, but some things I hate about Poland are:

Old ladies in the station ticket office who shout (not say but shout) "Nie ma pociągu do X, w ogóle!" When the train you want is waiting 50 metres away. Likewise bus timetable websites that simply don't work. E-podroznik.pl, chief among them.

Frozen Chips (French Fries), even in restaurants!!! An entire nation who've forgotten how to slice potatoes.

People walking out of shop doors looking straight ahead, not noticing (or caring) if people are walking along the pavement.

Shop assistants who can't change a small banknote and don't even apologise about it.

Bars or restaurants with the toilet key kept behind the bar. Why?

Maybe all that will change with time, but I don't see that happening yet.

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


I agree about BZWBK 100%. Millenium is good, Nordea is excellent, Citibank is good but expensive. PKO BP is good in parts and a bit of a lottery depending which branch you use. PKO SA is not the same and I wouldn't recommend it at all. Avoid Fortis at all costs.

M-Bank and Multibank are good if you do most of your banking on the internet.

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

Allianz are indeed OK. A lot of foreigners (even most that I know) use Millenium Bank - they are very used to English speakers. I bank with Nordea, who are also very good for foreigners.

UK, Ireland / POLISH MAN 25 MURDERED IN LEEDS UK [19]

Though tens of thousands of people in Yorkshire have Polish surnames without being Polish, so who knows?

It could be a 'Polish on Polish' thing or just a coincidence.

Merged thread:
Polish man murdered in Leeds - the latest

And here's the story:


yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/Man-kicked-to-death-in.6613888.jp

The guy seems a headcase - all that stuff about "eating ***".

Here's the latest - apparently the guy thought he was a dog.

A paranoid schizophrenic who beat a stranger to death believing they were both dogs in a "sparring" match has been jailed for life.

Polish national Dawid Grabowski, 26, who lived with his family in Meanwood, stamped and kicked fellow countryman Marius Rogiowicz, 24, causing him catastrophic head injuries.

UK, Ireland / POLISH MAN 25 MURDERED IN LEEDS UK [19]

Here's an update. The police hace arrested and charged somebody.

yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/Man-charged-with-Leeds-murder.5355908.jp

Doesn't say if it's organised crime or a personal fight, but no doubt it will all come out in court.

UK, Ireland / POLISH MAN 25 MURDERED IN LEEDS UK [19]

He would if it was real Mafia. East Leeds is a bit less organised than 'The Godfather', thank goodness. That particular bit of Harehills where he was murdered has a bit of a chequered history, fairly overt drug dealing and some dodgy bars which don't seem to have a licence.

Wonder what it was all about?

UK, Ireland / POLISH MAN 25 MURDERED IN LEEDS UK [19]

That part of Harehills isn't the nicest district in Leeds - an organised crime problem for many years. I lived about half a mile away and always felt safe though.

From the link it seems to have all the hallmarks of a gangland killing.
yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/VIDEO-Detectives-release-photo-of.5175599.jp

Language / Your perception of the Polish accent [145]

Katowice and Poznań accents are pretty easy to spot - especially if the speaker hasn't travelled much. I don't hear much accent in Gdańsk or Wrocław though - maybe due to population movements. Old people from around Warsaw have quite a distinctive sound; lots of sibilants and a tendency to say 'om' instead if 'ą'.

UK, Ireland / English teenager refused service at Polish shop [87]

The Telegraph's usually considered respectable and in any case is just reporting a situation that they picked up from the local media. So whether or not the girl's story is true, there seems to be some sort of complaint against the shopkeeper.

In my experience the Polish shops springing up around the UK are happy to serve anybody - I've had no problem with them. There's one in my town with bilingual signs saying 'Polish shop with an English flavour'!!