Poland works at Christmas

Three public holidays in a row, for the first time. Christmas Eve became a statutory day off work this year, along with Christmas Day and the day known in Britain as Boxing Day (referred to here more prosaically as Drugi dzień świąt ('second day of the holidays'). Below: sunrise, as seen from my kitchen window, on Christmas Day, a few minutes before eight.

Normally, I'd have stayed over, but (again for the first time ever) there's six cats at home that need feeding, so on each of the three public holidays, I travelled between Chynów and Jeziorki and back again with Koleje Mazowieckie. All my six trains arrived on time; the ticket app worked faultlessly (together with banking app for payment); there was no rowdiness among the passengers. The train was neither crowded nor empty (about the same passenger numbers as you'd expect on weekdays outside of rush hours). Many people had suitcases or rucksacks. 

Each of my six train journeys took 24 minutes (the 35km journey by car takes around 45 minutes using about two litres of petrol). And given that one litre of 95-octane petrol costs the same as my train ticket (with senior's discount and annual Warsaw travel card), there's no sense in driving whatsoever. It's twice as expensive. Plus, I can drink, which, let's face it, is a good reason to avoid the car at the festive season.

Compare the situation in the UK. This is the message from National Rail: "There will be no National Rail services on Christmas Day as usual this year. On Boxing Day most train operators will have no service – however, there will be a very limited train service operated by a small number of train operators." Given the far larger percentage of non-Christian workforce in the UK than in Poland, it surprises me that public transport grinds to a complete halt in Britain, whilst in Poland it's working well. By leaving public transport to operate across the Christmas holiday, seasonal travel problems are diluted and folk aren't forced into cars.

Poland gets on with it. The shops have been shut for the three days, not a problem with a little forethought, but a lack of public transport would be a hindrance. The Christmas timetables were basically a Sunday service minus a handful of trains, but essentially an hourly service was maintained throughout. Over the three days, I received five alerts via email from Koleje Mazowieckie that some train or another was delayed or cancelled on my line. However, four out of those five were either south of Radom or east of Czachówek Wschodni, so they would not have affected my travel. 

Having said that, coming back from town on the night of Friday 19 December there was a massive delay (one train was 85 minutes late, my own one home was 20 minutes late); this was caused by a driver crashing a car into the level-crossing barriers south of Ustanówek station. As my delayed train crawled south from Ustanówek, we passed several fire engines on either side of the tracks, blue lights flashing in the cold night. Below: a Góra Kalwaria-bound train passes the scene of the previous night's hold-up, Saturday 20 December.

Below: a seasonal photo of Czester the Czonker who has occupied an empty box of tangerine oranges.

Back to normal tomorrow, fortunately I still have plentiful supplies of cat food but I am right out of fresh fruit and veg.

This time three years ago:|
Part I of the Long Review of 2022

This time four years ago:
S7 extension Section A walked end to end

This time six years ago:
Eighty-five chains to Hazelwood Station

This time seven years ago:
Christmas round-up

This time nine years ago:
Derbyshire at Christmas

This time ten years ago:
Across the High Peaks

This time 11 years ago:
Derbyshire's rolling landscapes

This time 12 years ago:
Our Progress Around the Sceptr'd Isle 

This time 13 years ago:
Out and about in Duffield

and...
Christmas Break

This time 14 years ago:
Boxing Day walk in Derbyshire

This time 15 years ago 

Derbyshire in the snow

This time 17 years ago:

Derbyshire in the sunshine

This time 18 years ago:

Derbyshire in the drizzle

Sylvia Bossack

I wake up and look at the bedside clock. It's 03:00. As I return to the waking state, a name pops into my stream of consciousness – Sylvia Bossack. The spelling is exactly like that; not Sylwia Bosak (the usual Polish spelling), but Sylvia with a v, Bossack, double s, a, c, k. 

I jot down the name in the dream diary that I keep by my bed, have a wee, and go back to sleep. In the morning, I google the name and find one – just one – result. 

Here we go. Sylvia Bossack, the daughter of Sol (Solomon) and Anna Bossack, born Kings County, New York, on 1 August 1918. By the time of the 1940 census, she was living with her parents in Brooklyn, her profession was stenographer. She marries in 1941, to one Herman J. Siegel, an order clerk. She dies in Florida on 20 December 2004 outliving her husband by 12 years.

Why should the name of this entirely random person pop into mind? At three o'clock in the morning on Christmas Eve?

I am no stranger to the phenomenon of hypnagogia and hypnopompia – the mental state as you drift in and out of sleep. Strange yet familiar thought, visions, concepts pass through your stream of consciousness – catch them. Note them down. Do they mean something? Do they relate to something?

I am thinking of my past dreams and flashbacks, that have for decades pointed me towards the US of the 1930s, '40s and '50s. Did my consciousness once inhabit the body of someone who knew Sylvia Bossack? Was Sylvia Bossack (by then Sylvia Siegel), one of the girls in this story? She would have been in her late 20s/early 30s back then. [Below: ChatGPT illustrates the scene from the story.]

I ask ChatGPT about hypnopompic phenomena: "Hypnopompic wakefulness is the transition state between sleep and full waking, occurring as you come out of sleep (the mirror image of hypnagogia, which is falling asleep). In this state, the brain is no longer dreaming in the usual sense, not yet running its full 'reality-checking' systems, while still allowing imagery, words, and associations to surface freely. It typically lasts seconds to a few minutes". Hypnopompic wakefulness and hypnagogia are two sides of the same neurological coin. Hypnagogia = falling asleep. Hypnopompia = waking up. They are mirror transition states on either side of sleep, and they share many of the same cognitive features."

ChatGPT also offers this useful metaphor: "Think of sleep as a tunnel. Hypnagogia: you’re watching ideas drift into the tunnel; hypnopompia: you step out of the tunnel holding something you didn’t notice picking up. Same tunnel. Different direction."

So why name? And why the precision as to the name? I have had names 'served up to me' on numerous occasions before; sometimes the name is so common that googling results in hundreds or thousands or hits – or else a name with zero hits. Maybe this is why I was offered the spelling? This time, a name with just the one hit, but the precise spelling given in the dream/wakefulness state pointed me to the target straight away..

This time six years ago:
10,000 paces through Duffield, Derbyshire

This time ten years ago:
Sizewell B from 20,000ft

This time 12 years ago:
The start of the annual pilgrimage

This time 14 years ago:
We flew into Manchester that year...

This time 15 years ago:
Christmas Eve in England

This time 16 years ago:
Washing the snow away

This time 17 years ago:
Traffic at 38,000 ft

Solstice, and the metaphysical meaning of Christmas

Today marks Winter Solstice, the shortest day, the longest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere (home to 87% of humans). But, as with Equinox and Equilux, the story is complex. The year's earliest sunsets are already behind us, whilst the year's latest sunrises are still to come. Sunset today was already two minutes later than the earliest ones; but the next sunrise will be two minutes earlier than the latest ones. 

Here in Chynów, the earliest that the sun set was 15:24. It had set at this time for eight days in a row, from 9–16 December. The latest that the sun will rise is 07:43, and it will rise at this time for seven days in a row, from 27 December to 2 January. So today, Winter Solstice, is indeed the shortest day – but only because of net daylight length, and not (as most people tend to think) because the earliest sunset coincides with the latest sunrise.

The word 'solstice' comes from the Latin meaning 'the sun is standing'; the difference in day length being minimal from one day to the next, both at this time of year and in late June at the summer solstice. Here we have the earliest sunrise over several days (at 04:15 for eight days in a row) occurring before the latest sunset (at 20:59 for six days in a row). Source: TimeAndDate.com

Below: I ask ChatGPT to whip up a graphic to illustrate the above...

[AI gets it wrong with dates of earliest sunset and latest sunrise]

Now, let's go back to prehistory, when early hominids first gazed up at the heavens and began to be aware of the progression of the sun through the heavens and making the connection with the seasons. The turning of the year is a miraculous time. Darkness begins to encroach, starting imperceptibly at first after the Summer Solstice, then accelerating around Equinox, before slowing to a halt at the Winter Solstice. And at that point – again, imperceptibly at first – Light begins to prevail. By 25 December, sunset is already five minutes later than at its earliest. That's noticeable, even to people without clocks. Time for celebration! 

The Twelve Days of Christmas, ending on the Twelfth Night (5 January), which preceded the Three Kings feast on 6 January, coincided in north-west Europe with agriculture's dead season, when there was no work in the fields and in any case the ground was usually frozen solid. By the time Christmas was therefore officially over, sunset was quarter of an hour later than the earliest.

It makes me think how lucky we are here on our planet. Take a rocky exoplanet like 82 G. Eridani d. Located 19 light years from earth, it takes 650 days (1.8 years) to orbit around its sun. It is located at an average orbital distance that puts it within the habitable zone, with liquid water. However, due to its eccentric orbit, its distance from its sun varies greatly. At its longest separation from its sun, 82 G. Eridani d finds itself beyond the habitable zone, and the irradiation received decreases sevenfold compared to when it is closest. Although well over a half of its orbit is spent within the comfortably habitable zone, 3% of its orbit (around 20 days) is at a distance where water on the surface would freeze solid. Imagine Christmas there, celebrating the thaw as the planet begins to get nearer to its sun.

The metaphysical meaning of Christmas is the triumph of light over darkness. A temporary victory in the eternal struggle between entropy (the second law of thermodynamics, which states that all things tend to disorder, that energy dissipates, that matter decays) and syntropy (life, consciousness and the unfolding of the Cosmos). And this relates to the metaphysical meaning of Easter – the triumph of life over death.

[Postscript: I found this excellent discussion on the Religion for Breakfast podcast with Dr Tom Schmitt, in which he postulates that the early Christian church could have settled the date of Jesus's birth on 25 December after marking the conception of Jesus as 25 March, which coincided with both Passover and the Vernal Equinox. These 'cosmic signposts' meant that the nine months gestation of Jesus would result in a 25 December birth date.] 

This time two years ago:
At the nadir
(Covid, day eight)

This time three years ago
Last good day of 2022

This time four years ago:
The Year of the Phenomenon

This time six years ago:
Sentimental stroll – streets of my childhood

This time seven years ago:
Streets of my childhood
[I did the same walk exactly a year earlier]

This time eight years ago:
Jeziorki – swans and bonus shots

This time ten years ago:
A conspiracy to celebrate

This time 11 years ago:
The Mythos and the Logos in Russia

This time 12 years ago:
Going mobile – my first smartphone

This time 13 years ago:
The world was meant to end today 
[It may not have ended, but it was a tipping point in history.]

This time 14 years ago:
First snow – but proper snow?

The time 15 years ago: 
Dense, wet, rush hour snow

This time 16 years ago:
Evening photography, Powiśle

This time 17 years ago:
The shortest day of the year

This time 18 years ago:
Bye bye borders – Poland joins Schengen

Letters to an Imaginary Grandson (X)

Whom can you trust? I would argue that having as a default position "trust everyone until it turns out they can't be trusted" is better than "trust no one until you find out that they can be trusted". It is, of course, again a matter of setting the sliders between two extremes, but erring on the side of trust than distrust.

The first position doesn't mean you shouldn't keep your guard up; it just means that you don't unduly waste time and resources checking that someone is trustworthy. 

Start off with the fact that the majority of people are generally of good will and can be trusted. Showing signs of mistrust to someone can be insulting to them.

The percentage of dodgy people in this world isn't overwhelming (even though this differs widely from culture to culture). There are psychopaths, narcissists and Machiavellian types (the so-called 'Dark Triad' of personality); you should learn how to spot these people and avoid them and dealing with them.

The issue of trust is critical to the smooth running (or not) of society. The cost and friction of living and working in a low-trust society came home to me when moving to Poland in the late 1990s. The business community had not yet learnt win-win; transactions were adversarial (one side would win, the other would lose). So armies of lawyers were needed to draft lengthy contracts covering all eventualities in case the business deal went wrong. But over time, as Poles learnt how to navigate the regulated free market, contracts simplified or were just replaced with purchase orders.

Social trust can be tested. Drop a lot of (fake) credit cards and see what percentage is handed in to the bank and what percentage is used in attempts to make a contactless payment. Drop a wallet with contact details inside as well as cash and see whether it's returned, with cash, to its owner. Or simply ask people whether they trust their neighbours. Then there is also institutional trust; typically this is reported in surveys as being much lower than social trust even in high-income democracies. Institutional trust is easier to dent, especially in the age of social media. Politicians on the take – it's easy to cast baseless aspersions. 

Whom do I tend to mistrust? I'd start with salespeople. Especially those on commission. If you are aware of their agenda, and their need to stretch the truth, and you make them aware (even in a lighthearted way) that you are aware, you'll get stung less often. Salespeople are trying to get you to buy things that are of questionable necessity. Companies with dodgy salespeople are ones that engender lower corporate trust. How often do you the consumer read the terms and conditions? If you were to do so scrupulously at every transaction, you'd soon become bogged down in bumph. AI can help here – if you can trust AI. The less shit you want, the less of a target you are for avaricious and lying salespeople.

Build trust among those around you by keeping your word; be punctual, do what you'll say you'll do; do it on time and to a high standard. As a habitual behaviour, this will make you trusted and retained as an employee, contractor or business partner. But give people a reason to distrust you, and the slightest excuse for dispensing with your services will be found. 

Trust is the lubricant that keeps societies ticking over smoothly. When it starts breaking down, societies function poorly, everyone lives in constant fear of being cheated and spends time protecting their interests – doing things they wouldn't need to do in a higher-trust society.

Assess people in terms of whether they can keep their word. If they can't, repeatedly, if they have a tendency to bend the truth, quietly walk away from them.

This time last year:
Deny, distract, dilute (the UK and US drone/UAP flaps)

This time two years ago:
Pain and questions of loss

This time three years ago:
No true beauty without decay

This time four years ago:
James Webb Space Telescope launch

This time six years ago:

Driving the Silk Road reviewed 

This time eight years ago:
Snapshots of Lublin dressed for Christmas

This time nine years ago:
The best of Warsaw's Christmas illuminations

This time ten years ago:
Changes on ul. Baletowa

This time 11 years ago:
UK migration – don't blame the Poles

This time 12 years ago:
Jacek Hugo Bader's White Fever: A Journey to the Frozen Heart of Siberia

This time 14 years ago 
Thoughts upon the death of the Dear Leader

This time 15 years ago:
Global warming or climate change?

New cycle provision at Chynów station

The speed is amazing. It wasn't here yesterday evening when I returned from town – and now lookie here! Eight brand-new bicycle stands. Installed this morning. Można? Można! I had complained about the lack of sufficient cycle provision earlier this year, when I saw 17 bikes chained up at this side of the station , and only four stands. Each one is for two bikes, so the remainder were left tied to the fence (right) or to the handrails going down into the pedestrian tunnel. A nuisance for many, a hazard for a few.

The new stands are marvellous news, and a sign of a new commitment from rail infrastructure operator PKP PLK. I photographed the sign below in Warka station two years ago. The answer to the problem of where to leave your bike wasn't to put up more bike stands, but to threaten cyclists with confiscation of their property should they chain their bikes incorrectly.

Attention!

The fastening of bicycles to barriers is prohibited.

Vehicles left will be removed at the owner's costs.

And as the number of cycle-using passengers grow, so PKP PLK should continue to provide more and more stands. Then we get a virtuous circle. (Motorists – apart from anything else, driving your car ultra-short distances twice a day is really bad for internal-combustion engines. Walk or cycle. Fifteen minutes there, fifteen back – good daily exercise.)

And work on the new pavements connecting Jakubowizna to ulica Wspólna and ul. Wspólna to ul. Wolska is already under way (below). I am really impressed at the tempo. I presume that once the pavement's been laid, the next job will be putting down a hard surface on the station car park (the former goods yard). Not too bad today, but when it rains, it's gloopy mud from edge to edge.

Below: recording another new bit of infrastructure – newly laid asphalt on the lane leading off Jakubowizna's main street. This part of Jakubowizna is known locally as 'Działki'.

This time last year:
Poland's sleeper-train services for 2025

This time two years ago:
UFO/UAP disclosure – current state

This time 10 years ago:
A tiny bit of pavement for Karczunkowska

This time 13 years ago:
Welcome to the machine, Mr Kaczyński

This time 15 years ago:
'F' is for 'Franco', not 'Fascist' [Prescient post!]

This time 17 years ago:
Christmas lights: all in the best possible taste

This time 18 years ago:
Letter from Russia

The kittens at six months

Kittens become fully-grown mature cats at the age of 12 months. So here we are at the halfway stage, although I no longer consider them to be kittens; rather – they should be considered feline adolescents. How are they all doing? Well, here they are all, one by one...

Below: don't dismiss Arcturus as 'ordinary', 'plain' or 'boring'. He does stuff I've seen no other cat do. He is handy with his paws. He can reach into jars to extract the last of the tuna, he can pull bowls of cat-food towards him, away from his siblings, he can use his claws to bring chunks of food to his mouth rather than just shoving his face into the bowl; he can dip his paw into milk and then suck it from between his fingers. He can also signal with his paws that he wants to be let into the house. I am considering to leave him unneutered as an experiment, to see if his handiness will evolve in future generations. Weight at six months: 3.1kg.

Below: dear, sweet Scrapper – he has mellowed out since early kittenhood. No longer looking for fights with his siblings, he's much more relaxed. He hasn't lost his round-eyed curiosity, and is keen to see what I'm up to. He'll be first onto the kitchen worktops if he's aware that I'm engaged in food preparation. The others are less interested. Scrapper is first to follow me on our walks to the forest next door, and looks out for his siblings. He knows when one's outside the front door wanting to be let in – he will approach me, engage in eye contact, and walk over to the door. Invariably, there's a sibling waiting outside. The natural 'leader of the pack'. Weight at six months: 3.3kg. Not particularly affectionate, but a loyal companion to all.

Below: La Contessa – Céleste, as glamorous and beautiful as ever. She's the lightest of the five, weighing a mere 2.9kg (Czester, see below, weighs 4.2kg). Google Gemini puts this down to her Norwegian Forest Cat genes, a breed that has a bigger male/female size difference than your average house cat. She is indeed 'a very healthy size' for a six-month-old female with 'Wegie' genes (they should be between 2.3kg and 3.2kg at this age). She is likely to grow more slowly than other breeds (and hopefully not hit reproductive maturity for a while yet).

Below: Czester the Chonker, a massive 4.2kg at six months; a fully-grown male adult house cat averages 4kg at maturity (12 months+). Google Gemini AI tells me "he is going to be a tank", and could top out at 8kg. Czester is not a voracious eater, although he has a tendency to be lazy (staying in when everyone else is out). Nor is he fat – I can feel his ribs, he's not flabby. And he is most affectionate.

Don't dismiss Pacyfik as 'ordinary', 'plain' or 'boring' either! He does something no other sibling does, and he does this day in, day out, every single day, uninterrupted, for the past two months or so since the first time he did this. When I do my daily back-extension exercises on my ZemBord™, Pacio will stroll into the front room and run around me as I rock backward and forward; he'll head-bump me, fall over sideways in front of me, or paw at my head. He'll be purring loudly all the while. And when I've finished exercising, he'll jump onto the ZemBord and I'll spin him round (like a record, below), before rocking him to and fro. No other kitten has ever joined me for this, but for Pacio and me, it is our daily ritual. He's not missed it once, and neither have I. And I love him for it! A most affectionate fellow. Weight at six months: 3.2kg.

Below: Wenus (Nuś-Nuś), beloved mother. After her escapade the week before last (six days away from home), she's not wandered off again, although she will spend the nights outdoors (it's still not freezing outside, despite it being mid-December!) Here she is in a very typical indoor pose – vigilantly monitoring the behaviour of her brood. Not knowing the circumstances of her birth, I can only guess that Wenusia is about 14 months old. 

This time four years ago:|
Homeland Elegies by Ayad Akhtar

This time six years ago:
Britain for Christmas
[not been since]

This time nine years ago:
IT frustrations

This time 10 years ago:
Wałbrzych's Gold Train - the dream ends

This time 12 years ago:
Kitten football

This time 13 years ago:
The drainage of Jeziorki

This time 14 years ago:
The Eurocrisis – what would Jesus do?

[Remember when the EU was about to fall apart, according the UK's Brexity media?]

This time 15 years ago:
Orders of magnitude

This time 16 years ago:
Jeziorki in the snow

This time 17 years ago:
Better news on the commuting front

This time 18 years ago:
I no longer recognise the land where I was born

Poland's sleeper train services: changes for 2026

With the new 2025/2026 railway timetable coming into effect today, there have been significant expansions to Poland’s night-train network. Having said that, there are reductions in the number of services with sleeper/couchette coaches. New international connection from southern Poland to Germany and Austria, while some internal routes in Poland have been extended.

The ongoing war in Ukraine has been a major driver behind the expansion of Poland's night-train services. Look at FlightRadar24.com's map of Ukraine, you'll see no civilian aviation overhead.  Ukrainian citizens wishing to travel internationally cannot do so safely through Belarus or Russia, and so must cross the border into Poland by road or rail. Polish railway stations close to the Ukrainian border – Przemyśl Główny and Chełm – now see vastly more cross-border traffic, many of those being Ukrainians wishing to head on further west by train.

So – this post is an overview of existing and new night train services, starting with those that connect Warsaw with the mountains and the sea...

Note the difference between a night train (one that travels at night) and a sleeper train (one that has specialised coaches allowing passengers to travel lying down on a bed. (All sleeper trains are night trains, but not all night trains are sleeper trains, as you will see below.)

 
The cheaper version of the sleeper is the couchette, which has six mixed-sex passengers to a compartment; you sleep lying down but clothed. A proper sleeper is either three-berth, two-berth or individual (really expensive!) accommodation. The two/three berth sleeper cabins are single-sex but couples/families can reserve cabins for themselves. 

Below: a two-berth sleeper cabin, as featured on IC (InterCity) services. The remaining TLK (Twoje Linie Kolejowe) service features old-school sleeper carriages for that nostalgia vibe. And less comfort.

Sleeper trains are 100% safe. They have just one door to the outside; there's a conductor/guard on duty all night at the end of each corridor, and cabins can be closed from the inside with a chain. I cannot, however, vouch for the security of non-sleeper coaches at night with such absolute certainty.

Sleeper trains from Warsaw/ passing through Warsaw

A major change to my favourite sleeper, the Uznam, in this year's timetable change, is the fact that it now runs east beyond Warsaw. The service to Świnoujście now goes all the way through to Chełm on the Ukrainian border via Lublin. This makes the journey 708km (440 miles) end to end. It also manages to hook round via Łódź, as well as calling in at Poznań and Szczecin, thus connecting five provincial capitals, enhancing its usefulness.

The IC 440 Uznam departs Chełm at 18:28, calling at Lublin at 19:22, Warsaw East at 21:34, (an hour earlier than in last year's timetable), then shortly after at Warsaw Central and Warsaw West. It passes Łódź Widzew at 23:35, Poznań Główny at 02:40, Szczecin Główny at 05:09 before finally arriving at Świnoujście at 06:37. Note: this train has no name westbound! Be careful when boarding the westbound IC 440, because this train splits at Poznań Główny. Some coaches go on to Szczecin and Świnoujście (at 03:10), but others head west to Berlin as the IC 430 (see below), leaving Poznań at 03:19. The night-train service to Berlin has no sleeper coaches. This service between Chełm and the German capital suggests that many of the passengers will be Ukrainians.

IC 82170 Uznam: Świnoujście – Chełm (dep. 21:30 arr. 09:26) is the return service. It passes through Warsaws West (05:45), Central and East, before heading on to Lublin and Chełm. The train is already in the platform well ahead of departure time, so passengers can board early and get themselves comfortable before it sets off. 

Taking the Uznam there and back from Warsaw in summer gives you the best part of 12 hours on the beach. With a hotel or apartment from Saturday to Sunday, you can get a full weekend of Baltic sun-and-sea, having left the office on Friday evening, to be back to the office first thing Monday morning. The extension to Chełm via Lublin (and indeed Otwock) will be great news for those in eastern Poland wishing to dip their toes in the Baltic. 

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No change with the Karkonosze, the sleeper + couchette services that runs from Warsaw to the Sudety mountains in the south-west, close to the Czech border. The Karkonosze runs all the way through to the resort town of Szklarska Poręba, though only in the winter timetable, terminating at Jelenia Góra in summer. This is another sleeper train that I've used many times, though never beyond Jelenia Góra.

IC 16170 Karkonosze: Warszawa Wschodnia – Szklarska Poręba Górna (dep. 23:36 arr. 07:53). The Karkonosze returns to the mountains, calling in at Łódź Widzew (01:05), Wrocław Główny (04:25), Wałbrzych Główny (05:58) and Jelenia Góra (06:46) along the way. 

IC 61170 Karkonosze: Szklarska Poręba Górna – Warszawa Wschodnia (dep. 20:19 arr. 06:15). Departing a bit earlier than in last year's timetable, the return service now arrives in Warsaw more than an hour later, which gives passengers more snooze-time on board. Taking this train lets skiers and hikers get a weekend-full of mountain air and get back before their offices open on Monday morning, having had a good sleep on the train. 

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There's a new Warsaw-Berlin night train, the IC 440 (no name, not good news)... with no sleeper coaches. Westbound, it departs from Chełm, at 18:48, passing through Warsaw's three stations, East, Central and West, between 21:34 and 22:21 including a 33-minute stop at Warsaw Central. It then proceeds at a leisurely pace through Łódź and onto Poznań, where it splits in two. Carriages go on to Świnoujście (as the IC 430, see below), the rest continues on to Berlin (re-named the EC 430 on crossing the border), arriving at Berlin-Charlottenburg at 06:27 (passing through Berlins Ost, Hbf and Zoo). Travelling all night sitting up is hell. Something for young people only. I suspect the main users of this service will be Ukrainian citizens who are expected to have limited travel budgets and enhanced resilience.

The eastbound EC 441 starts in Berlin-Gesundbrunnen, departing at 20:42, passing through Berlin-Lichtenberg before crossing the border into Poland (re-named the IC 441 as it does so). It reaches Poznań Główny after midnight, and here it waits an hour to hook up with coaches from the IC 82170 (see below). Some passengers will need to move to other coaches here. This train now heads onward through Łódź, Warsaw and Lublin, arriving at Chełm near the Ukrainian border at 09:26.

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IC 38170 Ustronie: Kraków Główny – Kołobrzeg (dep. 21:03 arr. 10:23). Year-round seaside-special for folks from Poland's south, calling at Kielce, Radom, Warsaw East and the Tri-City on its way to the resorts of Ustronie and Kołobrzeg. Full sleeper and couchette service. You can use this train as a nocturnal connection between Warsaw Central (dep. 01:53) and Gdańsk Główny (arr. 05:55, Gdynia 20 minutes later), though with four hours between the two cities, you'll not get quality sleep-time. The Ustronie also calls at Warka (01:07) and Piaseczno (01:27) on the way. Takes its time; 13 hours 20 minutes to cover 568km. 

IC 83170 Ustronie: Kołobrzeg – Kraków Główny (dep. 19:15, arr. 07:26). Passing through Warsaw Central at 03:25. The train is a useful nocturnal connection for Varsovians needing to be in Kraków for early business meetings. Departs Warka at 04:14 in time for breakfast in Kraków.

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TLK 35170 Karpaty: Zakopane – Gdynia Główna (dep. 21:53, arr. 08:40) From the mountains to the sea, direct, 867 km. Not upgraded to IC, so fans of old-school rolling stock can still experience the veneered wood, moquette upholstery and clunkiness. This is the last TLK sleeper train, so enthusiasts of the genre should make the most before its inevitable replacement by an IC service with modern coaches. The Karpaty also functions as another nocturnal sleeper train connection between Kraków, Warsaw and the Tri-City (calling in Kraków Główny at midnight, stopping at Warsaw Central at 04:36 for nearly half an hour before proceeding towards Gdańsk Główny at 08:13). The Karpaty now skips Piotrków Trybunalski, taking the CMK through Idzikowice after its stop in Częstochowa. 

TLK 53170 Karpaty: Gdynia Główna – Zakopane (dep: 19:22, arr: 06:02) On the way back from Gdynia to Zakopane, the Karpaty leaves Gdynia at an early hour for a sleeper service, passing through Warsaw Central at 23:23 and arriving in Kraków at 03:30. This means Krakovians can get home after a late night in the capital. The Polish mountains are connected to the Polish sea by night train again – but unlike the Szklarska Poręba service, this one runs all year round.

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Sleeper trains/night trains that avoid Warsaw

IC 83172 Podhalanin from Świnoujście (dep. 18:55) to Zakopane (arr. 08:33). A proper sleeper service with new-style sleeper and couchette options as well as seats. That's 13 hours, 38 minutes to cover 983km, passing through Szczecin, Poznań, Łódź Kaliska, Częstochowa and Kraków. Bring your own food – there's no restaurant carriage.

On the way back, the IC 38172 Podhalanin leaves Zakopane at 20:22 and arrives at Świnoujście at 09:21. Just under 13 hours. Again, sleeper accommodation, no food.

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The night-train connection between Świnoujście and Przemyśl, the north-west and south-east extremes of Poland takes a slightly different route as of this year's timetable change. It now calls in at Katowice, making it seven provincial capitals along the way – Rzeszów, Kraków, Katowice, Opole, Wrocław, Poznań and Szczecin. A long train journey (994km/618 miles).

The night services linking Poland's two diagonal opposites look complicated in the new timetable. Heading north-west from Przemyśl (dep. 18:54) to Świnoujście (arr. 06:07), the IC 430 train has sleeper carriages, but going south-east, from Świnoujście (dep. 21:30) to Przemyśl (arr. 09:11), it does not! The IC 82170 /IC 431 night train from Świnoujście to Przemyśl has lost is name (it was formerly the Przemyślanin) as well as its sleeper carriages. At Poznań (arr. 00:56), there's a change of rolling stock. There is now a couchette option, though only for disabled passengers; there are now air-conditioned coaches with first-class accommodation added to the train for the onward journey to Przemyśl. Presumably, if you have bought first-class tickets you'll need to move. This train pulls out of Poznań Główny at 01:26 as the IC 431. The decision to drop the sleeper option from Świnoujście to Przemyśl is weird and not a good sign.

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Another night train with no name and no sleeper carriages that connects Przemyśl and the seaside is the IC 33172. It leaves Przemyśl Główny at 20:07 and reaches the seaside resort of Ustka 1,107km away, at 09:22, calling at Kraków, Łódź Kaliska, Poznań, Koszalin and Słupsk. Ustka is about halfway between Kołobrzeg and Gdynia. 

The return, also without a sleeper option, is the IC 87172, which departs Ustka station at 18:05, reaching Poznań Główny at 22:20. Here it connects with the IC 83172 for the rest of the journey on to Przemyśl, where it arrives at 08:01. Another hell-train that I do not intend to take, ever. Unless sleeper carriages are added.

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The TLK Rozewie sleeper-train service from the seaside to the mountains has been ditched and replaced with the nameless IC 461 train from Gdynia Główna (dep. 21:57) to Szklarska Poręba Górna (arr. 07:53) travelling overnight but without sleeper or couchette coaches. Ten hours. 760km. Via Toruń, Bydgoszcz, Poznań, Wrocław, Wałbrzych and Jelenia Góra. Overnight. No lying down. Murder. Trójmiasto skiers; you have been warned.

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International sleeper-train services

Here, the most notable changes for this year's timetable are additional connections between Poland and western Europe. Check rozklad.pkp.pl for full details – too complex to include them here, given how the trains split up into different sections for different destinations.

EN Carpatia (new launch): route: Przemyśl – Rzeszów – Kraków – Munich (via Ostrava, Vienna, Salzburg). A new daily EuroNight service, linking southeast Poland directly with Bavaria and the Austrian Alps. Carries couchette and full sleeper coaches as well as seating. Coaches are added to provide direct links to Budapest and Bratislava.

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TLK Baltic Express has been upgraded this year to a provide permanent year-round daily overnight service (no longer just summer season), from Gdynia to Prague via Bydgoszcz, skipping Łódź in this year's timetable (to my daughter's displeasure, a client PKP has lost to Flixbus). The Baltic Express includes a sleeper-carriage service.

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EN Chopin: this classic train continues to run between Warsaw and Kraków then on to 1) Vienna and Munich, 2) Prague, and 3) Bratislava and Budapest, splitting into three once it crosses the Czech border (usually at Bohumín and Breclav). Includes high-standard sleepers (including deluxe cabins with showers), couchettes, as well as ordinary seating.

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EN Metropol: connecting Berlin to Budapest/Vienna, passing through southwestern Poland along the way (stopping at Rzepin/Zielona Góra/Wrocław/Racibórz). While often seen as a German or Hungarian train, it serves Polish passengers boarding in Silesia/Lubuskie heading to Berlin,Vienna or Budapest overnight.

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There are also a number of services connecting Poland with Ukraine. These remain a critical lifeline service. You may find details online from Chełm and Przemyśl stations.

Direct sleeper routes to/from Russia (Moscow/St. Petersburg) and Belarus remain suspended indefinitely. These all-sleeper coach services from Moscow and Minsk used to run on to Paris and Nice.

I suspect that next year's timetable update will see further expansions of Polish and international night-train network, and I hope that more sleeper coaches will be brought onstream. I would not wish anyone under the age of 35 to travel overnight slumped in an ordinary train seat. It has to be beds. Taking a sleeper train means you get hotel accommodation and delivery to your destination in one ticket. 

This time last year:
Slow progress, but the healing goes on

This time two years ago:
A mind-blowing dream

This time three years ago:
Utter, utter gorgeousness

This time four years ago:
Hoar frost and proper ice, Jeziorki

This time seven years ago:
Alcohol, servant not master

This time ten years ago:

Classic car quiz, 2015

This time 11 years ago:

Classic British Car Quiz, 2014

This time 12 years ago:

The poet's gift - an exploration into Why One Writes

This time 13 years ago:

Advertising H&M on Warszawa Centralna station

This time 14 years ago:

Jeziorki in the snow

This time 18 years ago:

Staying Underground: Piccadilly Circus

Chynów station – the clean-up begins

The pace of progress and improvement of infrastructure continues at pace. It is clear to me why Poland's economy is growing so fast – the nation is getting on with it!

I wrote in late-September about rail-infrastructure operator PKP PLK's Dworce Przyjazne Pasażerom ('passenger-friendly stations') project that would include Chynów station. By late-November, a contract had been signed between the local authority and a general contractor. And earlier this week, work got under way. Super fast! From project announcement to spades in the ground in less than three months! (In the UK this would be dragging on for years, with appeal courts upholding the rights of one householder to block the construction of a pedestrian crossing.)

The scope of work includes: laying down nearly one kilometer of new pavement from ul. Wspólna to ul. Wolska (brilliant!), new asphalt and (I hope) a pavement from the level crossing at Jakubowizna to ul. Wspólna (hurrah!), new parking spaces, including a 'Kiss & Ride' zone next to the station building, cleaning up the area around the railway station – demolishing three disused outbuildings opposite ul. Wspólna, removing the old fence, clearing undergrowth, and generally cleaning up the area between the station and level crossing. The vast number of empty vodka bottles and beer cans suggest that this was a popular hang-out for the local enthusiasts of outdoor drinking. 

Below: accommodation for station staff. It still looks inhabited... interesting to see whether it survives the bulldozer, and if so – will it be renovated? And if so, how will it look?

Below: the building in the foreground looks like an agricultural outhouse, in which the stationmaster's family kept livestock and farm equipment to tend the small plot adjoining their house. It was common for Polish stationmasters and other railway employees living in official railway housing to keep livestock. This practice was primarily a necessity for food self-sufficiency, though it faded away in the 1980s and '90s.

The area around the Chynów railway station has been a bit of a mess for years, and the contrast between the new platforms and the parking chaos outside is stark. A lack of parking spaces results in commuters  often parking in a way that obstructs access. There's also a lack of sufficient numbers of places to secure bicycles; these end up being tied to fences and handrails. Pedestrians have to put up with the discontinuity of pavements and unpaved access to platforms, which is particularly troublesome – and dangerous – in autumn and winter, what with the unlit road.

Below: the old goods yard forms a huge makeshift car-park, yet it is unasphalted/unpaved, and is currently ankle-deep in mud in many places. And there's no direct access from this car-park to the platforms, other than walking the long way around the station building. There should be a gate for passengers at the southern end of the platform (around the middle of the photo). This would encourage more local motorists to leave their cars here and take the train to town. In the meanwhile, rubble from the demolished outhouses and fencing is collected here prior to removal.

More semi-fast (przyspieszone) trains calling at Chynów would also boost that encouragement. Twenty-three minutes from here to Warsaw Służewiec station? That's amazing. We have four such trains into town in the morning, and four back from town in the evening. But the two semi-fast trains to Warsaw in the afternoon/evening don't stop here.

Currently, around 1,500 people use Chynów station on the average weekday, more than double the 600-700 passengers using it before the modernisation. So the adage "built it, and they will come" is true. Will work to further improve the station environs boost passenger numbers? I hope so...

What more's needed here? A small shop and café. The footfall from passing trade would make this location an attractive one for a local entrepreneur. A restaurant, maybe? But above all, a bus service that meets the trains and connects with Grójec, 18km to the west, stopping at the villages along the way.

But there's a heritage note to all this. The Warsaw-Radom line that passes through Chynów, was built in 1934; though the original platform has gone when the line was modernised, the station building and outbuildings were from the time. The warehouse by the goods siding went long ago, the goods siding itself was lifted in 2020. So some snaps are in order to catalogue what is about to be demolished. The price of progress.

Tomorrow: the 2026 railway timetable, with a sleeper-train focus.

This time last year:
The November/December 2024 UAP flap

This time two years ago:
Impressions of Zielona Góra

This time three years ago:
Kraków to Jakubowizna in the snow

This time four years ago:
Frustration for the local wozidupek community

This time five years ago:
Small local milestones, Chynów station

This time six years ago:

Brexit: what next?
[Britain's economy is screwed – that's what]

This time nine years ago:
Kick out against change - or accept it?

This time ten years ago:
Warwick University alumni meet in Warsaw

This time 11 years ago:
Pluses and minuses of PKP InterCity

This time 12 years ago:
When transportation breaks down

This time 17 years ago:
Full moon closest to Earth

Solving problems, not winning arguments

The by-election to choose a new wójt for gmina Chynów (leader of rural municipality council) resulted in an overwhelming victory for Piotr Bernaciak, the youngest of the three candidates – the one associated with neither PSL nor PiS. 

I was surprised by the turnout (57%) – astonishingly high for a local by-election – and by the scale of Piotr's victory (55.6% with the other candidates, Stanisław Mróz on 30.6% and Zbigniew Sobieraj on 13.8%). Local media had conducted an opinion poll which placed Mr Sobieraj first on 34% and the others on 30% each. My own observational polling (based on the number of banners hung out on fences) had Mr Mróz on first place.

But it's not just banners. Piotr Bernaciak was active on social media. Change is in the air, even in the Polish countryside. There seems to be a desire for a break with the old ways of doing things locally.

So hearty congratulations to Piotr Bernaciak, whom I'd met picking up litter, before the sudden death in September of the previous wójt, Tadeusz Zakrzewski, had triggered the by-election.

What I liked about Piotr's CV was the fact that this was a young man who has been active in local politics since the age of 18 and who was born in the gmina, in Sułkowice. He had also set up Stowarzyszenie Przyjaciół Gminy Chynów (the association of friends of the Chynów municipality), which organises those local clean-up events – I took part in three of them this year and Piotr was present at each one.

There's something inherently practical about local politics; it's about outcomes rather than worldviews. It's about getting things done, solving problems, rather than winning arguments or scoring party-political points. Listening to Polish Radio Trójka, I get sick listening to the perpetual mudslinging between representatives of political parties and simply switch the radio off when these dreadful bores take to the air. What does matter locally is practical stuff like pavements, water-treatment plants, street lighting, waste recycling and zoning/planning permission.

Local leaders (wójt, burmistrz or prezydent miasta depending on the size/population of the administrative unit) tend to stay on in power for many terms of office if they deliver development and order. Those that focus on ideology at the expense of practical achievements quickly get the boot. The previous wójt, Tadeusz Zakrzewski, was on his fourth term of office, for which he'd won 78% of the vote. He was well-liked because he'd been delivering tangible results since 2010.

Gmina Chynów has come a long way since I bought my działka here eight years ago. In fact, it had already been moving rapidly in the right direction before that. The fact that there was asphalt up the lane and proper drains rather than septic tanks was crucial in my decision to buy here. Since then, plenty of new asphalt has appeared here and there, improving life for drivers, cyclists, pedestrians and farmers. New shops, new eateries are opening up, and generally things are getting better and better.

I'd say the biggest issues facing the new wójt will be handling the two big infrastructure projects that hang over the area. These are the route that Warsaw's orbital motorway will take south of the capital, and the railway part of the grand CPK project as it runs through Chynów. Both are ultimately decided at national level, but the interface between the works and the local population as these projects as they are rolled out over the coming decade will have a huge impact on quality of life. Will, for example, my two local level crossings be closed? Will pedestrian access to the station be improved?

Personally, my local issues are the fight against fly-tipping and litter (this disgraceful view, left,  I snapped today on Chynów's ulica Główna – literally our Main Street), better connectivity for walkers (more footpaths through fields, forests and orchards) and a clearer gmina website where you can see what infrastructure projects are being discussed and which ones are being proceeded with, and when. And improvements to the bus service. Sure, there are new bus stops and new buses, but they run empty because there's little information on the bus stops themselves and no app for local services. Sure, PKS Grójec does have an app, but only for its bus routes going into Warsaw; Chynów and Góra Kalwaria don't even get a mention. Want to buy a ticket online? Sure, but only for the next day and print it off before you board the bus. This needs to change. I'd like to be able to buy a bus ticket to Grójec with the same ease I can buy a train ticket to Warsaw.

Below: I hope the DK50 does not end up being turned into Warsaw's orbital motorway. 

Update, Saturday 13 December: a nice touch; Piotr Bernaciak thanks his voters – simply sticking the word 'dziękuję' on his banners gives them extra shelf-life.

This time last year:
Twanged!

This time four years ago year:
The ego and evil

This time six years ago:
Warsaw's Christmas lights 2019-20

This time seven years ago:
Pawlikowski's Cold War

This time ten years ago:
"Extreme weather events are now a feature of the British climate"

This time 12 years ago:
Cheaper public transport for Varsovians

This time 13 years ago:
Swans on ice

This time 14 years ago:
Cars 

This time 15 years ago:
What's the English for kombinować?

This time 16 years ago:
The demographics of jazz

This time 18 years ago:
A day in Poznań

Wenus

Morning, Monday, 1 December. All five kittens and their mum, Wenus, spent the night in the kitchen. In the morning, I fed them as usual – two sachets of wet cat food, some dry cat food, and some milk. There was the usual feline hubbub as the food was laid out. Wenusia watched as her brood chomped on its breakfast, then as the commotion was abating, she moved in to eat something herself. There was some hissing and paw-waving; she seemed unhappy at having to share the kitchen, once her exclusive domain, with her five adolescent children. Having eaten and drunk her fill, Wenusia jumped onto the windowsill and indicated to me that she wanted to be let out. Wenusia – my cat-colony starter-kit.

She did not come home that day, nor that night. Nothing to worry about unduly; she'd been gone overnight before, not to return until the following evening. Except this time she didn't. 

No sign of her on Tuesday night. Or all day Wednesday. Had she decided that she'd had enough of sharing her house and her human with five other cats? Did she take umbrage at me for having had her sterilised? Was she having nightmares that I'd inflict more surgical procedures upon her? Had she followed someone else home, the same way she'd followed me home 11 months ago? Had she fallen victim to a fox – or a wolf? (Earlier this year there were reports of wolf sightings in the forests behind Sułkowice.) Had she returned to her original home, wherever that was? Had she simply ranged too far and got lost? 

By Thursday, I was sufficiently concerned to walk around the back way to Grobice and call out to her every few hundred metres or so. Nothing. I walked back to the spot where we first met on 5 January, walking to the end of Jakubowizna and back. Nothing.

Losing Wenusia now that she had produced a happy and healthy gang of kittens was not the tragedy that it would had been had she been my one and only feline companion, but even so. Not having been able to say farewell to her before she slipped off... Sad. Friday came and went. Still no sign. The kittens didn't seem unduly troubled by their mother's long absence. Maybe this is how it's meant to be in the cat world? Bring your brood into the world, then drift away to a new life... Maybe she's found (or been found) by some elderly person who needs Wenusia more than I do right now?

Should I put up notices around Jakubowizna, "Missing Cat, Mother of Five, Children Upset" sort of thing? Or just start with a post on the local Facebook community?

Saturday morning. There being no Wenusia in the kitchen as I wake up has become my new normal. I'm off to town, some literary work to do. The cats have to be moved outside for several hours, so their second meal of the day is delivered on the patio as I leave. All five were happily munching away at their lunch as I sidled off to catch my train. I was back at seven pm, returning in darkness. As usual, I am met on the drive by several feline shadows darting this way and that, welcoming me home. 

Reaching the front door, I became aware that the number of cats swirling around my feet was... six. Once inside, I switched on the hall light. Indeed! Wenusia was there! Back among her children! Six days and five nights away and she's back! I was delighted. As the five kittens were being fed in the kitchen, I took Wenusia into the front room to eat a celebratory tin of tuna mousse, her favourite. 

I think about the things I no longer have to do because they've done themselves.

It was wonderful to have her back among the brood. Having said that, as I write these words, with her five kittens lying, sated, on my warm kitchen floor... Wenusia is, once again, out. Never be complacent. Be grateful.

But just as I'm about to press 'publish', there she is at the window!

This time four years ago:
Nocturnal monochromes

This time five years ago:
The Darkest is upon us

This time six years ago:
The Body – A Guide for Occupants

This time ten years ago:
Extreme weather and the British climate

This time 12 years ago:
Cheaper public transport for Varsovians

This time 13 years ago:
Swans on ice

This time 14 years ago:
Cars

This time 15 years year:
What's the English for kombinować?

This time 17 years ago:
The demographics of jazz

This time 18 years ago:
A day in Poznań