The autumn deal

Spring is driven by syntropy; autumn by entropy. The breakdown – necessary for the next growth cycle – is here. The year has turned; the chlorophyll begins to breaks down, cellular machinery is being dismantled; nutrients are withdrawn into roots and woody tissues, leaves start to fall and the process of decomposition has begun. The structures of spring and summer are progressively being taken apart. Below: the long, straight dirt road between Dąbrowa Duża and Rososz.

How to dress comfortably for the changeable weather? Hot when the sun shines, colder when it doesn't

Below: on today's walk to the forest next door, I am accompanied by Céleste and her youngest son, Marss (with two 's's). The brothers and sisters are pumping up the volume – growing rapidly.

That determined facial expression is pure Marrs. 

A bright day brings out the recreational flyers. Here's a Sky Arrow 650 TCNS two-seat light aircraft, built in Italy, registered in Sweden, and a frequent sight over Chynów skies this summer.

Below: at the south-eastern edge of the village of Ławki, the sun comes out. bright and strong and hot. I take off my field jacket and remove the liner, stowing it in my rucksack. After putting the unlined jacket back on, I still feel too warm for comfort.

When the level crossing gate bells started ringing after a local train and an InterCity express had both headed north, I suspected some unusual movement on the tracks. And indeed… A diagnostic-measurement wagon (wagon diagnostyczno-pomiarowy) at the end of a rake of coaches heading north, between Sułkowice and Czachówek Południowy stations. 

Hauling the train is an EP09 locomotive (coincidentally I read today that this class of engine will be withdrawn from passenger-train duties before the end of 2028). This particular example, EP09-012, was built in 1991. It belongs to PKP Remtrak, the subsidiary of PKP group that specialises in repair, maintenance and overhaul of passenger rolling stock. (The above two photos are a bit hazy, despite a lot of Photoshop. When the rain stopped and the sun came out, condensation appeared between my lens and the front filter.)

Below: on the path to north-eastern edge of Ławki, and beyond that, Czachówek Południowy station. Although a hot sun was shining on my back, blowing my way were dark rain clouds bearing more rain. 

With the weather as capricious as it is, I decided not to continue on to Czachówek Górny as planned, but to stop at Czachówek Południowy and from there take the train back to Chynów instead. Below: a southbound InterCity express rushes through Czachówek Południowy, on the 'up' line, having overtaken the local service. The sun goes in behind the clouds, and I button the liner back into my jacket as my train arrives.

Two stops later, it delivered me to Chynów; on the short walk home, once again I was overheating.

Such is autumn, the entropic mirror of spring.

This time last year:
Gliwice – much nicer than I had expected

This time 13 years ago:
Poland does poorly in Global AgeWatch ranking

This time 14 years ago:

Warsaw, early autumn – a photo miscellany

This time 15 years ago:

The genius of Donald Tusk 

This time 16 years ago:

Eighteen die in minibus crash

PKP progress on platforms (I hope!)

News from Rynek Kolejowy has set Polish rail users chattering on social media – at long last, state-owned rail-infrastructure operator PKP PLK looks like it might be changing the awkward way that Polish station platforms are numbered.

I have written about this many times before; this is one of the remaining absurdities on the Polish rail network, which has improved beyond recognition over the past 15 years. 

The problem is that each platform edge, which in most countries around the world is simply called a 'platform', is identified in Poland by a combination of track (tor) and platform (peron) numbers.

Let's take a simple example; Warszawa Centralna (Warsaw Central station). The current nomenclature is as follows: Tor 7 Peron 1; Tor 5 Peron 1 – Tor 3 Peron 2; Tor 1 Peron 2 – Tor 2 Peron 3; Tor 4 Peron 3, then Tor 6 Peron 4 and finally Tor 8 Peron 4.  When a train is announced, the announcer will say, in English, for example, "The train for Berlin Gesundbrunnen is departing from Track 2 Platform 3" or  "The train for Vilnius is departing from Track 3 Platform 2." It is easy to get confused! In any other country, these eight platform edges would simply be numbered Platforms 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8. 

The problem is particularly acute at larger stations. It has twice caused me to miss connecting trains at Poznań Główny, for example. Below: Platform 11, Track 58 and Platform 11 Track 56 (where's Track 57?).  Under the proposed system, these would simply become two separately numbered platforms – perhaps Platforms 15 and 16. No more need to remember both a platform as well as a track number!

Left: fragment of printed timetable at Poznań Główny. Next to the departure time is the peron number, with the tor number beneath it. The trouble is that the loudspeaker announcements give the tor number first, followed by the peron number („Pociąg do stacji Wągrowiec odjedzie z toru ósmego przy peronie drugim”). While the printed timetables have gone over to Arabic from Roman numerals for peron numbers in 2024, the online timetable (rozkład-pkp.pl) still uses Roman numerals! (So right now, the local train for Wągrowiec is shown as departing Poznań Główny from IV/12).

Three days ago, PKP PLK announced that after completing the modernisation of Mysłowice station on 25 October, it will be renumbering its three physical platforms serving five tracks as five separately numbered platform edges for passenger-information purposes (below). The trial is scheduled to expand on 13 December to Milówka, Sól, Rajcza, Skarżysko-Kamienna and Środa Wielkopolska stations. A nationwide rollout is not yet confirmed; PKP PLK will evaluate the pilot, including passenger surveys, before deciding whether to extend it.

PKP PLK appears finally to have accepted long-standing suggestions from rail users: the numbering of tracks does not need to be communicated to passengers. Below: classic example of this nonsense. Lublin Główny station. Technical track numbering isn't irrational (someone once explained it to me) – railway workers need to know this for operational purposes. It's simply inappropriate as the primary means of directing passengers.

Below: the absurdity reaches its peak in the Tri-City, where the SKM trains between Gdańsk and Gdynia use tracks 501 and 502. No doubt some railway professional can explain the logic (like, why not 401 and 402 or 201 and 202?) Let's just double-check the platform numbers on our phones as we walk down these steps...

My own local absurdity at Chynów station is the fact that there are two platforms, three platform edges, numbered Tor 4 Peron 2, Tor 2 Peron 2 and Tor 1 Peron 1. Where's Tor 3?

********

Polish railways are better than ever, but could still improve. I get on average three emails a week from Koleje Mazowieckie informing me of delays on the Radom line, subject line, Utrudnienia w ruchu pociągów. But then I do get these notifications, so at least there is a system.

I am a firm believer in the aggregation of marginal gains, the philosophy of British Olympic cycling coach, Sir David 'Dave' Brailsford. Introduce an innovation that shaves off a tenth of a second and no one notices. But introduce a hundred innovations, and you've made a potentially race-winning ten-second gain. The same principle applies to Poland's railways. Station signage, passenger information (digital displays and AI-generated loudspeaker announcements), signalling and control systems, new track and new rolling stock have all made travelling by train a far more pleasant experience than in the past. And by introducing logical platform numbering (from the passengers' point of view), another marginal improvement adds to the overall positive experience. And this drives passenger numbers, up 7.7% in 2025 over 2024, which in turn justifies further investment. A virtuous circle.

PKP PLK appears finally to have accepted long-standing suggestions from rail users: the numbering of tracks does not need to be communicated to passengers. Railway workers have good reasons for retaining their own system of track numbering. But what use is that information to someone changing trains, possibly in a hurry, who simply wants to know where to stand? Let the railway engineers keep their track numbers. Passengers just need platform numbers.

This time last year:
A man's wealth expressed in cats
[Since then, my wealth has doubled!]

This time three years ago:
Why Poland can no longer afford PiS

This time four years ago:
A slower, drabber, greener, more local way of life might yet save us all

This time five years ago:
Warka's bi-weekly market

This time six years ago:
How's your samopoczucie?

This time seven years ago:

Pavement for Karczunkowska? What's next?
[Still sign of it. In 2022 it was promised for 2026. They lied.]

This time ten years ago:
On relevance and irrelevance

This time 11 years ago:
Apple time south of Warsaw

This time 12 years ago:
Poland gets anglicised as Britain gets polonised

This time 13 years ago:
Ale, architecture and city politics

This time 14 years ago:
The pros and cons of roadside acoustic screens

This time 15 years ago:
Moaning about trains again
[haha! Have a look at this post to see just how much has changed!]

This time 16 years ago:
Warsaw street names – Dolna, Polna, Rolna, Wolna, Smolna. Lost?

This time 18 years ago:
Ditches, landscapes, autumn

This time 19 years ago:
Golden autumn in Łazienki park

Szczecin – Wrocław of the North

Welcome to Szczecin. The benefit of arriving by night train at this time of year is the chance to watch the sun rise over the city as it sleeps. To the left, the cathedral of St Jacob. Destroyed in the war, this Gothic building served Protestant worshippers from the Reformation until 1945 (with a brief counter-reformational interlude); the ruins were rebuilt in the 1970s. Now a Roman Catholic place of worship. 

Below: view from the top of St Jacob's cathedral tower (you can reach it by lift); sadly, the viewing gallery is not open air, as in Gdańsk. In the distance, Dąbie lake (jezioro Dąbie); the far shore of which marks the boundary of the city of Szczecin. Until 2023, Szczecin was Poland's third-largest city in terms of surface area; today it has slipped to number five. Why? Because in 2023, the boundaries of the cities of Gdańsk and Gdynia were extended right out to the edge of Poland's territorial waters, more than doubling their surface areas.

Left: view into Szczecin's Old Town, dominated by the old town hall Altes Ratthaus (with a double 't'). To the south, the Rynek Sienny ('Haymarket'), to its north, the Rynek Nowy ('Newmarket'). A huge choice of bars, cafés and restaurants.

Architecturally, Szczecin reminds me of Wrocław with so many vistas that I'm often having double-takes and reminding myself which city I'm actually in. 

Below: the relatively new (consecrated in 2011) Orthodox church of St Nicholas. Inside the paintings are fresh, the colours vivid, untarnished as yet by decades of patina.

Just across the road from the Orthodox church, on ulica Teofila Starzyńskiego, a late-19th century German tenement building (part of a long-running series of Polish urban facades).

The late-19th century urban planning of Alte Stettin was influenced by what Haussmann had accomplished in Paris – star squares (circuses) upon which several radial avenues converge; wide tree-lined boulevards and diagonal vistas; and unified tenement blocks with commercial ground floors and decorative facades. Below: Ulica Bolesława Krzywoustego, with trees, trams and tenements. This thoroughfare, 35m wide at this point, conforms to the Haussmannian norm of a grand boulevard (generally over 30m in width); it ends in Plac Zwycięstwa, along with nine other streets.

I have photographed the facade of Szczecin's new post office (built 1905) as the Oberpostdirektion Stettin (Stettin Higher Postal Directorate), a magnificent neo-gothic building completed in 1905, a mere 40 years before this became the seat of the administration of the Dyrekcja Okręgu Poczty Polskiej.

Szczecin is one of Poland's great cities, it's certainly worth a visit. If you love Wrocław, you'll love Szczecin.

This time last year:
Six months on from my heart attack

This time ten years ago:
How the Tories ceased to be the party of economic liberals

This time 13 years ago:
Goodnight Dżerzi – Janusz Głowacki's book reviewed

This time 14 years ago:
More serious setbacks on Second Metro line construction

This time 16 years ago:
Leonard Cohen in Katowice

This time 18 years ago:
The short-term future of suburban development 

Szczecin from the water

Taking a river cruise around sunset gives new perspectives on a maritime or riverine city, often yielding magnificent prospects not to be experienced on foot. Szczecin is no exception.

Below: pulling away by boat from the centre of Szczecin, beyond the far end of the Bulwar Chrobrego.

Below: flashback to the Royal Docks on the Thames in the early 1980s before they were redeveloped. The entrances to Basen Wschodni and Basen Zachodni, the East and West Basens of Szczecin docks.

Below: floating dry-dock in Szczeciń's Stocznia Remontowa (repair shipyard), currently servicing the Sea La Belle, a Liberian-registered chemical tanker used for carrying epoxy resins (!). It has been here for just over a week.

Below: Is this Cookham Dene? Are we on the upper reaches of the Thames? No, this is about five minutes' north by boat from central Szczecin. And soon it will be autumn in Buckinghamshire. 

Left: looking back towards the Szczecin shipyards. The city offers the joys of boating to its citizens, who have safe inland waters close to hand. The season is over, but it's still warm enough until the sun goes down. 

Below: the wreck of the Ulrich Finsterwalder, a small concrete-hulled (yes!) transport ship built by the Germans in 1942. A circumnavigation of ts 90m-long hull marked the end point of the cruise; having rounded the Eisenbeton-Seefrachter, our boat began to head back for Szczecin. At this point, we are still over 55km from the sea – so much for Churchill's "From Stettin on the Baltic to Trieste on the Adriatic, an Iron Curtain is descending across our Continent." But then I doubt he could have mastered the pronunciation of 'Świnoujście on the Baltic'.

Below: last rays of the sun, setting over Szczecin's north-western suburbs, the telephoto zoom shot...

...and the wide angle shot. Sunset is 25 minutes later here than in Chynów, due to Szczecin's location on Poland's extreme west.

Below: return to Szczecin's port, passing the shipyards on the left bank of the Oder. Marvellous mood. Puts me in mind of Joseph Conrad's description of the Thames Estuary at the beginning of Heart of Darkness or Erskine Childer's descrption of the approaches to the Kiel Canal in Riddle of the Sands.

This time 11 years ago:
Polish politics enter a critical period

This time 13 years ago:
New shopping centre for Jeziorki?

This time 15 years ago:
Mobile and intelligent

This time 16 years ago:
Unadopted – abandoned properties

Szczecin Philharmonic

I first laid eyes upon Szczecin Philharmonic from the 11th floor of the Radisson Blu hotel in November 2016 (photo below). The building, which brings to mind an frost-covered mediaeval Hanseatic skyline, was designed by Studio Barozzi Veiga from Barcelona. It won the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture in 2015 and the Architectural Design of the Year prize in the Eurobuild Awards 2014 contest.

And now, a chance to see the building from the inside, and indeed to take in a concert, not just any concert, but the one inaugurating the 2026/2027 season. This consisted of three pieces; Beethoven's Egmont overture, Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor (which he composed at the age of 20!) and Sibelius's Symphony No. 2 in D major.

Below: the large spiral staircase that can handle peak audience flows between levels before and after performances and during the breaks.

Left: Architecture that seems to pre-shadow Warsaw's controversial contemporary arts museum in terms of their interiors (though it must be said, the exteriors differ as much as a Portakabin differs from a Gothic cathedral).

Below: the auditorium, which seats nearly 1,000 people, was expressly designed to deliver the most outstanding acoustic qualities. This was demonstrated by the guide dropping a one-grosz coin (weighing 1.6g) from the balcony onto the lower floor – the sound reverberated clearly around the concert hall. On either side of the ceiling are stowed thick black curtains (kotary) that drop down to cover the angled acoustic wall panels to prevent deafness when electrically-amplified music is being performed at eleven.

I was lucky enough to watch the concert from behind the orchestra, so for the first time I had the chance to watch an orchestral conductor at work from face-on, rather than just his back. It was a revelation; the gestures, the facial expressions – very powerful.

Below: general view of the foyer area, which possesses a worthy bar, serving a respectable variety of beverages including craft ales.

There were two exhibitions in galleries on the upper floors; one an entirely forgettable bunch of abstract paintings, the other an atmospheric black-and-white photo-reportage of charcoal burners in the Bieszczady hills taken by the Kumor family, Tomasz, Magdalena and their son Michał.

The Szczecin Philharmonic is an absolute must-experience venue for anyone visiting the city.

This time last year:
Compositions in reds, greens, whites and blues

This time ten years ago:
Low water mark

This time 15 years ago:
Łódź to Jeziorki by car in four hours
[See how Poland's road network has improved!]

This time 16 years ago:
What's new on the manor?

This time 17 years ago:
The funeral of Tadeusz Lesisz

This time 18 years ago:
Socialist realism in the boardroom

Poland's bread-culture renaissance

Once upon a time nearly every Polish town and village had its own bakery, making bread the way bread has traditionally been made in Poland. These days, most of these bakeries have shut down; bread now comes from in-store bakeries of the big supermarket chains, or from chains of dedicated bakeries with optimised logistics. These essentially bake frozen dough on the premises, so you get a warm and crusty loaf... but something is missing.

Last week I had to go for a heart check-up (all good thanks!) in Ursynów. I passed an artisan bakery, Bread Morning! on Aleja KEN 15. Noting that it was next door to a chain bakery (Putka), which was empty, while a queue of five people was waiting in Bread Morning!, I joined that queue. I bought one loaf of pszeniczno-żytny (wheat-rye) bread for 14 złotys. This is a price that many across rural Poland might find psychologically bonkers, when a reasonable loaf of chleb górski or chleb drwalski from a Lidl in-store bakery costs around 4 złotys.

But what a loaf! It was one of those taste-sensation things that prompts the response "I've got to have that again!" I've had this with my first decent Polish craft IPA, and before that, my first New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, when I woke up the following morning, tormented by a desire to taste that taste once more.

So when faced with the choice of travelling all the way to Ursynów to collect my results in person or making a few phone calls, I jumped on the train. Results in hand, I popped by Bread Morning! and bought another one of those pszeniczno-żytny loaves. Before me in the queue was a guy placing his order – and paying – for three loaves to be collected on Saturday morning, when demand is the highest.

********

Back in Jakubowizna I ate and I ate and I ate and I ate. Six slices, one after another, on their own, without anything. (Just to be clear: this is brunch – I'd already eaten a decent breakfast: fried rice with duck and mushroom.) And then a seventh slice. And now an eighth.

It's been a long time (nearly 16 years!) since I last raved about Polish bread. But the renaissance is on its way.

Bread Morning! Piekarnia rzemieślnicza (Warszawa) on Al. KEN in Ursynów is an example of something that's been unfolding across Poland over the past decade alongside the craft ale revolution. This is the triumphant return of old-school sourdough baking. Poles have a deep-rooted attachment to rye sourdough breads (chleb żytni na zakwasie). Oh yes! Even in the 1960s we had our Polish bakeries supplying the few Polski Skleps in West London that were around at the time with decent loaves of traditional Polish bread. So much better than Sunblest white sliced.

The late 1990s and early 2000s saw the widespread industrialisation of baking as part of the revolution in Polish food retailing. Supermarkets and bakery chains flooded the market with par-baked, frozen dough products, puffed up with chemical improvers, enzymes and commercial yeasts to accelerate rising. Traditional bakeries (piekarnie) faced intense pressure on their margins; many shut down; those which survived turned to shortcut pre-mixes to stay in the game, sacrificing flavour, crust integrity and keeping qualities.

Around the mid-2010s, a counter-revolution gathered pace. Sparked by passionate home bakers and professionals returning from abroad (bringing back inspirations from Parisian boulangeries, San Francisco sourdough hotspots and Nordic craft bakeries), a new wave of artisan bakeries began appearing in major Polish cities.

The core philosophy rejects commercial improvers in favour of cool fermentation up to 48 hours. Google Gemini explains that “this allows wild yeasts and lactobacilli to break down complex gluten structures and phytic acid, resulting in superior digestibility, a moist, open crumb (miękisz), and a crunchy crust that stays fresh for days without preservatives. Craft bakers revived older, unadulterated grain varieties such as spelt (orkisz), emmer (płaskurka), and einkorn (samopsza), alongside regional stoneground ryes”.

Bread Morning's shop is next door to its bakery, which has large windows open to the street. Passers-by and shoppers can watch doughs being hand-kneaded and loaded into the ovens. Google, which knows these things, states that “Warsaw has become one of Central Europe's most vibrant centres for artisan baking. What began as destination bakeries in central and creative quarters (such as Mokotów, Śródmieście, and Saska Kępa) quickly spread to residential neighbourhoods like Ursynów, Żoliborz, and Wilanów. Places like Bread Morning! demonstrate that neighbourhood demand for high-grade, honest sourdough is robust; locals willingly queue early on Saturday mornings for a still-warm loaf, classic rye, or flaky laminated viennoiserie made with real butter rather than vegetable fat”.

I sincerely hope that artisan bakeries will not turn out to be a short-lived hipster novelty, but will prove to be the vanguard of a resurging Polish bread culture. 

Mediaeval monks called ale 'liquid bread'; I'd call this bread 'solid ale'. 

FOLLOW-UP, FRIDAY 9 OCTOBER: At Lidl's this morning I picked up a sourdough loaf, still warm from the in-store bakery, for 5.06zł (incl. discount). Not. A. Patch. On. The. Artisan. Loaf.

This time two years ago:
Further exploration of the eskers around Sułkowice

This time three years ago:

Hottest September in Poland?

This time four years ago:

Box-top art in the Sublime Aesthetic

This time five years ago:
Trains of thought, insights and 'voices'

This time seven years ago:
Parliamentary train at West Ealing station

This time eight years ago:
Progress in Jakubowizna

This time ten years ago:
Miedzianka by Filip Springer

This time 11 years ago:
Out of the third, into the fourth

This time 12 years ago:
Inverted reflections

This time 13 years ago:
Observations from London's WC1
and Observations from the City of London

This time 14 years ago:
Civilising Jeziorki's wetlands

This time 13 years ago:
Warsaw's Aleje Jerozolimskie

This time 17 years ago:
Melancholy autumn mood in Łazienki

This time 18 years ago:
Autumn gold, Zamienie

Morning sun

Into the dark (slightly-less than) half of the year, sunlight is at a premium. An early stroll is called for whenever the sun icon is shown in the weather forecast for the hour or two after sunrise. In any case, I wake before dawn; feed the cats, make coffee and off I go. No apologies for posting another picture taken at this spot for the second time this month; it really gets me. I am filled with gratitude for living here and being so close to nature.

The air is clear and fresh, the world feels bright and alive. Though it hasn't rained here for several days, my suede desert boots and thick socks are sodden with the early-morning dew.

Below: in a clearing between orchards and forest, three young female roe deer suddenly become aware of my presence.

Within an instant, they are off. Fortunately, I was prepared with my Nikkor 70-300mm zoom lens and the camera's shutter at the right setting to catch the motion.

On my short evening walk yesterday, I was accompanied by Czester (looking round), Arcturus and Pacyfik following in the rear. Unlike dogs, no leashes are needed. They'll follow me if they want to; if they don't – they won't. Today I was followed into the next-door forest by Céleste, her five kittens, Uncle Scrapper and Ol' Mr. Heaps. 

Left: the second morning walk, down ulica Słoneczna towards Chynów. Look down the road. As I walked west, I wish this road ran for twenty miles, a hundred. To walk and walk and walk. And stop for lunch and an ale before catching a train home.

Below: Chytown Central. The golden years. Cherish them while they're here. These will be said to have been the best of times. Peace, rising prosperity and good governance. It's almost midday; morning will very soon be over.

Below: Is this Taos, New Mexico? Are we on the the edge of the desert? No, this is ulica Główna, Chynów. Bungalow, ranch-style under a south-western sky. Beautiful.

Below: on the way from the orchard, an apple train of four wagons, each bearing three szkryniopalety, (palletised crates), each with a capacity of 300kg of apples. With the current prices as they are, at the lower end of the spectrum, say, 2zł per kilo wholesale, this lot represents at least 7,000 zł (around £1,400) of table apples. Retail – two-and-half times that.

Below: the vibe is Americana. The DK50 Chynów-Drwalew bypass to the left, the service/access road to the right. Passing under the main road is the Warsaw-Radom railway line.

Turning in and headed for home. A train is due. And indeed, here it its, on time, next stop Chynów, final stejszyn, Radom Główny. This is a Stadler FLIRT (Fast Light Innovative Regional Train), built in Siedlce. As a passenger, I prefer the NEWAG Impuls (also Polish-built); the button to open the door reacts instantly, sparing that moment when you worry if it's working or not on the FLIRT. 

Jakubowizna at its most sublime. The trees, the space, the sky, the light. A blissful prospect. A little bit further down the lane, and I'll be home to lunch.

As I write, Hipek is fast asleep in the cat tower, snoring the sweetest little snore... 

Bonus photo snapped on Sunday: a PZL M-18B Dromader water-bomber belonging the Poland's state forestry organisation, Lasy Państwowe.

This time three years ago:
By the light of the silvery moon

This time 14 years ago:
Łódź, city of culture

This time 15 years ago:
Nine days before the parliamentary elections

This time 16 years ago:
Melancholy mood in Łazienki park, early autumn

This time 19 years ago:
Flamenco sketches

Some thoughts about blogs and blogging

Yesterday, I met up with my fellow-bloggers from While not null (over from Australia, whose splendid initiative it was to meet) and Politics, Economy, Society to chat about the future of blogs and blogging in the current age.

Blogging has gone through several changes since we got started many years ago. In the early years, just about everyone had a blog, but within two years (on average, according to Google), 90% of those blogs had fizzled out. The next phase was the monetisation of blogs, search-engine optimisation. This led to square kilometres of slop being (manually at this stage) produced with the commercial aim of driving online traffic to advertisers.

At the same time, other forms of social media began to expand, elbowing attention away from a form requiring more attention to read and indeed to produce. Blogging began to ebb. 

Twitter was originally categorised as a 'microblog'; Facebook moved in that direction when it added status updates. Indeed, I see my own blogging output fell sharply as I signed up for those two. It fell (from 250-300 posts a year to around 170-200 posts a year), but has stayed consistently at that level since around 2014. Since then, I've remained on Facebook but have quit Twitter after Musk deformed it.

My posts today tend to be longer and more considered than in the early days, but over the nearly 20 years since I started, there's a consistent thread running through the blog.

My blog aims to show over time the passage of time. That's the purpose of the 'This time x years ago' feature at the bottom of each post. Searchable memory of ordinary things – how they looked before they changed; the ever-shifting  texture of reality. What the railway used to look like, when the snow arrived, what local shops existed, what people drove, how the landscape changed, how a road looked like before all those new houses came. What seems mundane now won't in 2046.

I can now see just how far Poland has progressed since I started blogging, less than three years after joining the EU. Today, I can identify the tipping point at which Poland ceased being a post-communist hardship posting and became a normal country. It was the day I travelled from Warsaw to Kraków in a day and everything worked out fine – November 2014 ('Poland – it works!')

My blog is an authentic voice, increasingly rare on an internet in which so much prose has been professionalised, optimised, monetised or, now, AI-smoothed. My photography is there to prevent the blog becoming merely a diary of opinions. Over the years, thousands of photographs build up a visual record of Warsaw and southern Mazowsze which would be difficult to reconstruct retrospectively.

My old question about 'am I a generalist or specialist' is being settled; over the years a pattern is emerging; the topics I like to write about, those I tend to steer clear of (politics being one). 

In an age of AI-generated content, where writing style is becoming samey ("Not this. Not this. Not this. But this. And this is quietly important"), authenticity is all important. Today, synthetic, auto-generated text has led to the collapse of commercially driven blogs. This has cleared the ground for blogging to re-emerge purely on aesthetic, essayistic and archival terms. And this is where this blog fits.

Having been freed from the expectation of being mass-market commerce, I hope that the blog has established its place as a distinct literary and visual format and will survive into the future in the way that radio and cinema survived TV and TV has survived the internet.

Today I noticed that next year, Easter falls on 28 March. This means my Lenten cycle of blog posts will be finished before 1 April, being the 20th anniversary of this blog. The event will be marked with a very special post and a revamp with some new features.

This time last year:
Last evening in shirt sleeves?

This time two years ago:
Anomalous landscapes amid local forest

This time six years ago:

W(h)ither the DK50?

This time seven years ago:
A change in the weather

This time eight years ago:
Zamek Topacz classic car museum

This time 11 years ago:
Curry comes to Jeziorki
[It didn't stay long. Decor matters!]

This time 13 years ago:
Why we should all try to use less gas

This time 13 years ago:
Polish supermarket chain advertises on London buses

This time 18 years ago:
Well-shot pheasants