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?

This time last year:
The Darkest is upon us

This time two years ago:
The Body - A Guide for Occupants

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

This time eight years ago:
Cheaper public transport for Varsovians

This time nine years ago:
Swans on ice

This time ten years ago:
Cars

This time 11 years year:
What's the English for kombinować?

This time 13 years ago:
The demographics of jazz

This time 14 years ago:
A day in Poznań

Twilight rambler

Welcome to Warsaw. Below: here we have the junction of two Warsaw streets - to the left, ulica Hołubcowa, to the right, ul. Sporna. Under the flight path to Runway 33 of Warsaw Okęcie airport there is little scope for development other than growing cabbages and carrots. Long may it stay this way! 

Sunset today was just before half past three. Not long before we hit the Plateau of Afternoon Darkness, that eight-day period when in Warsaw the sun will set at 15:23. No camera on today's walk - rain alternating with wet snow. All photographs taken with my Samsung Galaxy S20.

Further along ul. Sporna, heading east. Fields - some 80 hectares of mostly fallow land, some cultivated plots, stretch between the railway to the west, ul. Jeziorki to the east, ul. Baletowa to the south and ul. Farbiarska to the north.

Back on the asphalt - ul. Jeziorki, which runs through the district of Jeziorki. Very soon, this narrow street will be bunged up with traffic heading in both directions. No pavement. Not pleasant for pedestrians.

"I have trod the upward and the downward slope" - Tourist trail (szlak turystyczny) MZ-5142-z rises from ul. Dumki towards ul. Sarabandy, on its way from W-wa Dawidy to Ciszyca on the banks of the Vistula.

I pass the Dean's house, a corner of that 1950s Ivy League campus that's magically transported itself through space and time to 21st century Warsaw. Old books by the fire, a tumbler of single malt, and the encroaching darkness without ceases to be a woe...

Nice to get back to a warm home, put the kettle on and enjoy my uniquely Anglo-Polish beverage, namely Krakus-brand barszcz concentrate with a teaspoon of Marmite XO. Ideal for the time of year.

This time two years ago:
Late-November pictorial round-up

This time last year:
Artificial Intelligence vs Artificial Consciousness

This time four years ago:
Viaduct takes shape in the snow

This time seven years ago:
No in-work benefits for four years?

This time eight years ago:

Third snow-free November in a row

This time nine years ago:

Another November without snow

This time ten years ago:
Snow-free November

This time 11 years ago:
Krakowskie Przedmieście in the snow

This time 12 years ago:
Ul. Poloneza closed for the building of the S2

Winter's return

A fresh fall of snow and temperature staying below zero, at a comfortable -2C for much of the day. The snow is forecast to stay for a while. Despite the weather, work continues on the S7 extension. Below: this small thicket of trees and bushes protected from bulldozers and diggers by high-visibility fencing. 

Below: ul. Hołubcowa (to the left),one of Warsaw's unasphalted roads, where even four-wheel drives can get stuck in the mud. With the snow heavy on the ground, it's hard to tell what's road and what's field.

Below: a most unwelcome site/sight: the footpath MZ-5242-z skirted around an expanse of abandoned land overgrown with tansy and goldenrod; the field has been flattened and the vegetation stripped. Looks like a new house or houses will be built here. I trust the footpath, part of an official tourist trail, will remain, even though the online land registry map shows these plots as all belonging to someone. Same old Polish story.

Below: electricity cables and assorted wiring, corner of ul. Trombity and ul. Kórnicka

Below: home in time for tea, Saturday afternoon at dusk. Despite the un-English weather, this time of week brings back childhood Saturday afternoons by the telly, Grandstand, Final Score, Tom and Jerry, Early Evening News.

 Below: taken two days ago, before the new snows fell - abandoned house on ul. Kurantów.

Right: Felusia, Felis Cattus, of the family Felidae, is startled by the sight of a garden full of falling snow. She's been in heat for the best part of two months, so no going out, and a trip to the vet scheduled as soon as she's settled down a bit. Such a contrast to the late Papusia in character, evidently more intelligent and vastly more sociable - heaps more fun.

This time two years ago:

More from Walker's London

This time five years ago:
Daffodils and crocuses in bloom, in January!

This time six years ago:
Populist start to election campaign

This time seven years ago:
Straż Ochrony Kolei explained

This time eight years ago:
The end of winter? So early?

This time nine years ago:
How much education for the nation? 

This time ten years ago:
To the Catch - short story

This time 11 years ago:
Eternal Warsaw

This time 13 years ago:
From the family archives

Baletowa reopens as rail works move slowly on

The crossing by W-wa Dawidy station was meant to have reopened on Friday 3 June. In the end, it opened four days later, on Tuesday 7 June. By chance, I happened to be there when the barriers were taken down and cars could safely and legally cross. Below: seconds after the last barrier was removed, looking east along ul. Baletowa.

Below: this photo was taken some 90 seconds earlier. You can see the last barrier still straddling one lane. Drivers managed somehow. Note the neat, modern concrete panels on the tracks; so much better than the old level crossing. I hope that barriers and warning lights/bells will be installed. This is a very busy road and there are no warning signals, let alone barriers.

Below: What's this? An asphalt surface for ul. Hołubcowa, one of the most notorious dirt tracks that has a street name, a road that can bog down four-wheel drive vehicles? Or just a short stretch by the junction near the level crossing? We shall see.

Below: Saturday 4 June. The deadline for reopening Baletowa has come and gone, and there's still a lot of work to do. I can report that the track team was there on Sunday too, working until 4pm.

Below: while the modernisation is going ahead, the train schedules are different. The 17:05 RE8 service from W-wa Śródmieście to Skarzysko-Kamienna does not stop (for some reason) at either W-wa Aleje Jerozolimskie or W-wa Okęcie, but does stop at W-wa Dawidy and W-wa Jeziorki. This push-pull double decker is packed solid with passengers, despite having five carriages.

Below: the new double deckers don't have the opening windows that the elderly EN57 stock does. On Tuesday I was on one of these and could pop the camera out of the window to snap the situation between W-wa Okęcie and W-wa Dawidy. There are still several stretches where the new 'down' track is not yet laid - a long way from ready. Here's one such stretch, by the railway bridge over the S2 expressway. The new tracks have to be connected with the tracks on the bridge, which was opened in as recently as 2013.

And this is the southern end (as of today) of the new 'down' line that passes W-wa Dawidy (below); still a long way to go to get to W-wa Jeziorki, let alone Piaseczno or Czachówek. And when all that's done - there's the 'up' line to build.

Below: section by section, the new 'down' line extends down towards W-wa Jeziorki.

Below: risk management? Staff training? Health and safety at work? Accidents will happen, but only if you let them. Eight-wheeler dumper truck that toppled over south of W-wa Okęcie station.

And at Okęcie station, two months have passed since the completion of the passenger footbridge - it's still closed, presumably awaiting the signature of a piece of paper saying its safe. Meanwhile passengers wishing to use the station have to negotiate an obstacle course across working railway tracks.

This time three years ago:
Polish doctors in UK offer new healthcare model

This time six years ago:
The closure of the Góra Kalwaria - Pilawa railway link

This time eight years ago:
My blazing bus pic gets on front page of Gazeta Stołeczna

This time nine years ago:
Storm clouds rising

Call 19115 Warsaw fix-my-street

Passing the Palace of Culture on Monday, I noticed a huge billboard on it bearing the number 19115 and the Syrena, the mermaid symbol of Warsaw in the corner, and the word 'Warszawa' above the '115' (click to enlarge). I was none the wiser until I saw today's Gazeta Stołeczna, which explained all. Launched on Monday by our mayor Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, who remains in office after an inquorate referendum to remove her, this is a new one-stop shop service enabling citizens to notify urban problems such as pot-holes or broken street lamps. Below: the Palace of Culture, now flanked by Zlota 44 to its left (with a hideous blue neon stripe running up its side) and the Cosmopolitan building to the right.

A Warsaw-only service mirroring the UK's FixMyStreet, Warszawa19115 is a phone number, website and smart-o-fon app that channels all complaints onto one desk where... they will get fixed? We shall see...

What's already apparent is that Ms Gronkiewicz-Waltz is not intending to waste the months before the next local authority elections. Last month's referendum served as a wake-up call; if anything, it will prompt her into greater activity, thus increasing her chances of being re-elected for a third term of office.

My wish list for Warszawa19115? Clear up the mess left by builders of ul. Kórnicka /ul. Dumki. The retention ponds are finished, but there's a lot of rubble and muck left behind. Provide ul. Karczunkowska with a pavement. Put asphalt down on ul. Poloneza between ul. Krasnowolska and ul. Poleczki. Put asphalt down on ul. Hołubcowa (about 80% of it is still a dirt track). And get on with it before the elections.

I've just registered the state of affairs on ul. Kórnicka on www.Warszawa19115.pl; I'll keep you informed as to progress. As of now, I've had an e-mail confirming that my complaint has been noted.

UPDATE: Two days later, Thursday, 7 November. I get this message from the City Hall...

Zgłoszenie o numerze 104155/13 zarejestrowane w dniu 05-11-2013 o godzinie 22:33:58 uzyskało status: Zamknięte.
Jesteśmy do Państwa dyspozycji 24 godziny na dobę przez 7 dni w tygodniu.
Zapraszamy na Portal www.warszawa19115.pl
Z poważaniem, Urząd m.st. Warszawy.

Let's run that through Google Translate...

Report number 104155/13 registered on 05-11-2013 at 10:33:58 p.m. obtained Status: Closed.
We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Welcome to the portal www.warszawa19115.pl
Sincerely, The City Warsaw. 

This time last year:
Vapour trails at sunset

This time two years ago:
Autumnal blues

To vote or not to vote in Sunday's mayoral referendum?

For readers outside of Poland; Warsaw's mayor, Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz faces a no-confidence referendum this coming Sunday, brought about by an alliance of opposition party PiS and local Ursynów district mayor Piotr Guział. For her to be kicked out of office, a majority from a turnout of 29% of the eligible electorate is required. In other words, 14.5% +1 of all registered voters in Warsaw.

This is political opportunism riding the wave of public protests that followed recent public transport price hikes. Has HG-W had her day? I don't know. I'm against public money being spent on a referendum to oust an incumbent that will face regular local government elections in less than a year's time; having heard PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński on the radio the other day, I can see his policy (rather than political) arguments are wafer-thin and this referendum really boils down to right-wing PiS trying to cash in on leftie discontent for party-political reasons.

So - the dilemma facing me on Sunday is do I go to vote (to keep HG-W in), or do I boycott the referendum as being a waste of time and money?

Before I make my mind up as whether to vote or not, I'd like to know more about the division of responsibility between City Hall and district hall. Who's really responsible for ul. Karczunkowska still not having a pavement? Who's really responsible for the appalling state of ul. Hołubcowa? (not so much as street as a giant puddle used for dumping household and construction waste) Who's really responsible for the lack of asphalt on ul. Poloneza (between ul. Jeziorki and ul. Ludwinowska, and between ul. Krasnowolska and Platan Park?

Guział or Gronkiewicz-Waltz? Where does the buck stop in issues concerning the city, and issues concerning individual districts (in our case Ursynów)?

The referendum is spurious. If less than 29% of eligible voters within Warsaw's city limits turn out to vote, the result is null and void. So - given that most of those who will be going to the ballot boxes on Sunday are PiS-ites and assorted fellow-travellers, surely those who wish to see HG-W seeing out the last nine months of her second term of office should stay at home, and let the febrile political posturings play themselves out against a vacuum of indifference?

I'm genuinely in need of advice here - smart tactical voting decisions. Gazeta Stołeczna gives me no lead - for every tactician there's an ideologist wedded to the notion that the right to vote was hard-won and should always be exercised. I'm tending towards the former view, but would be interested to see what readers think - I'd be grateful for your suggestions (you don't need to be a registered Warsaw voter to contribute).

And indeed, if you think that HG-W should go - please tell me why... Maybe you can still convince me. Four days till the polls open.

This time last year:
Gorgeous cars from Czechoslovakia

This time two years ago:
Donald Tusk and Co. get re-elected

This time three years ago:
Poland's wonderful bread

This time four years ago:
An October Friday in Warsaw

Late-winter commuting, northern Jeziorki

Conditions for commuting by car through Jeziorki at this time of year have been made even more unspeakable by the closure of ul. Hołubcowa (below). Work continues on the S2 Southern Warsaw Bypass (Południowa Obwodnica Warszawy), cutting the road in two, while the new viaduct that's going to carry Hołubcowa over the S2 is probably another two years from completion (given the pace at which the Poloneza viaduct was finished).

This means that with the closure of ul. Oberka - for good - the only way to get from Jeziorki to Grabów and Wyczółki beyond other than joining the slow-moving traffic on ul. Puławska - is ul. Poloneza. I've written about this before; a super-duper four-lane viaduct with crash barriers and floodlighting connected to the roads of Jeziorki by 260 metres of mud, below. This, apparently, would cost 500,000 złotys to asphalt, but the city authorities would rather spend six times that sum on a New Year's Eve bash on Pl. Konstytucji.

Meanwhile, people have to go this way to work. The short film below shows just what it's like to take a small car over this stretch of road. The alternative to this is a four-kilometre detour along a road that's already choked to the point of near immobility.


(Thanks to my driver, Marzena, for risking her car's suspension on this 'road'!)

This time four years ago:
Lent and Recession - a nice parallel

This time five years ago:
Early intimations of spring (no such luck this year!)

Along ul. Hołubcowa to work

With the move of  my client's offices to Poleczki Business Park (see previous post), I'm discovering new ways to work. This morning - on foot. Instead of walking down Poloneza to the end, I cut across along the Metro spur (the rarely-used line connecting Warsaw's Metro to the outside railway network), below. Looming out of the fog is the new viaduct being built to carry ul. Hołubcowa over the S2. It's quarter past seven and workers are already busy on the building site, along the length of the S2.

Ul. Hołubcowa is very busy at this time of the morning. Poloneza may have re-opened, but uncertainty as to whether the boggy, 240m-long dirt-track section of the road will swallow their cars before their get to the new bridge persuades most drivers to stick to Hołubcowa. Below: the crossing of the S2. My guess is that the road-builders will want to close this crossing to traffic before the viaduct is ready. This will cause huge problems to drivers; there will be no alternative but to use the treacherous ul. Poloneza.

Having passed the handful of houses at the far end of ul. Krasnowolska, I proceed through Grabów (which starts at the Metro railway line and continues as far as ul. Pląsy - a fearfully boggy track linking Poloneza and Taneczna beyond to the DHL depot on ul. Osmańska. We are less than six miles (9.5km) from the very centre of Warsaw, and yet the landscape is entirely countryside. Below: mugwort, the characteristic plant of these parts, turns black and brittle when it dies; the result looks like the fields on either side of Hołubcowa have been scorched by fire.

Below: fewer cars use the northern end of Hołubcowa, but I suspect traffic will intensify as more corporate employers move into Poleczki Business Park. Every single car that passed me was clearly marked as a company vehicle; private car owners would not risk their pride-and-joy along this road. It looks OK now, but we've have several dry days.

Near the end, out of Grabów and into Wyczółki. Hołubcowa ends abruptly on ul. Jakuba Mortkowicza; in theory Hołubcowa should join Poleczki; in practice it is cut off by the business park, and stump of road calling itself Hołubcowa runs between the buildings and out on the main road. There's even a bus stop called Hołobcowa on Poleczki, though it only serves the northernmost outpost of this 4km-long thoroughfare.

Below: barakowóz (barrack-wagon) parked up along ul. Jakuba Mortkiewicza, named after printer, publisher and co-founder of newsagent chain RUCH. Beyond the sheet-metal fencing, Poleczki Business Park, where more new office blocks will soon spring up.

Along with ul. Poloneza, ul. Hołubcowa is yet another example of a road that the city authorities have ignored despite hugely increased traffic volumes. The development of the Służewiec office district, the growth of cargo businesses (such as DHL on ul. Osmańska for one) around the airport and the suburbanisation that's occurred south of Warsaw's borders mean that these two dirt-tracks, once exclusively used for moving tractors from one field to another, have taken on a new significance for the city's traffic flows. And yet the authorities have done next to nothing to recognise this.

Measuring up: Hołubcowa Bis

They are here, measuring up. Marker posts, sprayed orange, setting out where the new road, Hołubcowa Bis, will run. I wrote about this nearly three years ago; it now seems that the first steps are being taken. Surveyors have been moving about the land, placing their markers. In itself, this does not mean that roadworks are imminent. Back in January 2009, I observed similar markers being laid down along ul. Karczunkowska; I was expecting pavements along its length - to this day, they are still merely a dream of local residents.


Left: Looking south from the pedestrian railway crossing at ul. Kórnicka. On the ground, a fluorescent marker post. Several more are set out between here and ul. Karczunkowska. Question is - how long will it be before this pastoral scene becomes a suburban asphalted road. On the one hand, it will relieve ul. Trombity during the morning rush hour. On the other, some of our countryside will vanish for good, subsumed to the needs of the motorist. And the roadworks themselves, once started, seem to take forever.

Right: looking south towards ul. Kórnicka. Bearing in mind what's going on around Węzeł Lotnisko and ul. Poloneza - it's been well over three years since work started on the S2/S79, and still no sign that it will be completed at any time soon. Once they start - jeden wielki bałagan, Panie, rozbabranie terenu. So - hope for swift start and swift completion? Or that the urzędnicy never actually get round to doing what they planned? Tak źle, i tak nie dobrze. (Yes bad, and yes no good.)

Above: image from Google Earth (turned clockwise to fit - so North is to the right) onto which I've superimposed the planned route of Hołubcowa Bis. Click to enlarge. One engineering problem the roadmakers will have to face is the fact that between ul. Kórnicka and ul. Baletowa, the railway tracks are some two metres above the low-lying and flood-prone land; the roadway will have to be raised to the level of the tracks, and cross two drainage ditches.

This time last year:
High time to leave the car at home

This time two years ago:
The answer to urban commuting

This time five years ago:
Far away across the fields

Death on the tracks

My train to town was late this morning, by a full 40 minutes. I could tell something was wrong when instead of my train an earlier, semi-fast train to Warsaw ran through W-wa Jeziorki without stopping and then the next two trains heading south passed along the northbound platform (below). In the far, far distance, where the rails converge, I could see the lights of a stationary train, somewhere beyond W-wa Dawidy station.

There were no announcements from the level crossing gatekeeper, though it turned out he knew full well what had happened. My train arrived at quarter to ten. Below: on board the train to town, passing the flooded fields, sodden after five consecutive rainy days.

Jeziorki? Bagno, Panie!

We passed the stationary train - a double decker - which I assumed had broken down. Later, in the office, I posted an enquiry on the railway news group pl. misc.kolej, to discover it was not a breakdown, but a suicide.

A reply to my enquiry linked this clip from TVN Warszawa. It appears a 60 year-old man threw himself under the Radom-bound train some time before six am.

The TVN Warszawa reportage makes three interesting assertions. One is that the land between Jeziorki and the airport is 'some bog' ('jakieś bagna'). The second is that the police had 'great difficulty in arriving at the scene'. I am not surprised. Ul. Hołobcowa is one of the muddiest, pot-holed, most impassable streets in Warsaw. The third is the headline - "Death on the tracks near Piaseczno". Twaddle. It happened seven and half kilometers from Piaseczno, three from the airport, four from Ursynów. So the 'near' is a complete misnomer.

A suicide must be an awful experience for the train driver. At the instant the train hits a human being, the driver can do nothing; unlike the car driver than can at least attempt to swerve past. The psychological damage to the helpless train driver may linger for a long long time. Left: Coroner's photo-grapher snaps the scene of the suicide.

Making plans for Jeziorki

I'd not seen these plans before. They are here, on the Warsaw city hall website. Three new roads are planned for Jeziorki. All three are drogi zbiorcze or 'feeder roads'.

To the south, ul. Agaty will run eastwards to connect the new estates of Mysiadło to ul. Puławska - this one I knew about. To the north, ul. Sporna will be stretched westwards to meet ul. Kinetyczna across the railway tracks and across the new S2 expressway. Linking the two - oh horror (says the NIMBY* half of my brain) will be ul. Hołubcowa bis, an extention of the existing Hołubcowa running south across ul. Baletowa, parallel to the railway line, then running south-east through fields, cutting across ul. Nawłocka and ul. Karczunkowska until it runs into ul. Agaty**.

Above: Having crossed Baletowa, ul. Hołubcowa bis will run along here...

Above: ...passing through orchards and fields...

Above: ...and will then swing left to reach ul. Karczunkowska and beyond.

While this will do much to reduce jams on ul. Puławska, this road and the S2 Puławska bis on the other side of the tracks will bring to an end the rural character of the south-west Jeziorki for good. But when will all this happen?

According to the Multi-year Investment Plan of Ursynów district (here), the only planned roadworks for Jeziorki between now and 2013 is the tarmacking of ul. Poloneza (long overdue - it's now baked solid and dusty as anything) and a viaduct over the new south Warsaw bypass.

According to this study by Siskom, the three new feeder roads, the Sporna and Hołubcowa extention and ul. Agaty are due to be built between 2015 and 2020.

So plenty of time - knowing Polish construction timescales, I can add another ten years to that easy. By then, a lovely place in the country will have eased the loss of Jeziorki's semi-rural character.

* NIMBY - 'not in my back yard' - progress by all means, but not when it impinges upon my quality of life. Not a notion I share. Put up or ship out, says the rational half of my brain.

** ul. Agaty, also known as ul. Kuropatwy bis. Bird names (Kuropatwa = Grouse) should stay east of ul. Puławska where they belong. Names of semi-precious stones are a novelty around here. No - this new road should have a musical name, in keeping with the convention of street names of west Ursynów. From the Lambada to the Alpenhorn. So I propose ul. Jazzowa.

This time last year:
The Sublime Aesthetic revisited

This time two years ago:
This is not America. No?
The marshes at the crack of dawn