Happy New Year, 2008

A very happy New Year to all regular Jeziorki blogspot readers, wherever you may be - Massachusetts, Florida, Buckinghamshire, Middlesex, Rheinland Palatinate, London, Kraków, Wrocław or - most numerously - in Warsaw.

2008 was ushered in by a veritable aerial bombardment of fireworks that maintained full-on intensity for over a quarter of an hour. We were surrounded by spectacular bursts, the best of which came from across the way. A light snowfall earlier in the evening added winter charm to the scene. As with the outdoor Xmas lights, New Year's fireworks are historically a bit of a novelty in Poland, but one that's caught on with amazing speed to become a nearly ubiquitous tradition. In terms of tonnes of gunpowder put up into the night sky, this certainly beats Guy Fawke's night.

Final thoughts for 2007

After a few days in the UK, I return to Jeziorki to make the following generalisations:

1) Polish women are prettier than English women
2) British drivers are more considerate than Polish drivers
3) Polish smoked meats (wędliny) are tastier than British cured hams etc.
4) English cheeses are incomparably superior than Polish cheeses, yet are unavailable in Poland
5) All Polish dogs are called either "Hodge" or "Hodge Two".

Xmas lights, Jeziorki

Pretty much every house in Jeziorki has its display of Xmas lights outside. This is a recent social phenomenon. Once it was enough to decorate one's indoor tree; today, it's become pretty much obligatory to put on a decent light show for passers-by. And I, for one, like it. Here in the darkest time of year, the extra coloured lights lift the spirits. Plus, there's the element of competition - no one likes to be outdone by their neighbour.

This year, ul. Sarabandy definitely has the edge over the rest of Jeziorki in terms of the density of its outdoor lighting. Not a single house is devoid of external Xmas illumination. It's a shame that there's been no snow - that would really make the neighbourhood look wonderful.

As I wandered around with my tripod and camera, it occurred to me that our local power supplier, Vattenfall, is sponsoring the Xmas Lights photo competition run by Gazeta Wyborcza. Of course! The more of these lights are on outside people's houses, the greater their electricity bill!

It would, however, be hypocritical of me to criticise, as I get through as much electricity heating our sauna for an hour as the average Jeziorki householder would use illuminating his front garden for the entire night.

Driving down ul. Trombity, the density of external illuminations was slightly lower, but still over two-thirds of houses on our road had lights outside.

So much bigger?

A few years ago, I was flying to London with the children, when we heard the following dialogue in the row behind us: [English passenger] "... of course, Heathrow is so much bigger than Okęcie..." [Polish passenger, incredulously] "SO much bigger?" The phrase (pronounced in Polish 'soł macz biger?') has become a family catchphrase. With its four terminals, a fifth coming on-stream very soon, a third runway and sixth terminal planned, Heathrow is indeed massive in comparison with our local airport. Waiting for our flight back to Warsaw this afternoon, I watched plane after plane coming into land, with a 90 second interval between landings. At any one moment, I could see four planes stacked up the final approach. Below: Heathrow - A Virgin Atlantic Airbus A340 comes in to land as a BA Boeing 757 taxis to its gate. Right: Flying out of Okęcie before Yuletide, I snapped this forlorn view of a LOT Boeing 737 standing on the apron. The majority of planes are boarded via stairs after passengers have been bussed to the apron from the terminal. We still await the formal opening of Terminal 2 for departures. I've long forgotten when it was originally due to open or why its opening has been delayed for so long.

Extreme Drizzle in Derbyshire

Connoisseurs of Discovery Channel's Extreme Weather series probably missed the episode entitled Extreme Drizzle. Filmed entirely on location in the United Kingdom, the episode showed British people facing the onslaught of all-pervasive damp permeating every nook and cranny, soddening newspapers and socks and hankies. Today started thus. Mild for late December (+9C). We set off with Cousin Hoavis to Wirksworth, at the other end of the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway. The quarries, which were the main reason that a railway was built in this picturesque part of Derbyshire, are now the National Stone Centre, an interesting and spectacular place to visit. Wirksworth itself is a most charming village, despite the drizzle.

What a prat.

We were heading out of London on the M1, on our way to a Yuletide feast at Cousin Hoavis's, when a police car with flashing lights and wailing sirens brought all three northbound carriageways to a stop. "Excuse me, officer, why have you stopped all the traffic?" "Well sir, this gentleman in the black Porsche 911 has inadvertently executed a 180 degree turn and slammed into the crash barrier with such force as to wrench the rear offside wheel way out of alignment." Now, as is visible from the photo above, there's a gentle curve on the road, and the 911 does have a tendency to swing tail-out during extreme cornering, in in situations like this (with a 50 mph/80kmph speed limit in force) there's no excuse whatsoever to be driving at such high speeds and executing such violent manouevres as to bring about an accident like this. The outcome I'll leave to the magistrate's court and the insurance company.

Foggy Day In London Town

While Englishmen no longer wear bowler hats and never took tea at five o'clock (Polish readers take note!), their capital is still beset by fog. And most usually, in recent years, at Yuletide. On 23 December, Londoners woke up to fog which hung over their city all day long. Travel chaos hit Heathrow Airport, with scores of cancelled flights. A day earlier, we managed to fly in, albeit with a delay if over two hours. Yesterday marked the Winter Solstice, the shortest day in the northern hemisphere. From now on, each day will get successively longer, all the way through to 22 June. Individual daily differences are most marked around equinox - four minutes or more - while around the solstice days' length varies by no more than seconds. Above: Cleveland Park in thick fog. Below: Pitshanger Park in thick fog.

Bye bye borders

Poland and the other seven central and eastern European countries which joined the EU in 2004 implemented the Schengen Agreement at midnight on 21 December.

As a result, Poland's borders with its EU neighbours (Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Lithuania) have disappeared. Cars, buses and trucks can cross into these countries without even slowing down. Theoretically, it will now be like driving from England into Wales, or from Florida into Georgia. In practice, border patrols will be able to flag down and spot-check vehicles with foreign number plates. Police will be able to continue cross-border pursuits up to 30km (20 miles) from the border.

Gone are signs like this one on the Polish-Czech border that I photographed in early May. Although it says STATE BOUNDARY CROSSING FORBIDDEN, already by spring this year there were no border guards posted at any of the checkpoints.

Above: A different picture however, on the Polish-Lithuanian border (at the end of the this road) in July this year. It was still being guarded by a patrol of well-armed Polish and Lithuanian border troops.

Old border controls still apply to airports until 29 March.

Still in place, and subject to more rigorous control, are the borders with Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast, Belarus and Ukraine. Once infamous for letting stolen cars from western Europe pass on through to markets further east, the European Commission has taken tough measures to ensure these borders are impervious to crime, smuggling and human trafficking. On three visits to the Bieszczady (south-east Poland, by Ukrainian border), I could see brand new equipment - Land Rovers, Honda scramblers, night vision kit, in use with the Polish border guard units. By the Belarusian border, the number of expensive cars on German, Belgian, Danish or Italian number plates heading east at high speeds has dwindled to a handful of genuine tourist vehicles.