A symbolic collapse

My daily walks involve various routes centred on Jeziorki, heading off on different compass points each day to avoid monotony. Today I headed south-west; crossing the tracks to ulica Gogolińska to pop by Zgorzała before checking the stretch of the S7 extention between Zgorzała and Zamienie. On my way, just across Warsaw's southernmost borders, I passed the hunters' stand (in Polish ambona, literally pulpit), which to my surprise is no longer upright. Was it brought down with or without Man's agency? If with - is this the work of hunt saboteurs? Landowners looking to clear space for new development? The result of a well-attended party involving grubasy and tłuste kiełbasy? Or did it just collapse on its own as a result of rotting timbers and neglect, aided by a strong southeasterly wind? 

My suspicion is that it just collapsed. Compared to other hunters' stands I have seen, this one was rather shoddily built, and on my visits up top, I didn't spy any sign of human presence - either hunters, or teenagers or local devotees of feldalkohol. 

Since the development of the fields between ul. Gogolińska and ul. Postępu in Zgorzała, wildlife has moved on, some up to Jeziorki and its lakelands, the majority no doubt in the opposite direction, further away from Warsaw, towards Lesznowola and beyond. I have seen hare, deer and wild boar around here, the former being most common. Those that remain will no longer need to worry about being blasted by hunters. Below: the stand as it looked in May.

Its collapse is sad; it stood as a relic of an earlier age, when Warsaw ended abruptly and where rural life began. Today, beyond its boundary, the exurbs continue marching outward, swallowing peripheral towns like Piaseczno and Pruszków and Otwock as the sprawl develops.

Hunting gives way to dog-walking, and I must say, I'm rather glad.

This time six years ago:

Surprised by a lack of snow for Christmas!

This time six years ago:
Man falls under train at W-wa Żwirki i Wigury

This time ten years ago:
Kidnapped by Koleje Mazowieckie

This time 11 years ago:
Google Earth updates Jeziorki

This time 12 years ago:
Out and about with two foot of glass

Tall and awesome

On my walk yesterday, I looked towards the city centre from Dawidy and was stunned to see a blazing tower on the horizon. So I scrambled up onto the railway embankment to get a better look - my God! My first reaction was that this is something akin to the Grenfell Towers tragedy in London in June 2017, when 72 people died. I whipped out my 70-300mm lens and zoomed in - no smoke above it, no smoke - no fire. So what was it?

A live railway line is not the place for pondering such questions. I did so at home, posting the photo on Skyscraper City, the very best resource for anything to do with Poland's built environment. 

[It's a global site, but Poland has one of the most active Skyscraper City communities in the world, with more posts and page views than Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Norway, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK all put together!]

Within minutes, I had my answer - that 'flaming tower' is the Warsaw Spire. Yes indeed. Such was the angle of the sun that the south-west facing glass reflected it so awesomely. It was quite a sunset, too... (turn through 180 degrees...) On the horizon, the Raszyn radio mast (a misnomer, as it's in Łazy, 9km from Raszyn. When completed in 1962, it was the second-tallest structure in the world and the tallest in Europe. And 93m miles beyond, the sun. Shining onto Warsaw's Spire.

Left: my father and my son in front of the Spire, 31 July 2019. The Spire has two curved glass 'walls', and between them a vertical row of windows - and it was these that reflected that sunset yesterday. 

One Skyscraper City commentator remarked that the Spire from this angle looks like a frankfurter between two hot-dog buns; another commentator reminded us of the time that sunlight reflecting off the mirrored roof above the entrance was strong enough to set fire to two motorcycles parked outside. 

Today's walk took place on a heavily overcast day, but at least it didn't rain - or as had been forecast - it didn't snow. A standard 10,000 paces to Nowa Iwiczna and back, and on the way, a snap of the electricity pylons marching through Zgorzała and Nowa Wola on their way to Piaseczno and Konstancin. These are high-tension M52 pylons (!) carrying 220kV cables all the way from the coal-fired Kozienice power station. Standard height, 40m.

One development worthy of note - ulica Gogolińska, which runs parallel to the railway line on the west side, is currently asphalted only as far as Warsaw's border, from there on it's a muddy dirt track that serves the housing estates like the ones above. Today I saw evidence that asphalt is currently being extended southwards towards Nowa Iwiczna. Good news for local residents!

Bonus picture: domesticated cat helps out around the house.

This time five years ago:

Catesby Tunnel in the 1980s

This time seven years ago:
Crumbling King Coal, Katowice

This time eight years ago:
Street cries of Old Poland

This time nine years ago:
The gorgeousness of Warsaw at dusk

This time ten years ago:
I'm so glad I'm living in Warsaw

This time 11 years ago:
Candid photography

This time 12 years ago:
Archival photos of Jeziorki's Rampa in action

This time 13 years ago:
Red sky in the morning...

Drainage ditches, hunters' 'pulpit' and suburban sprawl

Drainage ditches criss-cross the flat fields of Jeziorki and surrounding villages. I've written about the ditch that serves as Warsaw's southern border, demarcating the line between Jeziorki and Mysiadło. This post will go further west, that same ditch cuts under the railway line, and then under ulica Gogolińska. Again, this is the Warsaw border, Warsaw to the right.

Below: having crossed the tracks, I'm looking the other way, eastwards. I'm still on the Warsaw side.

Having crossed ul. Gogolińska, I leave Warsaw. The drainage ditch now runs south-west, the trees in the picture below run away to the right, and that treeline becomes Warsaw's border. The ditch now leads towards the village of Zgorzała. In the distance (click to enlarge) you should be able to make out a wooden watch tower.

Here it is - looking back down along that ditch, the treeline border of Warsaw to the left in the distance. This tower is an ambona (lit. 'pulpit'), in this context though a hunters' stand. It is from here that hunters can shoot at local game. Deer, hare and pheasant, the occasional wild boar. I must say that I am against the killing of sentient life for sport.

But the wildlife itself is being squeezed out. On the horizon, the unstoppable encroachment of hundreds of houses of Nowa Wola. What was once arable farmland is now filling up rapidly with new estates with twee names like  'Birds of Paradise Estate' or 'Our Little Town Estate' but no amenities.

The other evening, I saw deer in Jeziorki, for the first time ever. These developments, plus work on the S7 extension to the west of here is driving wildlife to the quieter environs across the track.

Having climbed the ladder to see inside, I was surprised that there was no sign of use - no empty shotgun cartridges, nor indeed detritus left by teenagers or the local open-air drinking  community. Maybe hunters - for the damage they wreak on the wildlife - are as ecologically conscientious as I am and take every scrap of litter home with them. Or maybe there's not been any hunting going on for a while here.

Onwards to the end of that drainage ditch, to where it turns south, eventually petering out in a field just north of Nowa Wola. I turn north, however, and head towards Zgorzała, itself spreading out (though here we have individual houses rather than large estates of identical houses).

Onwards, past houses newly finished, unfinished and already inhabited, ones still being finished and a few that look they will never finally be finished - not under the current owners, anyway. I fear the sprawl in the fields south of Warsaw will end up looking like the 1930s sprawl west of London - Greenford, Hayes, Northolt, Ickenham, Ruislip, Hillingdon - never-ending soul-less suburbs moving ever-further from the city centre. At least those 1930s London suburbs had facilities - schools, shops, hospitals, pubs - and above all - good rail links to central London.

This time last year:
Aviation the theme (plane pics are popular!)

This time two years ago:
Five closed-off hectares of central Warsaw

This time three years ago
Progress by the ponds

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

This time eight years ago:
The British electrical plug reigns supreme

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

This time ten years ago:
That Icelandic volcano

This time 11 years ago:
Views of Historic Toruń

This time 12 years ago:
One swallow does not a summer make

Two years on: Karczunkowska's still closed

Time to issue another commemorative stamp, marking the second anniversary of the closure of the level crossing on ul. Karczunkowska. The temporary crossing, south of W-wa Jeziorki's 'up' platform is also formally closed (though locals know you can get through in the evenings when the construction crews have finished work and all day at the weekends).

The ramps on either side of the bridge have been raised at a quick tempo (it's 60 days since work on this stage began in earnest), though promises that all will be ready by the end of September is a chimera, a fata morgana, a will o'the wisp, a fantasy. There is a chance of a first layer of asphalt being laid next month, but that's when the fiddly work starts I expect to have another commemorative stamp bearing the image of a nearly-complete viaduct with barriers at either ends preventing cars from using it. Four level-access lifts are required; signing off the paperwork for these takes ages too.

This time last year:
356 days since the closure of Karczunkowska

This time two years ago:
That's it! the level crossing's closed.

This time three years ago:
What happened to Poland's Amish?
[VERY INTERESTING POST]

This time four years ago:
PKP publishes plans for upgrade of Warsaw-Radom line

This time five years ago:
World's largest ship calls in at Gdańsk

This time seven years ago:
Raymond's Treasure - a short story

This time eight years ago: 
Now an urban legend: Kebab factory under W-wa Centralna 

This time nine years ago: 
It was twenty years ago today 

This time 11 years ago: 
By bike to Czachówek again

Karczunkowska viaduct - further delays likely

It's almost two months to the day ul. Karczunkowska was closed so that a viaduct could be built, taking it over the newly-modernised Warsaw-Radom railway line. Things have settled down a bit; the temporary level crossing, opened last spring, is doing its job. But while the viaduct itself is growing, there seem to be problems with the ramps at either side.

Below: the approach road is taking shape at the western end. The tight bend here is good - it will slow down traffic.

UPDATE: Friday, 22 June, and I can see more clearly what's going on here. This is actually the access road to ul. Kurantów and ul. Gogolińska, this suggests that there won't be another span of viaduct crossing Gogolińska at its junction with Karczunkowska.

Contractor PRKiI has announced that from 22:00 this Thursday, 21 June, until 20:00 on 21 August, Karczunkowska will be closed on the short stretch between Gogolińska and Kurantów for the construction of retention walls and mains sewers. They did this earlier this spring (from 27 April to 7 May). re-opening bang on time. Now, it's not ten days, it's 61 days. Lots of opportunities for things to go wrong... If you click to enlarge the photo below, you'll see ul. Gogolińska running off to the right at 90 degrees to Karczunkowska. To keep this road open, the viaduct will need a further set of pillars between the wall you see and the near side of Gogolińska, plus access to Kurantów. This is almost as big a job as throwing the bridge over the tracks.

UPDATE: Friday 22 June - the road will be closed at 22:00 hours tonight, 26 hours after the original date. How long will it stay closed?

In the meanwhile, as happened last time this stretch of road was closed, there are the eternally optimistic drivers who believe that the five no entry/road closed signs do not actually apply to them. They will carry on heading east along Karczunkowska, then seeing barriers and heavy construction equipment, they'll turn into Kurantów. Those equipped with Google Maps (below) may see that at the end of Kurantów, they can swing right and soon be on Gogolińska, and hop-skip-jump, they're across the tracks. Let me show them (in good time) that Google Maps is WRONG. Click to enlarge. I've marked the closed section in pink, and the highlight in pale green the bit of ul. Kurantów that is not actually a road, but a very narrow footpath running through an overgrown field.

Below: local residents, annoyed by these optimist drivers, have put up a sign. 'STOP! TURN AROUND THE ROAD ENDS IN 80 METRES'

Below: indeed it does. There is a footpath, between the wheelie bins and the post; it is wide enough for pedestrian, but waist-high in grass. You could do this on a mountain bike or enduro motorbike, but you'll spend half an hour extracting vegetation from the chain and spokes. In other words - don't bother. The alternative, however, is an 8km detour via Baletowa.

Meanwhile, across the tracks, this is how things are looking. But word is (and I've heard this from two local residents) that the ramp that will carry the roadway up to the viaduct has been badly planned, and will end on the wrong side of the turn-off for Biedronka (on one side of Karczunkowska) and ul. Nawłocka (on the other). The answer is to make it steeper, with the possibility of a roundabout at this junction to slow traffic down. One way or the other, the re-planning of the gradient of the on-ramp means further delays.

Below: view from the 'up' platform - the first set of steps are appearing. These will allow people to walk up to the viaduct from ul. Gogolińska.

Below: for the convenience of passengers from across the track travelling into town, now that the scaffolding has been removed from the viaduct, a new footpath has been laid alongside the coal train line, saving a detour of 120 metres.

All in all, progress is far slower than planned. Here's a quote from Piaseczno News from just three weeks ago:

– Jeśli chodzi o wiadukt, to ma być on gotowy na przełomie III i IV kwartału tego roku. Utrzymane jest tam dobre tempo prac – podkreśla Karol Jakubowski z biura prasowego PKP PLK.. Widać już konstrukcję budowli. W tej chwili wykonywane są podtrzymujące wiadukt filary. Cały czas trwają także prace przy budowie zjazdów.

"As far as the viaduct is concerned, it is to be ready at the turn of the third and fourth quarter of this year. A good pace of work is maintained there," emphasises Karol Jakubowski from the press office of PKP PLK... "The construction of the building is already visible. At the moment, the pillars supporting the flyover are being built. The construction of the congresses is also in progress all the time." [Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator]

End of September? No. Way.

This time six years ago:
Russia's going home

This time 11 years ago:
Sun and zenith rising

Karczunkowska's closed again

Coming home after work yesterday, I noticed a new temporary road sign announcing the closure of ul. Karczunkowska (again), so today a walk to investigate was in order. According to local news website, the closure is planned between 23:00 on Friday 27 April and 06:00 on Monday 7 May, in other words the long May week of two public holidays, when many Poles will take three days off work to give nine days holiday. So - good planning... Below: the sign on the road near the junction with ul. Trombity. The message does not seem to get through to drivers, who have to find out for themselves just how closed the road is. To save you the bother - it is closed. Cars will not get through. Bikes and pedestrians - yes.

Below: the next sign is on the road approaching the junction with ul. Nawłocka. But still they come, hoping that there's some way through. There isn't.

Below: across the tracks over the level crossing behind Biedronka and on to ul. Gogolińska. Another sign says the road's closed. And yet those drivers persist.

Below: around the corner, beyond the junction of ul. Gogolińska and Karczunkowska, the road is totally and utterly blocked. Pedestrians and bikes can squeeze through a passage to the right of this pic, but for other road-going vehicles - no. Don't waste your time. Do as you did last time Karczunkowska was closed - go around Nowa Iwiczna or down Baletowa.

Below: a rather crap shot from my Nikon CoolPix P900 (which is never happy in wide angle mode), showing Karczunkowska cut right down its entire width to get at the sewers. Without the ability to shoot in RAW format, exposure is a compromise; the get the detail in the shadows I lost the detail in the highlights.. Still, it shows how serious this work is.

But there are always the adventurous ones. Like the woman in the Yaris on Pruszków plates who first headed south along Gogolińska looking for a short cut, finding none, turning round, to discover that it's impassable to the north too. She sped past me (I was on foot, narrow road, no pavement) with her phone clamped to her ear. The short-cut that people want to make, between ul. Gogolińska and Kurantów, is not on. This bit of Kurantów is formally (and I checked on the land register map) a private road. The main bit of Kurantów runs out of asphalt 200m from this spur; physically impassable to all but off-road vehicles - except that the owners of the land at the top have blocked the path off to stop the rat-runners.

I very much doubt the work will be finished by Monday week. Indeed, I very much doubt the whole project will be completed this year. Even if there are no more major cock-ups such as the failure to detect the clash between sewers and power cables at the railway crossing, even if the guys work weekends and evenings (as they were today), I can't see this happening quickly. It will be fun to come here on Monday morning to see all the frustrated motorists forced to make U-turns.

It's actually comical to see drivers ignoring three, four, five signs saying 'no entry' or 'no through road' or 'diversion' and then being forced to turn around.

This time last year:
Little suitcase in the attic

This time two years ago:
What I read each week.

This time three years ago:
Defending Poland, contributing to NATO

This time five years ago:
Balloon over Warsaw 

This time seven years ago:
Happiness, Polish-style

This time eight years ago:
And watch the river flow...

Karczunkowska is open (sadly!); Jeziorki ponds path being built; bikes for sale

Anyone who's been away from Jeziorki for several months will hardly recognise the place. Below: ul. Karczunkowska merges seamlessly into Gogolińska, on its way past the new 'up' platform towards the temporary level crossing. The asphalt you see in the foreground will give way under a new alignment of Karczunkowska - this view in a few years time will be of a viaduct carrying the road over the tracks. It will run roughly between where the red Seicento and the blue portaloo are standing.

And here we have the traffic. Four cars in a row indicate the density of usage that'll be expected once drivers get to hear that that road's been reopened. Note the road signs - no trucks (other than municipal services and construction plant), and a 40km/h speed limit.

Further changes to Jeziorki: a footpath is being built around the eastern edge of our ponds, and ul. Dumki will hopefully be closed to motorised traffic beyond where the asphalt currently stops. More on this story as it develops...

The middle and northern ponds will get bird-watching platforms built out into the water. The NIMBY in me fears an invasion of beer-drinking youths who mindlessly discard their litter around here.

In other local news, the pavement along ul. Karczunkowska has now been extended all the way from the junction with ul. Trombity to the PWPW security printing plant. This now means I can walk safely and with clean shoes all the way all to ul. Puławska. Still to do: the entire stretch of Karczunkowska from Trombity to Nawłocka.

Finally, with the bike season almost upon us - two of my vintage bikes have to go to make room in the garage. Both are mega-rare hipster treasures that need an appreciative buyer... Below: my handmade 1989 Pete White urban flyer, designed by me for city streets. Upright frame angles for responsive handling, Shimano hub gears and enclosed brakes for perfect braking even in the wet. Brooks B17 saddle. Frame (22") made of Reynolds 531 tubing. 27" alloy wheels. Complete with London Cycling Campaign sticker with an '01-for-London' (pre-1990) phone number.

Below: my 1984 Holdsworth Triath Elan road bike, 27" alloy wheels, 21" frame, Reynolds 531 frame, Campagnolo groupset, Brooks B17 saddle. Eroica Britannia eligible (bikes have to be pre-1987).

I'm open to offers around 1,000 złotys per bike, free delivery to anywhere within 20km of Jeziorki. Drop me an email (michaeldembinskiATSIGNgmail.com) if you've any questions regarding these two deliciously retro bicycles.

This time four years ago:
Cycling in Warsaw: waiting for the snow to go

This time five years ago:
Progress on the S2/S79

This time six years ago:
Literary flavours of the PRL - Janusz Głowacki's Z głowy

This time seven years ago:
Television - the Drug of the Nation

This time eight years ago:
Needs and wants and economics

This time nine years ago:
On the Road from Łódź

This time ten years ago:
Aerial views of the ground

New temporary(?) level crossing almost complete

I blogged about this last weekend - the work has gone well, and this morning traffic was (gingerly) making its way across the railway tracks south of W-wa Jeziorki station. It is now possible* to get from ul. Gogolińska to ul. Buszycka without having to make a 8.7km detour via Dawidy or an 9.9km detour via Nowa Iwiczna. However, word has not got out yet, so motorists are none the wiser.

Making life difficult (at least for law-abiding drivers) is this sign (below), just beyond the Biedronka car park, which suggests that this is private land and that entry is forbidden. But the newly laid asphalt continues around the corner and takes you to the level crossing, just south of the 'up' platform at W-wa Jeziorki station.

Brand new road - will it have a name? And will this crossing continue to function once the viaduct taking ul. Karczunkowska over the railway line is complete? Watching cars crossing from east to west, drivers are confused as they get to ul. Gogolińska, and don't know whether to turn left or right. Signs don't say!

Most interesting: the level-crossing keeper's hut (below )is looks like it's been uprooted from somewhere else and brought to Jeziorki in its scruffy state, graffiti and all.  The one barrier that has already been installed looks like it came from the old level crossing on Karczunkowska (it was there last week, it's now gone). This shabby old hut is a far cry from the solid old keeper's building that was torn down in the autumn. Which suggests that it's temporary (when the new one on ul Baletowa by W-wa Dawidy becomes operational, it will be able to control this crossing and the one at Nowa Iwiczna).

Below: looking north along the 'up' platform. A southbound Koleje Mazowieckie train awaits the signal to set ofp, while a cyclist wheels his bike across the pedestrian crossing. To the right, an approaching train on the coal line. In the distance, Warsaw Trade Tower and Warsaw Spire (far right)

Work is not yet complete. Below: a pair of modernised SM48s back-to-back, running empty towards Konstancin-Jeziorna, past the one level crossing barrier - not lowered, because it's not functioning yet. I guess the second barrier will be installed any day now.

Below: old habits. Walking along the new tracks will be more dangerous than hitherto, as trains will be speeding along at up to 160km/h. However, with the works going on, the paths on either side of the tracks can get way too muddy for walking.

* Follow-up: Sunday 19 March. Motorists! Back to the old detours, this was too good to be true. Some time on Saturday evening on Sunday morning, contractors blocked the level crossing - it will stay blocked until the second barrier is put in place and the whole thing made operational.

Follow-up: Monday 20 March. Both barriers in place and lowered. Looks like it will be a while before traffic runs this way again.

Follow-up: Saturday 26 March: A peek inside the crossing-keeper's temporary hut. A good field of view.

No workers to be seen anywhere on the line from W-wa Dawidy down as far as Nowa Iwiczna.

Meanwhile, after a week's closure, some drivers are still coming up to this crossing point in the hope that it will be open and that they can be spared the detour. Which from this point is a minimum of 9.3km.


This time two years ago:
Swans, dusk, Jeziorki

This time three years ago:
Joe Biden in Warsaw for talks after Crimea invasion

This time five years ago:
Motive power for the coal and oil trains that pass Jeziorki

This time nine years ago:
Sleet, snow, no sign of spring

Solstice sunset, ul. Gogolińska, Jeziorki

The shortest day of the year is behind us. From now on, the days will be getting longer, the sun will set slightly later - although it is not until 5 January that the sun will rise earlier. Today, the time from sunrise to sunset in Warsaw was seven hours and 43 minutes. And 12 seconds. Four seconds more than yesterday

Out to catch that setting sun. Below: from the platform of W-wa Jeziorki station. In the foreground, the muddy pool churned up by the contractor's vehicles is freezing over; today's daytime high was +2C, and as the sun sets, the temperature at ground level falls below zero.

Across ul. Karczunkowska, down ul. Gogolinska to take the photo (below) from the top of one of the ballast mountains by the tracks. The sun sets through the trees... Let me change perspective and zoom in a bit...

The trees - silver birches without leaves and various conifers - lining ul. Gogolińska are now brought in closer...

And I zoom in again (to 600mm equivalent) to catch the sun through the branches of the fir trees.

Turning south, a Lufthansa Airbus A380 cross the heavens, the condensation trails from its four giant turbofan engines still lit by the sun that's already dipped below the horizon for those of us down at ground level.

Below: my brother has rendered my photo (seen originally here) in the style of German artist Anselm Kiefer, catching the atmosphere of the late afternoon in winter with a light frost and a dusting of snow.

Three more months of gloom before the clocks go forward at the end of March. But even the gloomiest days of the year can yield artistic inspiration.

Tomorrow sees the beginning of the annual Yuletide pilgrimage (Luton-Ealing-Duffield-Stockport-Duffield-Ealing-Luton).

This time last year:
Conspiracy to celebrate

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

This time three years ago:
Going mobile - I get a smartofon

This time four years ago:
The end was meant to end today (remember?)

This time five years ago:
First snow - but proper snow?

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

This time seven years ago:
Evening photography, Powiśle

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

This time nine years ago:
Bye bye borders - Poland joins Schengen