Friday, Warsaw, October

Parking and riding from Jeziorki today. In the distance, you can see that the roadworks connected with extending the city's sewerage system are still going on; as a result traffic cannot turn into ul. Karczunkowska, so the parkers and riders at W-wa Jeziorki station are far fewer than before the roadworks started in June. Despite the sunshine, much cooler than yesterday (+12C rather than that weird +24C we had).

Economic hard times means that we get to business meetings by bus (free with my day ticket)and not taxi (40 zł+ return). Above: Waiting for a city centre-bound 171 on ul. Rozbrat on Powiśle. Autumn colours still to reach their finest.

Meeting over, back to the office, along ul. Nowogrodzka. Suddenly the Palace of Culture rears out along ul. Jana Pankiewicza (right). Its vistas like this that its creators intended - the stamp of Soviet dominance visible from near and far. Today the building is not as threatening as it once was, but still; it is a strong echo of an age of repression.

And onto ul. Marszałkowska to await a bus back to the office. The sight of the autumn sun streaming through the leaves as they turn from green to gold prompts this photo (left).

Homeward bound at the end of the working day. It is a kilometre and half from the office to W-wa Powiśle (just under a mile); 15 minute's walk or two stops on the 162 bus. From here, there are two conveniently timed trains back to Jeziorki, one at ten to six, one at 11 past six. Both are scheduled to take just 30 minutes. Below: first stop after Powiśle is W-wa Śródmieście, a station, that like Earls Court underground station in London, seems to be eternally in a state of refurbishment.