Photo round-up of the week

A busy week - a quick catch up from Jeziorki, Warsaw and Gdynia. Below: progress on ul. Karczunkowska's viaduct - will it be ready and open by the end of June, or will yet another deadline slip?

Below: what on earth is an Air Belgium Airbus A340 doing over Warsaw? Turns out its been leased by LOT Polish Airlines to stand in for one of its Dreamliner fleet that's currently undergoing routine maintenance. Last October I snapped an A340 from Maltese airline Hi Fly stepping in for another Dreamliner.

Below: the new face of Nowa Iwiczna - new station, new signage, new(ish) houses, still displaying 1990s-style pasteloza ('pastelosis'). The whole thing fits together well; my tastes are not offended. It would have been even nicer for the houses to have had another floor, raising them a bit higher above the platforms.

Left: the Błękitny Wieżowiec ('Blue Skyscraper') on Plac Bankowy. It stands on the site of the Great Synagogue of Warsaw, blown up by the Germans in 1943. Construction of the skyscraper began in 1965, but was suspended shortly after the main structure was erected. Work resumed in 1988 and was completed in 1991. The facade, made of reflective float glass (the first in Warsaw), reflects the blue sky on clear days, giving rise to the building's name. The skyscraper is 120m high and has 28 storeys. Currently owned by UK firm First Property Group, managing part of the Universities Superannuation Scheme - the pension fund for British professors and lecturers.

Right: the Palace of Culture seen from the base of the podium where communist dignitaries would take the salute during military march-pasts and 1st May parades. Now Plac Defilad functions as an open-air long-distance coach station, lacking the amenities (and it must be said, the smells) of Warsaw's Zachodni coach station. The temporary structures at the north end of Pl. Defilad have all been pulled down; we still await the rebuilding of Dom Meblowy Emilia to the north of this space.

Below: Varso tower (cranes, blue sheeting around uppermost stories) nears the half-way mark (I can count around 25 floors - it will end up having 53). Snapped from 22nd floor of Rondo ONZ 1 tower.

Below: back to Jeziorki. 06:50, Friday, 8 March, International Women's Day - and someone has decorated the Trombity bus shelter with drawings of flowers in the frost and dust.

Below: the major water retention and drainage project halfway down the line between W-wa Dawidy and W-wa Jeziorki. Nearing completion, but still a lot of finishing work to do.

Below: on the site of the former ballast mountain (land owned by PKP PLK), a new hill has arisen, this time made from spoil from various earthworks around here.

Below: on Tuesday night I arrived in Gdynia for a conference, and I had just enough time over lunch to pop out and snap the ORP Błyskawica, on which my late father-in-law served as artillery officer. Good to see the ship - now a museum - looking so well!

The Błyskawica played a major part in beating off a Luftwaffe attack that would have devastated the port of Cowes on the Isle of Wight on 4-5 May 1942.

This time last year:
Do the laws of nature govern or describe our universe?

This time six years ago:
A selfless faith

This time seven years ago:
Ul. Profesorska after the remont

This time eight years ago:
Lent kicks off again, for the 20th year in a row for me

This time nine years ago:
Half way through Lent

This time 11 years ago:
Spring much closer