Mid-Jan town-and-country pictorial catch-up

Below: I love this photo - it's showing that Poland works. We see a new train arriving at a modernised station - on time. Sułkowice, 14 January; the 15:41 service for Radom Główny is here to take me one stop down the line to Chynów after buying ingredients for cooking a large barszcz ukraiński. Fare was 2.73zł with my 30% over-60s discount. However, it's 3.90zł full price, or 74p, for the 2.8km journey. Meanwhile in England, a ticket from West Ealing to Ealing Broadway is £2.90 for a 1.3km journey, nearly eight times more expensive per km. And average wages in Poland are slightly more than half of what they are in the UK.

"A city clerk turned countryman again,
And linked to town by fast electric train"

Below: Warsaw skyline just after sunset from the new footbridge at Warsaw West (W-wa Zachodnia) station. Most of the skyscrapers you see here were built in the last 15 years. A few more will pop up - then a pause, while we figure out where we would want to work from. The station is finally catching up, although the modernisation work will be entering its third year, and much still to be done.

Below: looking west along Aleje Jerozolimskie towards W-wa Zachodnia. A stream of motorists contribute to climate change. Offices to the right, apartment blocks to the left. A brief window during which there are few clouds in the sky.

Below: Plac Zawiszy looking along ulica Grójecka. The Sobieski hotel is to the left.

Below: back in the country - walking through the forest one day last week, I could hear an incessant tapping in the trees above me and knew it must be a woodpecker - indeed it was!

Below: a drainage ditch winds through the forest between Dąbrowa Duża and Dobiecin. Just round the corner from here, I'm walking along a fire-break and two adult female deer run across my path, about 50m away. Shy, elusive, elegant beings - hunting them should be banned.

Below: the path that leads past the small settlement of Kozłów, situated in a clearing surrounded by forest. Which, I am sad to report, the villagers seem to be using as a rubbish tip.

Below: back on track - the road from Chynów station to my działka (turn right at the bottom). Note the white rectangle at the base of the telecoms mast - that's a distant office block. Can't work out whether it's in Piaseczno or further away in Warsaw.

The weather has been dull and overcast with occasional rain. As I write, Sunday 15 January at three pm, it's 6.1C outside. "Rain off and on," says my laptop.  First half of January and not so much as a snowflake, and no frost. Another two-and-half to three months to go before spring bursts on the scene.

It's now half past five and it's now 6.7C outside. Meanwhile, this time last year, it was peak winter...

This time last year:
Winter at its zenith

This time three years ago:
Signals from space

This time four years ago:
Ice - proceed with utmost care

This time five years ago: 
In which I see a wild boar crossing the frozen ponds

This time six years ago:
Communicating the government's case in English

This time eight years ago:
Thinking big, American style. Can Poles do it?

This time nine years ago:
Inequality in an age of economic slowdown 

This time ten years ago:
The Palace of Culture: Tear it down?

This time 12 years ago:
Conquering Warsaw's highest snow mounds

This time 13 years ago:
Flashback on way to Zielona Góra

This time 14 years ago:
Ursynów, winter, before sunrise