Local news update after Easter

For a village the size of Chynów (pop. 1,200), much has happened since the start of Lent! The big news is that we now have a third supermarket. Another local dirt road has been surfaced, and the pavement leading to the railway station has had posts put up to stop cars from parking on it.

Below: Deko Market. The building has been standing completed for some while; work to fit it out and open it has taken a long time. Last month, the name went up on the front of the building; I was unsure whether the name 'Deko' comes from 'deko' as in 'dekagram' (the obsolete term for one-tenth of a kilogram, or 100g), or whether it came from 'decor' as in a home-decoration store. Turns out to be the former. I visited on the day after it opened, and it is run by the same people who ran the Mirabelka Market on ulica Wspólna as well as the small grocery shop opposite the church on ul. Główna. Both of these smaller shops have essentially been rolled into the one new larger-format Deko Market. Inside it is spacious and well stocked for a store of its size.

The small grocery shop has now been merged into the florist next door, while Mirabelka (below) is now permanently shut. I wonder how long it will take Google Maps to notice. It will be interesting to see to what use the building will be put to (residential? retail? A pub would be nice!) Incidentally, the new Deko Market is 500 metres further from home than Mirabelka, making my walk to the nearest shop now over 2.3km.

Running off ul. Wspólna is ul. Ogrodowa (below), which has just has just been paved over. This is good news for local residents whose houses are off this thoroughfare; no longer a muddy/dusty farm track but a proper road. However, once the houses end, so does the paved stretch of ul. Ogrodowa. 

Below: where the paving ends. Beyond this point (ie behind me), it's just orchards all the way to the end of the road. 

Meanwhile, Chynów's first supermarket, the Top Market in the Biały Dom retail complex is having to cope with the competition. Last autumn the car parking space was extended. Outside the Top Market – opened last month – is Chynów's second kebab shop! Unlike the Luxor, the Amigo Kebab is not a sit-down restaurant, but there are tables outside. Behind it, next to the Biały Dom, some new buildings are under construction. Interesting to see what they turn out to be.

And more good news – posts alongside the pavement leading to Chynów station. Until these were erected, drivers would park on the pavement making it impassable to pedestrians. There are literally acres of parking space by Chynów station – the old goods yard. Car drivers are a lazy bunch. I see cars parked outside the station that are literally driven a few hundred metres from their owners' homes.

It's good to see Chynów thriving, developing, becoming more civilised. It's a microcosm of rural Poland. Once dreadfully left behind, EU funds for farmers plus Poles' tendency to work hard and invest is making rural Poland a fine place to live.

This time last year:
Michalczew and its murder-mystery church

This time two years ago:
Spring explodes in Jakubowizna

This time eight years ago:
Litter makes me bitter

This time 11 years ago:
Lent's over – now what?

This time 12 years ago:
Completely in the dark

This time 13 years ago:
Ruch Palikota – a descent into populism

This time 14 years ago:
I cross two unfinished bridges

This time 15 years ago:
What's the Polish for 'grumpy'?

This time 16 years ago:
Do not take this road!

This time 16 years ago:
Seated peacock, Łazienki Park

This time 18 years ago:
Spirit of place: 1930s Kentucky – or Jeziorki?