Domestic arguments caused by differences between Polish and English culture

No I couldn't take his! I don't really like alcohol much and rarely drink the stuff!

So do I! What cultural differences you have in mind then?

That's kind of what I thought as I kicked him out of the car and drove off very fast.....

My ex always put his drinking habits down to being a Polish man.
His equally heavy drinking friends also claimed that heavy drinking was part of Polish culture!
'the other little cultural difference' was written with some irony!

I don't think that many Poles would put up with the British 'binge drinkers'. It's certainly not an attractrive habit in women or men.

Alcoholism and domestic violence occurs in many countries. Britain is no exception. It's certainly not a cultural difference between our two nations (Poland & the UK).

I'm actually quite suprised how many Poles don't drink...

lol!


Well his drinking habits you can put down to him being a dumb-ass.
.

Yes a dumb ass he certainly was. When I threw him out he was a very SORE ASS too!

Yep. Your just being typically Polish. Read what Natasia says and take a good look at yourself. Oops! Sorry you can't your Polish and its impossible to see your own imperfections.

Nice too see you back on form Natasia.


Hmm! Interesting. Funny how the pipes freeze in Polish houses in harsh winters when the heatings not on. So what happens when you bury a pipe in the wall. A problem. Thats what. There is a reaction between copper pipe and cement/concrete that causes corrosion and the eventual failure of the pipe. Of course the pipe can be sleeved with a plastic/polythene pipe but from what I have seen is not done in Poland. The ones I've seen have been plastered/cemented into the wall. Perhaps it is different on new builds but I've not seen one of these yet.

I think you would find most English houses would survive admirably because they are built to standards which are checked at all stages of build.

In Poland you see some true craftsmen working on restoring buildings but equally you see a lot of tragic home builds.

Now you are bragging lol!


Really? Whats that?


How would you know? I mean you are taking here a wild guess.

In what way? Did I break you mug and lie about it? ;-p


When the heating's not on. Exactly. So if the pipes were actually outside the house, they wouldn't freeze according to you? Why?


Dream on ;->

this effing box that I live in is made of cardboard and would be hell to live in in a serious winter.

They've started building to proper standards again in the UK? About time if they have.

News to me after the years of building houses that wouldn't even stand up to a decent storm. I'm pretty sure the average house in the UK built in the last 20 years wouldn't stand up to an average Polish winter.

So who puts pipes on the outside? We don't thats for sure.


Delusion another Polish trait.


Don't you read Magdalena's posts? She's perfect don't you know. Guessing; no, you see it every day here. No humility what so ever, although I felt you met me half way a couple of weeks ago Ironside. Maybe you made a mistake or I was mistaken.

Agreed, 99.9% certain of that. Some exceptions no doubt, but on the whole...sigh.

Avalon on here might be able to give a better insight, but I'm pretty sure that the UK method of construction (throw it up as quickly as possible) would never stand up to a prolonged -15c winter followed by several months of 25c+ temperatures.

How many houses in the UK, that completely collapsed in the last 20 years due to a storm, do you know of? Some older houses have stood for up to 3 or 4 hundred years, so I don't know why you are condemning UK houses and builders. Is it something to do with living in a small one bedroom flat in a foreign country? :)

Never ceases to amaze.. The polish superiority complex from exiles in the UK.

Now Polish houses are better.. hahaha

All new builds and extensions are visited by a building inspector at least 4 times during construction, and believe me these guys wouldn't pass it if they found something wrong. Their job and probably their mortgage would be down the pan if they got their decision wrong.

But the UK doesn't really get severe weather conditions compared to Poland, does it? I mean - the houses aren't as solid in the UK, but nor do they really need to be. What would be the point in building a UK house to withstand -20c winters and +30c summers? They wouldn't last in such conditions - but the UK doesn't really have such conditions. And no, Londoners - 5cm of snow is not "severe weather" ;)

(we could talk about the amount of houses flooded due to the mass building on flood plains, but the same happened in Poland ;))

Must admit though - I don't think stuff built in the last 20 years will last that long, certainly not compared to the housing built post-war in the UK. I was looking only last night at housing where I'm from - the stuff built from the 1920's through to the 1960's are rock solid stuff, but anything from 1970's onwards is just...crap.

My mother's house has its 500th birthday next decade. Just saying.

Yes but houses in England and Ireland are not meant to go through months of minus 15.

You don't see toilet outflow pipes coming down outside the walls here in Poland, in Ireland and England you do.

Similarly the summers are hotter here in Poland and it is less humid than on the islands.

It's not a question of better or worse, different technologies for different environments.

Are you telling me telling me that Bricks, stones and concrete blocks wouldn't survive a bad winter? Some Roman structures built well over 1000 years ago are still around today. I'm not saying UK houses are better than elsewhere, but you shouldn't knock things you know little about.

I can only base it on practical experience - watching them being thrown up, knowing people who live in them and seeing how nothing more than the bare minimum is done because the prices need to be kept down and profits need to be made. They just don't seem to be particularly solid at all - certainly not compared to previous generations.

(worth pointing out that anything built post-1990 in Poland in terms of flats are an utter joke)


I can only give one good example - I grew up in a sort-of new town, with much of the housing stock built between the late 1970's and mid 1990's. Stuff built in the 1970's is now falling to bits - many of the houses simply aren't holding up too well. They were built during the oil boom times - so you have to question the quality of the stuff that was built in later times, too.

Well I've been in the building industry for quite a few years, and I would say modern materials are much better today. I would much prefer a modern house than deal with the damp, woodworm and cracks of the old Victorian homes of yesteryear. Building control is much tougher today as well.

Large (house) building companies wouldn't survive if their houses kept falling down, or had the defects mentioned above.

What people need to realize is that the view of the UK is heavily distorted and incorrect among most Polish immigrants.

The average immigrant is living in the cheapest and socially deprived areas of town, probably renting a poorly maintained ******** of a building from a Pakistani or Romanian "landlord".

I see no reason to be humble; you yourself demonstrate no humility, why should I? Unless you're inherently better than me in every respect just because I'm Polish - and I don't buy into that ideology. I have my opinions, you have yours, and if you're not interested in starting a discussion with an intelligent person, then don't say anything. ;-p

Ant63: So who puts pipes on the outside? We don't thats for sure.

Well you can see this all over England at least. As other posters have pointed out above.

Typically building inspectors are shown one property on the estate that is supposedly up to specification. They are not shown every unit. If you think the vast majority of property in the UK is of a high standard, I really am gobsmacked.


I'm not sure on that -- old block I have been in has poor sound insulation between floors and other troubles. 2003 block built by Jan Bud is much, much better with just a few settlement cracks and minor water ingress to a balcony wall. In the UK, we can only dream of flats that feel and seem as well built as that one by JB.

The problems with UK housing stock are no secret. UK architects and NHF report
architectsjournal.co.uk/news/daily-news/poor-quality-housing-fuels-poverty-cycle/5216985.article


Interesting comments from
housepricecrash.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=177922


Britain's bad housing
topdocumentaryfilms.com/britains-bad-housing


Shelter write about poor quality
england.shelter.org.uk/campaigns/why_we_campaign/building_more_homes


To put it mildly!

"Poor quality" of new homes
insidehousing.co.uk/quality-and-quantity/6507606.article


I could go on, but am trying not to get suspended :o)

Spiritus,
You are right in your belief that the salt goes into the one holed condiment set with pepper going into the multiple holed one, however your misses [Northern English slang for The Wife] is also correct in her belief that it is the opposite way! It can be assumed that various areas of countries have localised traditions in serving condiments let along individual countries traditions. You also are failing in one major misunderstand, That Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus! This reply hopefully should be taken with a pinch of SALT!

Look after that lady and good luck with the salt & pepper.

Regards, Anglik

My home is Victorian,and doesn't have any problems that i'm aware of. These types of houses were built to last!
I have no idea about the quality of modern homes,but many of them have very thin walls.......your neighbours may as well be in with you!

I can't really comment on standards of Polish builds,but 2 of my friends living there bought land and built their own homes. Both were builders so presumably they knew what they were doing.

One of my friends central heating system was pretty dire though. Considering they were burning wood non-stop, you never got hot water until late afternoon, and some radiators only ever seemed to get lukewarm.I nearly froze to death when i stayed there in winter 2009. That was a very cold winter in Poland.

Also noticed the snow on his roof melted pretty fast in the day compared to other homes nearby. Guessing maybe it wasn't insulated that well.


Cottage?