A Blustery Day

"Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! Rage, blow! You cataracts and hurricanoes" - King Lear, Act 3 Scene 2. Dreadful winds howling all night long - I dreamt of July 1952 and the UFOs over Washington D.C., wondering whether they would descend this very night over the Kremlin... 

Saturday morning, after last night's false flags (gas-pipe explosion in Donetsk), Putin is maintaining high levels of terror over Ukraine. I can imagine the dread of its citizens, facing uncertainty that involves air-raids, artillery shelling and fire-fights.

Time to get some fresh air, time for a long walk amid the gales. I open the front door to hear the sound of flapping plastic sheets - a greenhouse has been ripped apart across the road, over 170m away, but upwind and very loud. Out by the ponds, below, more broken birches and high water (summer 2020 revealed the muddy bottom of a dried-out pond, now it's close to breaking its banks).

My intention was to do a long walk in the direction of Raszyn, but the wind was too strong. Walking along ulica Kinetyczna, I could see the planes coming into land at Warsaw's Okęcie airport from over Ursynów (Runway 29 rather than the more usual Runway 33). At least five I saw aborted their approach, throttled up their engines and did a go-round rather than dice with strong gusts near ground level. Below: the LOT Polish Airlines Embraer ERJ-195 comes into land behind a taxiing Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

I decided to turn back at Jaworowa (below), and instead of walking on to Raszyn and catching the bus home from there, I would turn back and walk all the way home, powered by a strong tailwind.

This (below) is the road between Jaworowa and Dawidy; a demarcated cycle path makes it safer for pedestrians. Gusts of wind, however, could still feel dangerous in the face of oncoming traffic.

Onward to Dawidy, a village just outside of Warsaw, where one can find blocks of flats - quite unusual. Dawidy is different in character to Dawidy Bankowe.

In Dawidy, I can see the scale of the wind damage. A fire engine and a crew of electricians were dealing with the aftermath of fallen trees and power lines.

I climb to the top of a large man-made hill of soil just off ul. Sporna. Time for lunch - sandwiches, a banana and a well-deserved bottle of IPA. From the top of this hill I have some great views overlooking the airport. And for a while, the sun popped out from behind the clouds. Below: another taxiing Dreamliner, the S2 expressway in the foreground.

Another sight from the top of this hill (standing about six metres above the ground) - a family of deer, foraging in the sodden fields between Dawidy and the S2. The closest I've ever seen deer to Warsaw!

Just to put them into perspective, here they are again, the white tails visible in the foreground, with the S2, the Palace of Culture to the left and the office developments of Służew all in view, and a Dreamliner coming into land.

Looking the other way, I could see that wind damage was being mended. Below: a fire crew dealing with a electric power pole that had been blown over onto the roof of a house. Note the new viaduct over the S7 extension in the background.

Below: fixing a hole where the rain gets in, and an unusual approach to rooftop access. 

Below: back in Jeziorki, the railway behind me, the S7 ahead - and no, this is not a pond - it is a flooded field. The Action warehouse in Zamienie and the new viaduct on the horizon.

Below: speeding south to Radom, a Koleje Mazowieckie Newag Impuls between W-wa Dawidy and W-wa Jeziorki stations.

This time last year:
Would the Universe exist if you were not there?

This time six years ago:
Dreams and visions of past lives

This time seven years ago:
Monist or dualist: which are you?

This time eight years ago:
Grim prospects for Ukraine

This time nine years ago:
Wrocław's new airport terminal

This time ten years ago:
A study in symmetry: Kabaty Metro station

This time 11 years ago:
To the Devil with it all - a short story

This time 12 years ago:
Waiting for the meltdown

This time 14 years ago:
Flat tyre

Pictures in the winter sun

Sun in winter is special; it behoves one to make the most of every ray. Time for a long walk. 

Below: hints of New Mexico, Jeziorki. Ulica Baletowa looking towards W-wa Dawidy station and the S7 extension carried over the tunnel in the distance. Evergreens look good against blue skies any time of year.

Below: the reverse shot - the tunnel carrying the S7 (under construction) over ul. Baletowa. In the distance, through the tunnel, the level crossing by W-wa Dawidy station.

Below: classic Jeziorki winter, by the southern pond. Note the broken silver pines - toppled over by last week's strong winds.

A man strides onto the ice, without hesitation. In his hand, an axe. He squats down and starts hacking at the ice. Looks like he's making a fishing hole.

Two hours later, I'm walking back the same way and step out to look at the hole. Although it's not that cold (-2C), the water at the surface has frozen over. I go to get a stick; it takes several blows to break the ice that's formed during this short time. With the stick, I gauge that the pond is covered by a sheet of ice some 20cm (eight inches) thick. Plenty of footprints and ice-skate tracks suggest that the ice is absolutely safe.

Below: over the years since the ponds have been deepened and the park built around it, the reeds have grown back. I can now walk over the ice and see the far side of the pond - it's not good. What was open water is now so overgrown to be almost impenetrable.

Below: between rail and road - a southbound Koleje Mazowieckie double-decker train passing a northbound Inter City Dart train on its way from Kraków to Olsztyn via Warsaw.

Below: there's still ten metres of concrete and asphalt needed to connect the end of the S79 (where I stand to take this photo) to the beginning of the S7 extension that will run down to Tarczyn and Grójec.

Below: under the railway lines, over the expressway. Above me to the left, the electrified Warsaw-Radom main line; above to the right is the un-electrified coal train line from Okęcie sidings to Siekierki power station. Underneath passes the S2 as it crosses southern Warsaw.

Below: the interstices, where few wander. Some lines of W.B. Yeats' verse sprayed onto the concrete underneath the railway bridge. Quite unexpected!

Below: it's winter, so the coal train runs more often than in summer. Siekierki is not just a power station - it's a heating plant, the hot water generated gets pumped around as district heating for local housing estates.

Left: not a householder keeping warm by burning crap - this is steam, not smoke - and it's coming out of the chimney stack at Siekierki power station, 10km to the north-east. In the foreground, the railway line.

Below: A LOT Polish Airlines Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 coming into land. It's so low as it crosses the S79 that I can catch this shot with the kit zoom lens on my Nikon D5600 extended to 55mm.

Below: bonus shot from town - a Nysa 522 minibus, used for nostalgia-themed tourist trips around Warsaw. It stands, minus registration plate, outside the Palace of Culture. Only contemporary posters give a clue as to the date of this photo.

(Happy birthday, Mon!)

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Magic sky

This time two years ago:

Too good to skip over

This time four years ago:
The Hunt for Tony Blair
[Apologies to UK readers - the YouTube link is geo-blocked there]

This time six years ago:
Lux Selene

This time nine years ago:
David Cameron, Conservatism and Europe

This time 10 years ago:
Citizen Action Against Rat Runners

This time 11 years ago:
Moni at 18 (and 18 months)

This time 12 years ago:
Building the S79 - Sasanki-Węzeł Lotnisko, midwinter

S7 extension section 'A' end-to-end

Thanks to Paul W and Moni!

The Christmas break on the construction site of the S7 gives the curious a good opportunity to check out the local stretch of this major infrastructure project. A chance to walk odcinek A ('stretch' or 'section A') from one end to another, and in particular to the southern end, which I've never yet seen.

Both sections have been troubled by contractual issues. Odcinek A was originally meant to have been built by Rubau; the contactor fell foul of terms and conditions and the contract was annulled before any work has started; Polaqua went on to win the new tender (more than double the price of Rubau's bid). Now 22 months after it began work on the project, Polaqua has displayed a staggeringly fast pace. 

Odcinek B has had a similar history, but here the initial contractor, IDS-Bud had actually made a start on the earthworks before being thrown off the contract for being too slow. Another firm, PTU Intercor, was finally selected earlier this year and is now getting on with it at a better pace, according to Skyscraper City's S7-extension watchers. [A quick aside - the first post about the S7 extension dates back to 2005; based on a press report claiming that the expressway between Warsaw and Grójec would be opened in 2008. One and half decades of over-optimism!]

Below: here's the southern end, where the two contracts meet. This point is about 150m south of ulica Słoneczna, the DW721 between Piaseczno and Magdalenka, In the foreground, odcinek A; concrete on the ground, most of the ancillary infrastructure (crash barriers, lighting, service roads) almost ready. Beyond the barriers begins odcinek B. It's Christmas Eve, heavy wet snow is falling, the temperature is just above 0C, but the snow is settling.

Below: from one of the detailed diagrams of the S7 extension (the whole of odcinek A is available for download here). Oriented with the south at the top, it shows the boundary between odcinek A and B, and ul. Słoneczna (DW721) passes underneath.

Below: underneath the bridge taking ul. Raszyńska over the S7, linking Nowa Wola to the west with Zgorzała to the east. No street lighting for the local traffic, but at least there's a pavement.

Below: looking north towards the new bridge carrying ul. Raszyńska over the S7. On the horizon, the cranes on the building sites of Zamienie, where new blocks of flats are continuing to appear amid the fields.

Below: ul. Krasickiego, running east-west from Nowa Iwiczna to Nowa Wola, passes through a tunnel under the S7. Looking west toward Nowa Wola.

Below: Paul's drone shots of the bridge on Christmas Day (much finer weather, -6C and clear skies), looking north.

Drones are just the thing for following the development of road-building projects!

Below: looking east towards Piaseczno - the S7 is crossed by a new viaduct carrying four lanes of road from nowhere to nowhere. This will, one day, be the DW (droga wojewódźka) 721 bis, relieving the heavy single-carriageway ul. Słoneczna. Trouble is, the residents of Konstancin further east aren't happy with the concept of a new road. Still, building infrastructure now in advance of projects that may not happen for another 15 years is not entirely new around here. In the middle distance, ul. Postępu (lit. 'Progress Street') runs north-south from Zgorzała towards Bobrowiec.

Meanwhile, Christmas Day saw Moni and me heading the other way along the S7 extension, to where it will meet the S79 (below), taking the expressway into central Warsaw. No progress since I last came here a few weeks ago.

Below: traditional farm building, Dawidy Zwykłe. Behind the house, acoustic screens and the S7. To the right, a logistics centre. Immediately behind me - the railway line. I hear the low rumble of an approaching coal train, and the distant 'ding-ding-ding' of the level crossing barriers as they descend...

Below: the fully laden coal train on its way to Siekierki power station.

The bridge over the S7 at Zamienie would be a good place for photographing planes on coming in to Warszawa Okęcie airport if there were a pavement along the side. But there isn't. Still - no traffic, no construction work, so on Christmas Day a chance for a snap. Below: LOT Polish Airlines Embraer ERJ 175 (Warmia i Mazury livery) on final approach.

New for 2021 in the most immediate neighbourhood - the view from our back garden looking towards ul. Trombity, where the old farmhouse and outbuildings have been pulled down to make way for a pair of modern bungalows.

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

This time three years ago:
Christmas round-up

This time five years ago:
Derbyshire at Christmas

This time six years ago:
Across the High Peaks

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Derbyshire's rolling landscapes

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

This time nine years ago:
Out and about in Duffield

and...
Christmas Break

This time ten years ago:
Boxing Day walk in Derbyshire

This time 11 years ago 

Derbyshire in the snow

This time 13 years ago:

Derbyshire in the sunshine

This time 14 years ago:

Derbyshire in the drizzle

Nocturnal monochrome

Darkness falls earlier than at any other time of year. Work is pressing - it cannot be put off for the evening for delivery the next working day. So today and yesterday, my walk had to be done in darkness. In place of the standard kit lens (18-55mm f/3.5-4.5 zoom) I took a fixed focal-length 24mm f/2 old-school Nikkor, a lovely piece of metal and glass. All photos hand-held or with camera balanced on a post or wall, 3,200 ISO, 1/10 to 1/2 second, between f/2 and f/5.6.

Below: the corner of ulica Trombity and ul. Kórnicka. Nice starburst from the street lights.

Below: the far end of ul. Dawidowska on the Jeziorki side of the tracks. Will this quiet footpath be turned into a busy four-lane thoroughfare linking Zamienie via a new railway viaduct with ul. Puławska?

Below: ul. Dawidowska between ul. Buszycka and ul. Nawłocka. It would be a great shame to lose the rural charm of this corner of Jeziorki.

Below: the view from the far end of our garden.

Below: looking north-east from ul. Hołubcowa across the fields.

Below: a quiet moment on ul. Baletowa - the level-crossing gates are down a few hundred metres along the road.

Below: looking south across ul. Sporna towards ul. Baletowa in Dawidy.

Below: the S7 extension climbs to cross the tunnel over ul. Baletowa, the upright posts await the acoustic screens to be put in place.

Below: the S7/S7/S79 junction, Węzeł Lotnisko, looking east. Note the low-mounted lighting under the flight-path.

One colour photo - this is the southern end of the S79 - for the past eight years this stump, south of the S2 junction, has stood here, unused, terminating in a cabbage field. Every night since the rest of the S79 opened to traffic, this stump of road has been illuminated by these lights - how much electricity has been wasted?

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The Body - A Guide for Occupants

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Swans on ice

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Cars

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What's the English for kombinować?

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