Too good to skip over

I know little of the north; not much of the south, and far less of the east. "From the Mile End Road to the Matchsticks, Becontree," sang Ian Dury in Plaistow Patricia. The Mile End Road I know, but Becontree and Plaistow are places that I have never been to.

My London is Central - City and West End - and West. Below: Kingsway - a thoroughfare built at the beginning of the last century; it was unique for having under it a subway for trams - double-decker trams. Sadly, it closed in 1957; cars now use it. Tuesday 21 January - a beautiful sunny day!

Below: mystery location - a beautiful tympanum, replete with meaning, over a church door. Anyone know where it is - and what the church is?

Back in the suburbs... below: approaching Perivale station on the Central line.

Below: the lychgate outside St Mary's church, Perivale, its tower visible in the distance, down the footpath. Corpses en route for the church for burial would be kept under the roof overnight, before the funeral service.

Below: the sun sets over the Gurnell Grove estate (visible on the horizon), the river Brent flowing through Ealing Golf Course in the foreground.

Below: Meadvale Road, Ealing, soon after sunset. Pitshanger Park lies behind the houses to the right of the photo.

Below: Cleveland Park bus stop - a 297 and an E10 bound for Ealing Broadway pass.

Back to Warsaw via Heathrow. Although my TfL Rail train from West Ealing to Heathrow Central also known as Terminals 2 & 3 was on time, there was a problem with the (free) connection to Terminal 5, provided by Heathrow Express. For some reason, it was cancelled, the next one would be in half an hour. No good. So I made my way to the Piccadilly Line station, also named Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3 (formerly known as Heathrow Terminals 1, 2 & 3 until Terminal 1 was closed in June 2016). The TfL station and the Tube station are about a ten-minute walk away. Here, I could catch a Tube train to Terminal 5 (also for free). And while here, check out this beautiful mural of Concorde tails (below) by Tom Eckersley, dating back to when the station was opened in 1977.

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

This time four years ago:
Lux Selene

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

This time eight years ago:
Citizen Action Against Rat Runners

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

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

This time 11 years ago:
My return to skiing after an eight-year break

This time ten years ago:
Moni's 15th birthday

Minimising #Flygskam

The Swedish word for 'flight-shame', flygskam, has become trendy. Or indeed #Flygskam is trending. Flying contributes massively to the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that's changing our climate. (Late January, no snow!?!?!?). Much as I like rail travel, considering it superior to car, bus or plane, it's not optimal for journeys such as Warsaw-London, a journey to which I am condemned by accident of birth. Once there was the Hook-Moscow Express - board a train at Liverpool Street Station in the morning, on to Harwich, by ferry to Hoek van Holland ('Hook of Holland'), then a wonderful train that would pass through Berlin in the wee small hours and be in Warsaw in the early afternoon. Around 26 hours all told.

The flight takes two and half hours and costs a fraction of that of a train ticket; in any case, the train journey has four legs and requires three changes. Warsaw-Berlin, Berlin-Bonn, Bonn-Brussels, Brussels-London. An alternative is Warsaw-Berlin-Cologne-Brussels-London. All in all, expenses and hassle. [Some tips for London-Warsaw by train here.]

So what can I do - what can we all do - to limit CO₂ emissions as we travel around?

This is a handy guide from the BBC website:


I tick most of the boxes here. I can't remember the last time I flew with a suitcase in the baggage hold. I fly with a rucksack, taking the bare minimum - laptop, chargers, camera/lens. I have clothes in London, which makes it easier. I fly directly from nearest airport to nearest airport; I can walk to the station at both ends for a short electric-train journey to and from the airports. I never fly business or first (for a two-hour flight it makes no sense). The front of the plane has two-plus-two row-seating, the rest is three-plus-three. The fewer people sit up front, the further forward the curtain separating the two classes is positioned; the more people on board to divide that CO₂ by.

One more tip from me - don't buy food on the plane - there's an inordinate amount of packaging waste involved. Yesterday I indulged in the tapas box on BA. Two little aluminium containers (one with cheese, one with a meat paste) with foil lids; two plastic bags, one with olives, a second with mini bread-sticks and crackers; two strips of plastic foil containing jamon de Serrano; another plastic bag with napkin and toothpick (for the olives); the whole thing in a cardboard box sealed with a disc of sticky plastic. Given the demands in airline galleys for speed and efficiency, I doubt there's any segregation of waste into metal, plastic and cardboard; it's all too fiddly to separate by hand.

OK - so doing all these things, how many kilo of  CO₂ am I saving? According to the ICAO carbon calculator, a one-way flight from Warsaw to London generates 237kg of CO₂. How much less for flying light? I don't know. But every little helps.

Now that my blessed father has passed away, I feel less need to fly to London frequently, there's business, someone from the firm has to be in London for this event or that meeting, and given that I don't rack up hotel bills, it makes sense for that person to be me. But if we can move this meeting back a month, and double it up with another event - well, that makes sense too.

In the mean time, I shall keep on walking, eating less meat, buying less stuff and staying conscious about my effects on Planet Earth.

[Update January 2023: this was to be my penultimate flight to the UK - from March 2020 I have not flown anywhere.]

This time two years ago:
Notes from the Arena of the Unwell II

This time four years ago:
Ice - pond - night

This time six years ago:
Sorry, taki mamy klimat - Polish rail in winter

This time eight years ago:
Music of the Trees

This time nine years ago:
Studniówka - a hundred days before the exams

This time ten years ago:
It's all in the mind - but where's that?

This time 11 years ago:
Roztopy - the big melt-down

This time 12 years ago:
The year's most depressing day

Photo round-up, London, Warsaw and Kraków

From Ealing to Warsaw to Kraków and back to Warsaw, pics from last week that I haven't got round to uploading, all in one post.

Below: three double-deckers on Scotch Common, West Ealing. I have a thing about buses moving around this part of Ealing after dark, especially the double-deckers. Lit up, few people inside, and so frequent. During the rush hour, Argyle Road is choked up solid with traffic, but this photo was taken around 9pm, and the buses come all at once.

Below: Kensington Olympia station, now served by London Overground and Southern trains. To my surprise, I found I could get from Ealing to Balham by Tube via Shepherd's Bush, changing here for a Southern National-Rail train that uses the West London line passing through Kensington Olympia and Clapham Junction. Very useful!

Left: the Polish church in Balham, not far from the White Eagle Polish club, venue for the Sixth Congress of Polish Entrepreneurs in the UK. I was moderating the first panel discussion of the event, and was grateful that thanks to this link. Getting to Balham from Ealing so quickly rather than going all the way into town and changing for the Northern Line at Tottenham Court Road was a pleasant transportation surprise.

Below: from my last visit to London in October, a shot of British Airways' Airbus A319 in 1960s British European Airways retro livery at Heathrow. Lovely!

Below: taking off from Heathrow this Monday, I managed to snap this Boeing 747 in 1970s British Overseas Airways Corporation retro livery. British Airways has four aircraft painted in retro liveries for its centenary year.

Back in Warsaw, I catch the daily Air China service to Beijing taking off from Okęcie. It's an Airbus A330, one of the largest airliners to use the airport.

Below: a late (1920s) Ford Model T Tourer, being transported through the centre of Warsaw.

The number plate says it's an exhibit from the national technical museum (Narodowy Muzeum Techniki) based in the Palace of Culture, not far from where the photo was taken.

Left: above and below ground, the pavements of ulica Świętokrzyska, looking down into the entrance to Metro Line 2 at Świętokrzyska station.

Last month Line 2 was extended three stops further north-east towards Bródno; next year the line will be extended westward too. The interchange station here connects Line 2 (red line) with Line 1 (blue line).

Below: Trasa Łazienkowska looking west, busy with rush-hour traffic. Note bus lanes in both directions.

Below: W-wa Zachodnia station, evening rush hour, looking east towards the city centre.

Below: a PESA Dart train passes W-wa Ochota on its way to its destination, W-wa Wschodnia.

Below: a day trip to Kraków on Wednesday to take part in a panel discussion about Brexit (along with Michel Barnier's chief advisor). I had time to walk from the station to the new conference centre on the south bank of the Vistula, venue for the Open Eyes Economic Forum. This is ul. Starowiślna.

Below: Wawel Castle by night. I haven't been here for over 40 years, but somehow don't feel attracted by guided tours.

Final shot - on the wall of ul. Smocza 10, Kraków, an exhortation to do less. A bit like the graffiti I spotted in Warsaw in early 2016 which read 'The only sustainable growth is degrowth'. Maybe we do too much and think too little?

This time three years ago:
Poland's North-West Frontier

This time four years ago:
Cars must fade from our cities

This time six years ago:
Unnecessary street lighting wastes money

This time seven years ago:
Warsaw's heros on the walls

This time eight years ago:
Tax dodge or public service?

This time ten years ago:
Warsaw's woodlands in autumn

This time 11 years ago:
Still here, the early snow

This time 12 years ago:
Another point of view

The Long Dark Half-Hour of the Consumerist Soul

"Welcome to Heathrow Terminal 2 & 3. Your all-stations to London Paddington TfL Rail train will be here in 26 minutes. We apologise for what seems an unduly long wait, this is due to priority being given to the non-stop Heathrow Express service which had just transferred you here from Terminal 5, before whizzing the profitable passengers straight through to Central London. Change here for plebeian Hayes, Southall, Hanwell, West Ealing, Ealing Broadway and Acton Mainline. This is where airport workers live, not destinations for our well-heeled target group. In the meanwhile, please take a second to acquaint yourself with the facilities on the platforms. There are none. You will find here complete rest from consumerism. There are no adverts to gaze at, feeding your desire to purchase. Just the grey concrete tunnel walls of beton brut. And in the passageways, regular admonishments to Use the Lift.

While you wait for your train, you may smile and wave at any one of a number of CCTV cameras.

Or you may imagine yourself being on the set of a 1960s episode of Dr Who.

Or you may walk to the end of the long tunnel and peer through gratings into an even longer tunnel, even more devoid of anything. And ponder on why Heathrow has train stations called 'Terminals 2 & 3', 'Terminal 4' and 'Terminal 5', but not one called 'Terminal 1'.

And then realise that there is no Terminal 1 at Heathrow.

You may have been in a rush to get off your plane, through Border Control and Terminal 5 to catch the next Heathrow Express to Terminals 2 & 3 and change here for TfL Rail, hungry and thirsty, not wishing to waste time hanging around the airport. Too bad, loser! You missed your chance for any food or drink for the next hour, as there are no facilities at Terminals 2 & 3. No cafes, no bars, no vending machines. Nothing. Toilets? There are none on TfL Rail trains (pronounced 'Tee Eff Ell Rao chranes' in the vernacular). There are no toilet facilities  at Terminals 2 & 3. You are entirely at the mercy of station staff. If it's off-peak and there's no one around, they may permit you to use their staff toilet and graciously unlock the door for you.

If you are stuck here for nearly half an hour, use the time to contemplate a world without ads, snacks, entertainment or any consumerist pleasures. And mind the gap between the train and the platform edge."

This time last year:
Early-September travel news

This time two years ago:
Fields filling up with houses
[The phantom bus stops are still not connected to bus routes!]

This time nine years ago:
Battle of Britain: Poland's contribution

This time ten years ago:
Sewer under ul. Karczunkowska

Flying into Heathrow

A lovely day for flying - clear skies over Warsaw, clear skies over London. And a nice window seat, right at the back. BA into Heathrow - so much better than WizzAir to Luton.

Below: PZL W-3 Sokół helicopter configured for flying VIPs, 1st Transport Aviation Base, Warsaw-Okęcie. It was taxiing just as our Airbus was pushing back from the stand.

Below: two USAF C-17 Globemaster II aircraft, in town for the commemorations of the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of WW2. Trump's not coming, so the hardware that these transport giants have brought along will be for the use of the vice-president, Pence.

Below: take off, and immediately visible to the east is the path of the S2 expressway, crossing Ursynów on its way to cross the Vistula. Eventually, the S2/A2 will continue on to the Belarusian border. But just for it to cross the river would be useful.

A thousand miles fly past, under the wings of our plane.

Left; estuarine Essex - this is Foulness. where England meets the North Sea and the highest elevations are two metres above sea level. Will this be under water in fifty years' time?

Flying into London in the early afternoon, sun still high in a cloudless sky, gives good opportunities for photos.

Below: the new Tottenham Hotspurs football stadium, opened four months ago.

Below: Richmond Bridge, catching the sparkle of the River Thames.

Below: homage to 1969, Heathrow, today. This is British Airways' retro-liveried Airbus A320, G-EUPJ, sporting the colours of British European Airlines from the 1960s. A bit of manual de-focus to get a softer image, run through VintageJS software (available free on vintage.js.com) to give that old-timey look, capturing the excitement of the start of a childhood continental summer holiday.

This time four years ago:
The search for the Gold Train intensifies

This time five years ago:
The Vistula from on high

This time eight years ago:
Bad car day

This time nine years ago:
Dragonfly summer

This time 11 years ago:
"What do we want?" "Early retirement!"

This time 12 years ago:
Greenhouse sunset

Aviation the theme...

I have a goodly number of aircraft snaps taken this week that are worth posting, so here goes. Below: an Airbus A320 leads a Boeing 787 Dreamliner towards to the runway at Heathrow this morning.

Below: this is a Polish PZL-110 Koliber (licence-built SOCATA Rallye 100ST). Snapped flying over Sułkowice station.

Below: parcels in the sky, one of Sprintair's fleet of a dozen Saab 340s on light-freight duties. Each one has the same livery, but in different colours - lime green, turquoise, orange...

Below: an unfamiliar sight and indeed name - this is an Airbus A220 (that's right - two twenty). As of last April, this is the new nomenclature of what was the Bombardier CSeries, reflecting Airbus Industrie's acquisition of the majority shareholding in this project. Only two European airlines have A220s, both fly into Warsaw - Swiss and airBaltic.

Below: coming in to land over Jeziorki - a KLM Boeing 737. The plane is banking onto its final approach (you can see how bent the wings are during this manoeuvre!)

Below: a vanilla WizzAir Airbus A-320 HA-LYK; what makes the pic is the moon.

Below: one of two Polish government Embraer E175 aircraft, leased from LOT Polish Airlines.

Below: one of several Mil Mi-8S helicopters still flying VIPs for the Polish Air Force.

Below: Sikorsky S76C of The Queen's Helicopter Flight, over Hanger Lane, Ealing. Somewhat newer than the 42 year-old Mi-8 used to fly Polish VIPs.

Below: on approach to Warsaw Okęcie airport, my British Airways Airbus A320 flies over Warsaw Bemowo airport, outside of which stand five communist-era gate guardians (left to right: Sukhoi Su-22, PZL Iskra, Yak-40, MiG-21 and another Iskra).

Below: view of Warsaw on approach into Okęcie airport's Runway 15.

Below: view of Warsaw on departure from Okęcie airport's Runway 33.

Bonus shot, referring to my previous post about Brentham Garden Suburb - while snapping there the day before yesterday, I caught sight of this scratch-built metal-and-wood model (in 1/48th or 1/50th scale) of an Avro Lancaster of 44 (Rhodesia) Sqn. Picture of this model aicraft on Google Maps Street View suggests it pivots around 180 degrees like a weather vane.

This time last year:
Five closed-off hectares of central Warsaw

This time two years ago
Progress by the ponds

This time six years ago:
Kaczyński's ignorance, deceit or folly? 

This time seven years ago:
The British electrical plug and socket reigns supreme

This time eight years ago:
Easter, and the end of Lent

This time nine years ago:
That Icelandic volcano

This time ten years ago:
Views of Historic Toruń

This time 11 years ago:
One swallow does not a summer make

Heathrow now and then

The more I fly from Heathrow, the more I like it. Luton feels provincial, difficult to get to. Heathrow's on the doorstep for me. And the sights! Waiting for my departure to Warsaw, armed with FlightRadar24 on my phone, I could see what planes are taxiing to take off - and look at this monster! An Etihad Airways Airbus A380. Magnificent sight!

On board my flight, taxiing to Runway 27 Left, I catch sight of Concorde, symbol of a bygone age of supersonic travel that started nearly fifty years ago - on 2 March 1969. Less than a month after the first flight of the Boeing 747 - which still remains very much in service today. Concorde G-BOAB was retired in 2000, the last Concorde flight was in November 2003. A short era - but I can recall watching (and hearing!) Concorde flying over my school in my last year, having entered regular service in 1976.

Going back to the 1960s, my father would often take me to Heathrow to see the planes - the photo below was snapped in June 1965 and reveal an interesting mix of aircraft - Hawker Siddeley Trident, Vickers Viscount, Boeing 707, Airspeed Ambassador, De Havilland Comet...

...and a two Vickers Vanguards and a Viscount, taken in  summer 1962. Photos: Bohdan Dembinski

We lived just over eight miles from Heathrow Airport. A place of real glamour - international air travel; the Britannic, Europa and Oceanic terminals (to prosaically become Terminals 1, 2 and 3), and the ongoing sense of change (during the 1960s the airport was systematically being extended and developed). The best place of all at Heathrow for me was the Queen's Building - below the control tower, on the viewing gallery. Here, the roar of the engines, the smell of kerosene, the romance of flight was at its most tangible.

This time three years ago:
Radom line modernisation will change the face of Jeziorki

This time four years ago:
How do we perceive good and evil?

This time five years ago:
Civilisation and a civil society

This time seven years ago:
Strong, late-winter sunshine

This time eight years ago:
Jeziorki's wetlands freeze over

This time nine years ago
Kensington, a London village

This time ten years ago:
Lenten recipies

This time 11 years ago:
A walk through Sadyba