Personally I do not like Piaczeno at all as it has no soul.
Agree on that point. But even more of a problem is poor access to the city center. I used to live in Skierniewice, and could get to Rotunda a lot faster than my friend from Piaseczno could. If I could get back all the hours I spent waiting for him on that corner...
There are many Brit/Polish couples in Wars which have survived long term the above is complete bolox.
How many of those involve young, unqualified, poorly earning British slackers who can't make a go of it on the Polish job market? I've known heaps of British and Irish guys who moved here for their girlfriends only to move back shortly afterwards because of their limited earning potential. Usually because their girlfriends lost interest in them. All of the successful couples I know involve good earning professionals. Warsaw, Kraków and Wrocław are fun cities to live in if you have cash to burn. Otherwise, they can be more depressing than Wałbrzych, Radom or Sosnowiec.
Perhaps, but I certainly recognise the mother-in-law stuff. Maybe the people I know just had bad luck, but it strikes some resonance I can tell you that much...
Oh, the stories I can tell would chill your blood. Once the cash runs dry, the "kły i szpony" are unsheathed, and the hysterics start. Financial security is the highest need in the hierarchy for Polish women, and that need is far more powerful than love could ever be. Anything that represents the slightest threat on that front comes under immediate, merciless and relentless artillery fire, and the arms they have at their disposal are jaw-droppingly intimidating. Their aim is also uncannily accurate. They can castrate a fruit fly at a range of fifty kilometers.