Jeziorki mid-January catch-up

A brief walk around the manor, making the most of the weak sunshine that appeared today. Sundry snaps below... Starting off with the railway scene - as on 1 January, PKP Cargo is leasing an elderly diesel loco from Tracktec Logistics (below). I like the midnight blue (almost black) colour scheme. This is TEM2-016, built in the USSR over 42 years ago, passing W-wa Dawidy station. It is hauling a short (20 wagons) train of coal from Okęcie sidings to Siekierki power station.

Below: the train passes, on its way along the non-electrified track that turns off from the Warsaw-Radom line just past Nowa Iwiczna station.

Down the line at W-wa Jeziorki, the viaduct that will take ul. Karczunkowska over the tracks is beginning to take shape (below), between the 'up' platform (from which the photo was taken) and the 'down' platform, in the distance to the left. Three rectangular support pillars are rising out of the ground, at present as steel rods, awaiting the poured concrete.

Below: viewed from ul. Karczunkowska, one can get an idea of the viaduct's alignment. There will be bus stops at the apex of viaduct, one on either side of the roadway, serving the station with stairs (and wheelchair lifts) down to the platforms.

More infrastructural news: there's a fair amount of water/sewerage work going on around ul. Trombity. On ul. Dumki, new asphalt marks where recent excavations have been completed.

Below: filthy smoke belches out of a house's chimney on ul. Dumki. The high pressure system over Warsaw presses the smoke back down to ground level; it rolls across the road, across the grass and over to the pond.

The combination of cold temperatures, high pressure and burning crap is damaging to human and indeed animal health. This needs to stop.

Below: not a Soviet rocket launcher, but  well-boring drill. This is parked up on the piece of land on ul. Trombity earmarked for a pumping station to pump sewage from a new sewer serving the top end of the road with the existing sewer, down which effluent can then gravitationally flow into the main sewer running along ul. Karczunkowska.

More local infrastructure news; in October I wrote here about the competition to draw up master plans for a new estate for 8,000 people beyond the Biedronka store off of ul. Karczunkowska. This was announced by state-owned property bank BGK Nieruchomości. 48 architectural studios submitted projects for the 15-hectare site. The winner will be announced on 12 March. This estate of 3,000 homes is part of the government's flagship Mieszkanie + programme; the first tenants are to move in some time in 2021, said TVN Warszawa early last month.

However, since then, there's been a change of government; the Ministry of Construction and Infrastructure is no more. It is said that new prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki will focus much energy on making Mieszkanie+ work. Still, a new ministry needs to be created, secretaries of state, under-secretaries of state, department heads etc must be appointed - this takes time. Will the 2021 deadline be met?

On to wildlife matters. The mild freeze continues with sub-zero temperatures since Thursday night. The ponds are icing over again, this time the freeze is forecast to linger for more than just the two days the last one did (8/9 Jan). The swan family will get cold feet...

There are still patches of open water here and there, but they will ice over. Last year, when this happened (on 1 January), the swans departed. 

But I'm worried about one of the cygnets - I saw this one alone (below), a few hundred metres from its parents and siblings, on 7 January. Was it ill? Since then, I've seen the swan family three times, each time two adults and just four cygnets. Has this one died, or is it alone, ill, in the rushes across on the western banks of the ponds?

Final shot - not a good one on account of the long shutter speed and zoom - the two goats of ul. Kórnicka out and about. With the new football pitch taking up a lot of their grazing grounds, they seek new grass to nibble on the other side of the road.

Despite the light frost (-2C for over 24 hours), the ice on pond is nowhere near safe to walk on. Several more days and nights needed yet before it's like it was this time last year...

This time last year:
On ice

This time two years ago:
Tweeting and blogging

This time four years ago:
The sad truth about the pavement for Karczunkowska

This time eight years ago:
A haul of wintery wonderfulness

This time nine years ago:
Optimal way to work?

This time ten years ago:
Highest point in Jeziorki 
(photos of the Rampa before demolition)