And old thread to pick up on the occasion of my 58th birthday - can consciousness migrate from one body to another? As I've written many a time (just click on the label 'reincarnation?' below for more), I have long held the belief - since childhood - those frequently experienced familiar flashbacks, those anomalous memory events - those brief moments when I'm feeling the precise mood of another time and another place - though not of my lifetime.
Pondering on the transmission mechanism by which this phenomenon may occur, I've considered brain-waves as being receivable by other beings. I've also considered the fact that we are made up of indestructible atoms that last for ever, electrons whizzing around the nucleus for many billions of years. This week, a new possible vector for the transmission of consciousness has turned up.
The Economist has an interesting piece about the bacteria that pass through us and that we give off on many different forms. [Click here to read - register to get three free articles a week.] Here's the key: "People constantly generate puffs of bacteria, even when they are sitting perfectly still... [They] shed bacteria - from their skin, mouths, noses and other orifices - at a rate of about 1m an hour."
Those bacteria have been inside us - and what have they learnt about their hosts? What memories have been encrypted in their structures? Can that be passed on to other living creatures that later play host to the same bacterium?
I discussed this with my brother, who raised the concept of the virome - the collection of all the viruses in the human body. It's not just bacteria that enter our bodies and leave. Could bacteria and viruses collect fragments of our will and memory before passing on to other living beings - like a pen drive picking up data from one computer and taking that same data into the memory of another computer?
The universe is teeming with life: hundreds of billions of galaxies containing hundreds of billions of stars, many of which are orbited by planets on which sentient life has evolved. However, those islands of life are separated by light years of emptiness. The space between galaxies is said to contain but one atom per cubic metre. In between the light generated by stars, and the particles of visible, tangible matter, is dark matter, at present no more than a hypothetical construct devised by physicists to explain the gravitational push causing the expansion of the universe. What it is - scientists are utterly unable to explain. Yet without it (and dark matter is thought to make up the bulk of matter in the universe), the sums don't add up.
So here's another wacky idea. Until such time as science proves otherwise, I'd posit that dark matter is consciousness - the will and purpose of the universe. We come from dark matter, and into dark matter we will return, for our consciousness to be recycled eternally, evolving in awareness, evolving spiritually, until it has journeyed from Zero to One; the One being total awareness of everything.
I'm increasingly confident in my belief that the fundamental truth of life, the universe and everything lies somewhere between the human notion of 'science' and the human notion of 'spirituality'. The poetic mind can 'feel' the truth though not define it in empirical terms. Ideas spread like viruses; they 'infect' one brain then another and catch hold (the original concept of the 'meme'). Some are good and civilising - others are debilitating and disabling. Whether those ideas are scientific or spiritual (or metaphysical), they evolve; the stronger ones displacing the weaker ones.
Many thanks to everyone who sent me birthday greetings by e-mail, SMS, phone call, Twitter or via Facebook or Google+!
This time last year:
Slipping from late summer to early autumn
This time two years ago:
Turning 56
This time three years ago:
Turning 55
This time four years ago:
Turning 54
This time five years ago:
Turning 53
This time eight years ago:
Turning 50
Sunday, 4 October 2015
Saturday, 3 October 2015
Polish politics enter a critical period
Populist politicians can seriously damage their country's macroeconomic fundamentals to the point where their stated aim - making life better for the ordinary citizen - ends up working in reverse. Take Brazil or Venezuela for example.
The interface between politics (which party you vote for) and policy (the competent delivery of a well-organised state) is complex and few voters see it in action.
Members of Parliament, posłowie, deputies - are elected legislators. Their job is to propose laws, shape those laws, vote them into force, thus changing the shape of the state - for better or for worse. The quality of that legislation is crucial, whether it be the transposition of EU Directives into national law, or determining the law at the national level where appropriate.
The law must be simple to interpret - so an administrator (urzędnik) in Białystok will understand the law's intent - and act accordingly - in the same way as an urzędnik in Wrocław or Łódź. To ensure the wording of the law is clear and unambiguous - and reflects the will of the people - legislators, our elected law-makers - must be up to the job. They have to be intelligent enough to grasp the complexity of what they do, and appreciate the consequences of their decisions.
My professional life brings me into close everyday contact with the consequences of Poland's elected law-makers' decisions. Whether it be the digitisation of medical services, municipal waste collection, vocational education, renewable energy or public procurement, I can see how the precise wording and interpretation of the law as it is set out by our elected posłowie has a tangible effect on people's lives. A well-organised state is an efficient and happy state. Bad things happen there less often.
Example. The Sejm is currently debating an amendment to the law on the delivery of medical services, to allow for telemedicine (remote diagnosis). This would allow a doctor sitting at a computer many kilometers from the patient to diagnose symptoms using online tools such as webcams, scans of ECG readouts or e-mails from specialists. Had not some bright spark spotted it, the amended law might have insisted that the room in which the doctor's computer sits be lined with washable tiles. And in the absence of such tiles, the doctor would have been liable to be fined or be struck off. Fortunately, this absurdity was picked up in the draft law's third reading.
My point is this. If you elect pop stars, actors, primary school teachers, farmers - they may mean well - but when it comes down to the nitty-gritty of law making - a tedious and highly detailed activity - their attention may stray from getting the letter of the law right. And the consequences will be felt by us all. If they're not up for the hard grind of the legislative process, they will be letting down the electorate.
Law making should be left to those who can do it. Hustings should be more about competence than charisma. Experience is important, as is intelligence. We need legislators who can hang their egos on the coat peg as they enter the legislative chamber and focus long and hard on the outcome of their deliberations
Yet worse than amateurs in power, I fear idealogues. People who fail to see common sense, because they are guided by one ideology or another. Uncompromisingly they will force their agenda, irrespective of whether it improves the lot of the average citizen.
On Sunday 25 October, we'll be offered the choice of who is to govern Poland for the next four years. Poland is a great European economic success. The economy is currently growing at an annualised pace of 3.6%. No other large EU member state can match that. The danger is that with a populist tax-and-spend, economically nationalist, government in power, foreign investment will be discouraged, jobs growth will cease, entrepreneurs will up sticks and move elsewhere, inefficient state enterprises will be propped up with taxpayers' money, and rent-seeking cronyism will take hold.
So who to vote for? Until Ryszard Petru nailed his colours to the mast, I'd have stuck with PO. But they are a spent force, especially after the departure to Brussels of Donald Tusk. They have become stale, complacent. They need a jolt of reformist zeal. This could come from a junior coalition partner like Ryszard Petru and his .nowocześni party.
Polling 8.1% in yesterday's Radio ZET opinion survey, .nowocześni are in the running to make it over the 5% threshold and get into parliament. Despite the polls' increasing unreliability, it seem certain that Petru's party will make it into the next Sejm. The question who else of the smaller parties will.
The big question mark is Kukiz '15. Without any real policies, their support is evaporating from poll to poll. A protest party that can offer no meaningful alternative, it is currently polling around 6%-7% - enough to get into Sejm, but a far cry from the 20% that Paweł Kukiz polled in May's presidential election.
There's three weeks to go; the election will be crucial. The outcome can be either 'steady as she goes' with a PO-led coalition roughly continuing on a similar course the past eight years - though hopefully with a jolt of Petru, or turn in a populist, amateur, shambolic direction that would shame Poland internationally and harm its healthy economic growth prospects.
I shall be voting for Ryszard Petru and .nowocześni. (Those of you who follow me on Twitter will have gathered that by now!)
More on Polish politics between now and the election!
This time two years ago:
First intimation of new Biedronka store for Jeziorki
This time four years ago:
Moni leaves home for Łódź film school
This time five years ago:
Out and about in Jeziorki
This time six years ago:
Funeral of Lt. Cmdr. Tadeusz Lesisz
This time seven years ago:
Puławska by night
The interface between politics (which party you vote for) and policy (the competent delivery of a well-organised state) is complex and few voters see it in action.
Members of Parliament, posłowie, deputies - are elected legislators. Their job is to propose laws, shape those laws, vote them into force, thus changing the shape of the state - for better or for worse. The quality of that legislation is crucial, whether it be the transposition of EU Directives into national law, or determining the law at the national level where appropriate.
The law must be simple to interpret - so an administrator (urzędnik) in Białystok will understand the law's intent - and act accordingly - in the same way as an urzędnik in Wrocław or Łódź. To ensure the wording of the law is clear and unambiguous - and reflects the will of the people - legislators, our elected law-makers - must be up to the job. They have to be intelligent enough to grasp the complexity of what they do, and appreciate the consequences of their decisions.
My professional life brings me into close everyday contact with the consequences of Poland's elected law-makers' decisions. Whether it be the digitisation of medical services, municipal waste collection, vocational education, renewable energy or public procurement, I can see how the precise wording and interpretation of the law as it is set out by our elected posłowie has a tangible effect on people's lives. A well-organised state is an efficient and happy state. Bad things happen there less often.
Example. The Sejm is currently debating an amendment to the law on the delivery of medical services, to allow for telemedicine (remote diagnosis). This would allow a doctor sitting at a computer many kilometers from the patient to diagnose symptoms using online tools such as webcams, scans of ECG readouts or e-mails from specialists. Had not some bright spark spotted it, the amended law might have insisted that the room in which the doctor's computer sits be lined with washable tiles. And in the absence of such tiles, the doctor would have been liable to be fined or be struck off. Fortunately, this absurdity was picked up in the draft law's third reading.
My point is this. If you elect pop stars, actors, primary school teachers, farmers - they may mean well - but when it comes down to the nitty-gritty of law making - a tedious and highly detailed activity - their attention may stray from getting the letter of the law right. And the consequences will be felt by us all. If they're not up for the hard grind of the legislative process, they will be letting down the electorate.
Law making should be left to those who can do it. Hustings should be more about competence than charisma. Experience is important, as is intelligence. We need legislators who can hang their egos on the coat peg as they enter the legislative chamber and focus long and hard on the outcome of their deliberations
Yet worse than amateurs in power, I fear idealogues. People who fail to see common sense, because they are guided by one ideology or another. Uncompromisingly they will force their agenda, irrespective of whether it improves the lot of the average citizen.
On Sunday 25 October, we'll be offered the choice of who is to govern Poland for the next four years. Poland is a great European economic success. The economy is currently growing at an annualised pace of 3.6%. No other large EU member state can match that. The danger is that with a populist tax-and-spend, economically nationalist, government in power, foreign investment will be discouraged, jobs growth will cease, entrepreneurs will up sticks and move elsewhere, inefficient state enterprises will be propped up with taxpayers' money, and rent-seeking cronyism will take hold.
So who to vote for? Until Ryszard Petru nailed his colours to the mast, I'd have stuck with PO. But they are a spent force, especially after the departure to Brussels of Donald Tusk. They have become stale, complacent. They need a jolt of reformist zeal. This could come from a junior coalition partner like Ryszard Petru and his .nowocześni party.
Polling 8.1% in yesterday's Radio ZET opinion survey, .nowocześni are in the running to make it over the 5% threshold and get into parliament. Despite the polls' increasing unreliability, it seem certain that Petru's party will make it into the next Sejm. The question who else of the smaller parties will.
The big question mark is Kukiz '15. Without any real policies, their support is evaporating from poll to poll. A protest party that can offer no meaningful alternative, it is currently polling around 6%-7% - enough to get into Sejm, but a far cry from the 20% that Paweł Kukiz polled in May's presidential election.
There's three weeks to go; the election will be crucial. The outcome can be either 'steady as she goes' with a PO-led coalition roughly continuing on a similar course the past eight years - though hopefully with a jolt of Petru, or turn in a populist, amateur, shambolic direction that would shame Poland internationally and harm its healthy economic growth prospects.
I shall be voting for Ryszard Petru and .nowocześni. (Those of you who follow me on Twitter will have gathered that by now!)
More on Polish politics between now and the election!
This time two years ago:
First intimation of new Biedronka store for Jeziorki
This time four years ago:
Moni leaves home for Łódź film school
This time five years ago:
Out and about in Jeziorki
This time six years ago:
Funeral of Lt. Cmdr. Tadeusz Lesisz
This time seven years ago:
Puławska by night
Thursday, 1 October 2015
Optimising travel to work
The world's cities are changing, technology is advancing. The old model changes yielding place to the new. Driving into the centre of the city from a distant exurb is soooo outmoded, and yet it seems on a day like today that half of Warsaw's working population has driven itself into town, clogging up the capital's arteries for public transport. [And interesting article in Gazeta Stołeczna last week suggested that first-time property buyers in Warsaw seek small - like 20 sq.m. - flats built and equipped to a high standard in good central locations rather than larger flats further out.]
Gone is September, when I could catch the 319 bus from Trombity bus stop at 08:19, arrive at Metro Wilanowska, pursuant to the ZTM's timetable, at 08:41, and thus be able to stride into the office at 08:55. This morning, the 319 pulled into Metro Wilanowska at 08:55. On Monday, this journey took me 20 minutes (ie 50%) longer than in August.
The start of the academic year and the low-temperature morning had a part to play in the jam.
I wrote about the 319 before, a wonderful bus service for me as I'm often the only passenger on board as it picks me up from the bus stop conveniently located 150 seconds walk from home. But by the time it arrives at its destination, Metro Wilanowska, it's nearly full. The bus (only three trips scheduled in each direction, Mon-Fri mornings only) serves to complement the totally overcrowded longer-distance buses running from Piaseczno along ul Puławska, the 709, 727 and 739. At peak times (06:00 to 07:00) there are 23 buses an hour from Karczunkowska to Metro Wilanowska. But between 08:00 and 09:00, there are only 16 buses on this route, three of which are 319s.
Anyway, I get on this bus, pull out my smartphone, and start reading the day's news on Twitter, Poland A.M. and Politico.eu and getting early visibility on overnight e-mails. Time spent on the bus is put to good use. One of the reasons that increasing numbers of people across western Europe are taking to public transport and eschewing the car is the ability to engage with one's mobile device.
Difficult when trying to drive a car at the same time.
On the railway, the long-awaited works are well under way. A new platform is being built at W-wa Okęcie, and there's single-track working between W-wa Okęcie and W-wa Dawidy, which is causing some delay as trains have to let one another pass. Once completed, the modernisation of the line between Warsaw and Czachówek will mean that SKM trains will be able to connect the capital to Piaseczno. This will double (at least) the number of trains on this busy commuter line. It will do a lot to take drivers out of their cars and take to the rails. In the meanwhile, my commute between Jeziorki and Śródmieście takes some five to ten minutes longer than scheduled, which is an acceptable trade-off given the promise of better things to come.
Then there's the matter of the bus lane for ul. Puławska. Long promised, Piaseczno, Nowa Iwiczna, Mysiadło, Jeziorki, Pyry and Grabów wait for an announcement that work will start soon. But no news on the horizon as yet.
There has to be carrot and stick to get car users to abandon their lazy ways. Once Piaseczno has a reversing loop for SKM trains, once Puławska has a bus lane, the use of public transport into town will become more attractive. As does the ability to use time on the bus or train to tweet or to connect with friends via Facebook or catch up on office work. And using public transport, one is forced to walk - to the bus stop, to the train station, from bus stop or station to office - and walking is good for you, while sitting in a car in a traffic jam is not. Another carrot is financial. The cost of a quarterly Warsaw Zone 1 travel card is a mere 250 złotys (£45). This works out at 2.90 złotys a day (45p).
You're either part of the problem (sitting one-per-car on your short journey to work, co-creating traffic jams) or you're part of the solution (using public transport or using two wheels to get to town).
This time last year:
My enemy's enemy is also my enemy [Putin and ISIS]
This time four years ago:
Cadillac Eldorado convertible cruises through Jeziorki
This time five years ago:
A whiff of the past
This time seven years ago:
Ul. Poleczki finally finished
This time eight years ago:
Early autumn moods, Jeziorki
Gone is September, when I could catch the 319 bus from Trombity bus stop at 08:19, arrive at Metro Wilanowska, pursuant to the ZTM's timetable, at 08:41, and thus be able to stride into the office at 08:55. This morning, the 319 pulled into Metro Wilanowska at 08:55. On Monday, this journey took me 20 minutes (ie 50%) longer than in August.
The start of the academic year and the low-temperature morning had a part to play in the jam.
I wrote about the 319 before, a wonderful bus service for me as I'm often the only passenger on board as it picks me up from the bus stop conveniently located 150 seconds walk from home. But by the time it arrives at its destination, Metro Wilanowska, it's nearly full. The bus (only three trips scheduled in each direction, Mon-Fri mornings only) serves to complement the totally overcrowded longer-distance buses running from Piaseczno along ul Puławska, the 709, 727 and 739. At peak times (06:00 to 07:00) there are 23 buses an hour from Karczunkowska to Metro Wilanowska. But between 08:00 and 09:00, there are only 16 buses on this route, three of which are 319s.
Anyway, I get on this bus, pull out my smartphone, and start reading the day's news on Twitter, Poland A.M. and Politico.eu and getting early visibility on overnight e-mails. Time spent on the bus is put to good use. One of the reasons that increasing numbers of people across western Europe are taking to public transport and eschewing the car is the ability to engage with one's mobile device.
Difficult when trying to drive a car at the same time.
 |
| "No, the law about not using mobile phones in cars doesn't apply to me because I'm rich so I need to use a 3.5 litre V6 engine to drag me and two tonnes of metal to my office to proclaim my social status. Public transport? It's for the little people." |
Then there's the matter of the bus lane for ul. Puławska. Long promised, Piaseczno, Nowa Iwiczna, Mysiadło, Jeziorki, Pyry and Grabów wait for an announcement that work will start soon. But no news on the horizon as yet.
There has to be carrot and stick to get car users to abandon their lazy ways. Once Piaseczno has a reversing loop for SKM trains, once Puławska has a bus lane, the use of public transport into town will become more attractive. As does the ability to use time on the bus or train to tweet or to connect with friends via Facebook or catch up on office work. And using public transport, one is forced to walk - to the bus stop, to the train station, from bus stop or station to office - and walking is good for you, while sitting in a car in a traffic jam is not. Another carrot is financial. The cost of a quarterly Warsaw Zone 1 travel card is a mere 250 złotys (£45). This works out at 2.90 złotys a day (45p).
You're either part of the problem (sitting one-per-car on your short journey to work, co-creating traffic jams) or you're part of the solution (using public transport or using two wheels to get to town).
This time last year:
My enemy's enemy is also my enemy [Putin and ISIS]
This time four years ago:
Cadillac Eldorado convertible cruises through Jeziorki
This time five years ago:
A whiff of the past
This time seven years ago:
Ul. Poleczki finally finished
This time eight years ago:
Early autumn moods, Jeziorki
Wednesday, 30 September 2015
Out of the Third and into the Fourth
End September, early autumn. Morning spent working from home, late afternoon time to walk and catch some sun and sunset. It's getting cooler and cooler. By tomorrow morning the temperature will have fallen to 5C. We are being abandoned by the sun as, bored with us, it drifts south. Darkness and cold will march in to fill the void.
We've had equinox, equilux, and the first three quarters of this year have passed. A fine, hot, dry summer. Today the onset of autumn feels like it's arrived. Below: W-wa Dawidy at ul. Baletowa.
Below: a LOT Polish Airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliner, SP-LRB, takes off from Runway 15 at Okęcie airport - wind's in the south-east.
Below: the RE8 przyspieszony to Skarzysko Kamienna. This train does not stop at W-wa Dawidy or W-wa Jeziorki. The service stops short of Radom, a bus takes passengers from Lesiów to Radom, from where a train takes passengers on to their final destination. Over three hours journey time.
Sun is setting in the west; to the north, Warsaw's skyline is changing, below. Warsaw Spire gets closer to completion. Within a few years, four or five new towers will rise up around that part of Wola as Warsaw's central business district moves west.
Below: looking east along the S2 in the direction of Ursynów. The bridge over it is carrying the railway line that links Warsaw's Metro to the outside world.
Below: the sun sets under the bridge carrying ul. Hołubcowa over the S2. The Metro's rail link in the foreground. This line is very rarely used - the occasional draisine is all I've ever seen on this track. Having said that - every single piece of rolling stock running on Warsaw's Metro - lines M1 and M2 - has passed over these lines.
Below: in the foreground, the rail bridge carrying the Metro link (which has pedestrian walkways on either side). Beyond, the S2 expressway, Warsaw's uncompleted southern bypass, which peters out a few hundred metres to the east. Underneath, ul. Puławska.
Third Quarter ends and year-to-date stats are due: 2.94 million paces walked since 1 January (up from 2.75 million paces in Q1-3 2014). Average daily paces: 10,778. Last year - a mere 10,095. Average weekly alcohol intake 25.7 units (down from 29.2 units for same period last year) where 21 units is safe drinking and dangerous starts at 50 units per week. New for 2015 - daily fresh fruit and veg intake - average is 4.4 portions a day (five being recommended). Remember - if you don't measure it, you can't manage it!
This time last year:
Inverted reflections
This time two years:
Observations from London's WC1
and Observations from the City of London
This time four years ago:
Civilising Jeziorki's wetlands
This time five years ago:
Warsaw's Aleje Jerozolimskie
This time six years ago:
Melancholy autumn mood in Łazienki
This time seven years ago:
Autumn gold, Zamienie
This time eight years ago:
Flamenco Sketches - Seville
We've had equinox, equilux, and the first three quarters of this year have passed. A fine, hot, dry summer. Today the onset of autumn feels like it's arrived. Below: W-wa Dawidy at ul. Baletowa.
Below: a LOT Polish Airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliner, SP-LRB, takes off from Runway 15 at Okęcie airport - wind's in the south-east.
Below: the RE8 przyspieszony to Skarzysko Kamienna. This train does not stop at W-wa Dawidy or W-wa Jeziorki. The service stops short of Radom, a bus takes passengers from Lesiów to Radom, from where a train takes passengers on to their final destination. Over three hours journey time.
Sun is setting in the west; to the north, Warsaw's skyline is changing, below. Warsaw Spire gets closer to completion. Within a few years, four or five new towers will rise up around that part of Wola as Warsaw's central business district moves west.
Below: looking east along the S2 in the direction of Ursynów. The bridge over it is carrying the railway line that links Warsaw's Metro to the outside world.
Below: the sun sets under the bridge carrying ul. Hołubcowa over the S2. The Metro's rail link in the foreground. This line is very rarely used - the occasional draisine is all I've ever seen on this track. Having said that - every single piece of rolling stock running on Warsaw's Metro - lines M1 and M2 - has passed over these lines.
Below: in the foreground, the rail bridge carrying the Metro link (which has pedestrian walkways on either side). Beyond, the S2 expressway, Warsaw's uncompleted southern bypass, which peters out a few hundred metres to the east. Underneath, ul. Puławska.
Third Quarter ends and year-to-date stats are due: 2.94 million paces walked since 1 January (up from 2.75 million paces in Q1-3 2014). Average daily paces: 10,778. Last year - a mere 10,095. Average weekly alcohol intake 25.7 units (down from 29.2 units for same period last year) where 21 units is safe drinking and dangerous starts at 50 units per week. New for 2015 - daily fresh fruit and veg intake - average is 4.4 portions a day (five being recommended). Remember - if you don't measure it, you can't manage it!
This time last year:
Inverted reflections
This time two years:
Observations from London's WC1
and Observations from the City of London
This time four years ago:
Civilising Jeziorki's wetlands
This time five years ago:
Warsaw's Aleje Jerozolimskie
This time six years ago:
Melancholy autumn mood in Łazienki
This time seven years ago:
Autumn gold, Zamienie
This time eight years ago:
Flamenco Sketches - Seville
Monday, 28 September 2015
Curry comes to Jeziorki
Great was my joy to come home this evening and find in my letterbox a leaflet announcing the presence of an Indian restaurant 1.1km (two-thirds of a mile) or a 13 minute walk from home. Arriving hungry to find at home a hungry son, I suggested to Eddie that we try out the Garam Masala (ul. Puławska 538), located between the corner of Karczunkowska and Lidl.
The leaflet - and the restaurant's website - are enticing and professionally produced. The prices on the menu are around 30% cheaper than the Indian restaurants in town (Rain by India Curry, Arti, Tandoor Palace, Bombay Masala, Namaste India). And the fact that the owners have bothered to take leaflets round Jeziorki - almost entirely restaurant-free - is a very good thing.
We went. We could not find it, climbing to the top of the empty three-story commercial building at that address. I asked the security guard outside, while Eddie googled the restaurant and phoned a helpful waitress for directions. Turns out the restaurant is not in the main building at Puławska 538, but round the corner from the front entrance to the right, screened off from the car park round the side by a wall of conifers. No signage whatever.
We eventually found the gap in the hedge and through it the Garam Masala. Walking in... oh dear. The design is all wrong. Very little ambience of the Raj. Lights too bright. Décor left over from whatever was here before. A delivery rider in his motorcycle jacket sat a table waiting for an order to deliver. A crying infant in a pram, presumably belonging to a member of staff - and worst of all, no other diners seated (it was just past seven pm). Piped Western pop from the '80s and '90s rather than classic Indian music or Bollywood soundtracks. No alcohol licence (as yet), so no chance of washing back the meal with a Cobra or Kingfisher beer. The waitress said that the restaurant opened two weeks ago.
Eddie ordered the classic Chicken Tikka Masala - Britain's favourite, nay, national dish. I ordered a vegetarian main course (Palak Cholle - chickpeas and spinach in a spicy, smoky sauce) with a Lamb Samosa starter and Keema Nan (flatbread stuffed with minced lamb). When the food arrived, Eddie was disappointed. The CTM was orange rather than red, lacked zing and (to me) the sauce tasted like condensed tomato soup with some added spice. My food was fine - all was very tasty, and the portions were generous, meaning there was plenty to take away for breakfast.
I'm aware that when it comes to going out for a curry, Poles have a lot of catching up on the Brits. But among the rapidly growing Polish middle class, well-travelled, well-read and hungry for new ethnic food experiences, Indian food is becoming increasingly popular. Poles tend not to go for intensely hot, spicy dishes, preferring milder, sweeter tastes.
The bill came - it was totally reasonable. I noticed that the number on the top - this was bill no. 22, suggesting that 21 meals had been served here before ours.
I sincerely wish for the Garam Masala to establish itself and survive long-term to become a local fixture, full every night like the Ganesh on Al. KEN. But to do so, the owners will need to focus above all on interior decor and ambience. Make it more Indian - make the lighting more subtle, fill the place with bronze statues of Indian goddesses, the sounds of the sitar and tabla, and ensure the presence of Indian lagers.
Knowing that there's an Indian restaurant at the end of Karczunkowska, just a few paces from the bus stop, and that it delivers take-aways, is a big step forward for Jeziorki. We hope the restaurant will quickly develop, gain a strong and loyal clientele and flourish for many years to come - but first it must fine-tune its offer.
See this post about Indian restaurants in Warsaw, from five years ago.
This time last year:
Why we should all try to use less gas
This time two years ago:
Polish supermarket chain advertises on London buses
This time seven years ago:
Well-shot pheasants
The leaflet - and the restaurant's website - are enticing and professionally produced. The prices on the menu are around 30% cheaper than the Indian restaurants in town (Rain by India Curry, Arti, Tandoor Palace, Bombay Masala, Namaste India). And the fact that the owners have bothered to take leaflets round Jeziorki - almost entirely restaurant-free - is a very good thing.
We went. We could not find it, climbing to the top of the empty three-story commercial building at that address. I asked the security guard outside, while Eddie googled the restaurant and phoned a helpful waitress for directions. Turns out the restaurant is not in the main building at Puławska 538, but round the corner from the front entrance to the right, screened off from the car park round the side by a wall of conifers. No signage whatever.
We eventually found the gap in the hedge and through it the Garam Masala. Walking in... oh dear. The design is all wrong. Very little ambience of the Raj. Lights too bright. Décor left over from whatever was here before. A delivery rider in his motorcycle jacket sat a table waiting for an order to deliver. A crying infant in a pram, presumably belonging to a member of staff - and worst of all, no other diners seated (it was just past seven pm). Piped Western pop from the '80s and '90s rather than classic Indian music or Bollywood soundtracks. No alcohol licence (as yet), so no chance of washing back the meal with a Cobra or Kingfisher beer. The waitress said that the restaurant opened two weeks ago.
Eddie ordered the classic Chicken Tikka Masala - Britain's favourite, nay, national dish. I ordered a vegetarian main course (Palak Cholle - chickpeas and spinach in a spicy, smoky sauce) with a Lamb Samosa starter and Keema Nan (flatbread stuffed with minced lamb). When the food arrived, Eddie was disappointed. The CTM was orange rather than red, lacked zing and (to me) the sauce tasted like condensed tomato soup with some added spice. My food was fine - all was very tasty, and the portions were generous, meaning there was plenty to take away for breakfast.
I'm aware that when it comes to going out for a curry, Poles have a lot of catching up on the Brits. But among the rapidly growing Polish middle class, well-travelled, well-read and hungry for new ethnic food experiences, Indian food is becoming increasingly popular. Poles tend not to go for intensely hot, spicy dishes, preferring milder, sweeter tastes.
The bill came - it was totally reasonable. I noticed that the number on the top - this was bill no. 22, suggesting that 21 meals had been served here before ours.
I sincerely wish for the Garam Masala to establish itself and survive long-term to become a local fixture, full every night like the Ganesh on Al. KEN. But to do so, the owners will need to focus above all on interior decor and ambience. Make it more Indian - make the lighting more subtle, fill the place with bronze statues of Indian goddesses, the sounds of the sitar and tabla, and ensure the presence of Indian lagers.
Knowing that there's an Indian restaurant at the end of Karczunkowska, just a few paces from the bus stop, and that it delivers take-aways, is a big step forward for Jeziorki. We hope the restaurant will quickly develop, gain a strong and loyal clientele and flourish for many years to come - but first it must fine-tune its offer.
See this post about Indian restaurants in Warsaw, from five years ago.
This time last year:
Why we should all try to use less gas
This time two years ago:
Polish supermarket chain advertises on London buses
This time seven years ago:
Well-shot pheasants
Thursday, 24 September 2015
What's the biggest threat - Putin or ISIS?
Depends where you're located, depends on your history. If you're from around here, Central Europe, and you've had experience of the Russian boot stamping repeatedly down on the face of your nation - then it's easy - the answer to the question of the biggest threat to Europe is Mr Putin.
He'll soon be in Moldova; he has his eyes set on Ukraine, Georgia, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Finland, Poland... anywhere that was once part of the Russian Empire at the height of its glory. Here, we've experienced the evil of Russian hegemony, the sending of children to labour camps on account of their parents being deemed 'class enemies'.
But ask a Brit or a Frenchman where the biggest threat to Europe lies - and they will answer ISIS. A group of barbarians devoid of any humanity, ready to saw off the head of anyone who does not believe that the literal word of God has been handed down through the words of the Prophet Mohammed.
The difference is that Central and Eastern Europe has felt Russia's boot on its face, while Western Europe has only felt the threat of ISIS vicariously.
Apart from polonium poisoning of Russian dissidents and aerial incursions by Russian bombers, Britons have little idea of what threat Russian nationalism poses to European civilisation. Their attention is turned instead to the similarly egregious behaviour of Islamic fundamentalism.
Here in Poland, Islamic fundamentalism is not a big problem. The presence of Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad is. For Britons, it's the other way around. The presence of Salafist preachers in the heart of Birmingham, recruiting adherents to its intolerant ideology, of the Rochdale groomings - these are the vital issues that affect the nation today.
Poland has had its Islamic minority - in the presence of Tartars in the north-east - since the 17th Century. They have always pledged their allegiance to the Polish state, and there have never been any problems in their neighbourly relationships with Poles. But then Poland never colonised any Islamic nations, so there's no guilt complex. And so Poland is able to ask its Muslim citizens to stay loyal. And to date, they have been. As have been the Muslim migrants from the Middle East, who have been coming to Poland - in limited numbers - since the 1970s.
The presence of millions of refugees from the conflicts of the Middle East, pressing against the borders of the EU has raised alarm bells across Poland. For each citizen ready to welcome them, there are five or six viewing them as a threat. The vast majority of these migrants are running away from the same barbarism that is abhorred by all civilised people.
All of this should be viewed in the context of Brexit - the Quixotic vision of a glorious Britain, free at last from the shackles of Continental Europe, regaining its dominant global position from 150 years ago, by democratically wriggling free from the constraints of Brussels' bureaucrats.
Since July this year, the percentage of Britons polled who say they wish to leave the EU has overtaken those who say they wish to remain in.
Why? The refugee crisis.
Images of people of Arab ethnicity, wishing to enter the EU (and that includes Britain) in search of safety and a better life, has tipped the scales in the Brexit debate. It's no longer the Polish plumber taking our Wayne's job - it's the mass of ISIS operatives disguised as ordinary Syrian bakers and doctors fleeing from mayhem - that's what's swaying the argument.
But if you live in Poland, you'll have in your immediate family victims of Stalin's repressions. ISIS is a distant and vague threat. There's been no 9/11, no 7/7 here. These attacks claimed thousands of lives. Yet here, Poles have been subjected to mass deportations to the GULAG - hundreds of thousands of them - there have been the 45 years during which the economy has been held back through brutal stupidity imposed by Moscow. Many millions of Polish lives were blighted by the communist regime, which stunted their life prospects. This is tangible, real.
Yes, there were the Nazis. But since the end of WW2, Federal Germany has begged its victims for forgiveness. My Ciocia Jadzia who died last week having survived Auschwitz, lived to the end of her days receiving a German state pension. My mother, deported to a Northern Russian lumber camp at the age of 12, has never even had a word of apology from the USSR or its successor state.
In order for Poland to stand strong against the threat of resurgent Russian nationalism being whipped up by Putin, it needs a strong NATO and a strong EU. A strong EU needs to be composed of strong-willed nations - Germany, France, Italy (...er...) and of course Britain. The UK has for too long wavered, prevaricated, looked on non-issues like straight bananas and metric martyrs, rather than doing what it did in the 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th Centuries - striven to take the lead in Europe.
Poland needs a strong Britain in a strong Europe.
Why is Mr Putin currently meddling in Syria? Apart from the other geopolitical goals in his black heart, there's the jolly sight (for him) of hundreds of thousands of displaced persons from the Middle East causing divisions between the leaders of the EU's 28 member states. Great! More Russian troops in Syria = an even bigger bloody mess = even more refugees = even bigger problems for the EU.
And what's happening in Britain? Isolationism. It reminds me of what was going on in the USA in the late 1930s. Many voices (Henry Ford, Charles Lindbergh, Fr. Charles Coughlin) urged America to stay out of WWII. Yet the urge to protect civilisation from barbarism prevailed.
Today, the forces of barbarism are seen in the Middle East and in the Kremlin. Which is the greater threat to civilisation?
It all depends of where you live - and what your family's experience has been.
Poland should be doing all it can to encourage the UK to remain in the EU - for the good of all mankind.
This time last year:
Scenarios for change in Russia
This time two years ago:
A new bus for Jeziorki - the 809 to Bobrowiec
This time four years ago:
Bunker in Powiśle
This time five years ago:
Sunshine brings out the best in everything
This time seven years ago:
There must be a better way (3)
He'll soon be in Moldova; he has his eyes set on Ukraine, Georgia, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Finland, Poland... anywhere that was once part of the Russian Empire at the height of its glory. Here, we've experienced the evil of Russian hegemony, the sending of children to labour camps on account of their parents being deemed 'class enemies'.
But ask a Brit or a Frenchman where the biggest threat to Europe lies - and they will answer ISIS. A group of barbarians devoid of any humanity, ready to saw off the head of anyone who does not believe that the literal word of God has been handed down through the words of the Prophet Mohammed.
The difference is that Central and Eastern Europe has felt Russia's boot on its face, while Western Europe has only felt the threat of ISIS vicariously.
Apart from polonium poisoning of Russian dissidents and aerial incursions by Russian bombers, Britons have little idea of what threat Russian nationalism poses to European civilisation. Their attention is turned instead to the similarly egregious behaviour of Islamic fundamentalism.
Here in Poland, Islamic fundamentalism is not a big problem. The presence of Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad is. For Britons, it's the other way around. The presence of Salafist preachers in the heart of Birmingham, recruiting adherents to its intolerant ideology, of the Rochdale groomings - these are the vital issues that affect the nation today.
Poland has had its Islamic minority - in the presence of Tartars in the north-east - since the 17th Century. They have always pledged their allegiance to the Polish state, and there have never been any problems in their neighbourly relationships with Poles. But then Poland never colonised any Islamic nations, so there's no guilt complex. And so Poland is able to ask its Muslim citizens to stay loyal. And to date, they have been. As have been the Muslim migrants from the Middle East, who have been coming to Poland - in limited numbers - since the 1970s.
The presence of millions of refugees from the conflicts of the Middle East, pressing against the borders of the EU has raised alarm bells across Poland. For each citizen ready to welcome them, there are five or six viewing them as a threat. The vast majority of these migrants are running away from the same barbarism that is abhorred by all civilised people.
All of this should be viewed in the context of Brexit - the Quixotic vision of a glorious Britain, free at last from the shackles of Continental Europe, regaining its dominant global position from 150 years ago, by democratically wriggling free from the constraints of Brussels' bureaucrats.
Since July this year, the percentage of Britons polled who say they wish to leave the EU has overtaken those who say they wish to remain in.
Why? The refugee crisis.
Images of people of Arab ethnicity, wishing to enter the EU (and that includes Britain) in search of safety and a better life, has tipped the scales in the Brexit debate. It's no longer the Polish plumber taking our Wayne's job - it's the mass of ISIS operatives disguised as ordinary Syrian bakers and doctors fleeing from mayhem - that's what's swaying the argument.
But if you live in Poland, you'll have in your immediate family victims of Stalin's repressions. ISIS is a distant and vague threat. There's been no 9/11, no 7/7 here. These attacks claimed thousands of lives. Yet here, Poles have been subjected to mass deportations to the GULAG - hundreds of thousands of them - there have been the 45 years during which the economy has been held back through brutal stupidity imposed by Moscow. Many millions of Polish lives were blighted by the communist regime, which stunted their life prospects. This is tangible, real.
Yes, there were the Nazis. But since the end of WW2, Federal Germany has begged its victims for forgiveness. My Ciocia Jadzia who died last week having survived Auschwitz, lived to the end of her days receiving a German state pension. My mother, deported to a Northern Russian lumber camp at the age of 12, has never even had a word of apology from the USSR or its successor state.
In order for Poland to stand strong against the threat of resurgent Russian nationalism being whipped up by Putin, it needs a strong NATO and a strong EU. A strong EU needs to be composed of strong-willed nations - Germany, France, Italy (...er...) and of course Britain. The UK has for too long wavered, prevaricated, looked on non-issues like straight bananas and metric martyrs, rather than doing what it did in the 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th Centuries - striven to take the lead in Europe.
Poland needs a strong Britain in a strong Europe.
Why is Mr Putin currently meddling in Syria? Apart from the other geopolitical goals in his black heart, there's the jolly sight (for him) of hundreds of thousands of displaced persons from the Middle East causing divisions between the leaders of the EU's 28 member states. Great! More Russian troops in Syria = an even bigger bloody mess = even more refugees = even bigger problems for the EU.
And what's happening in Britain? Isolationism. It reminds me of what was going on in the USA in the late 1930s. Many voices (Henry Ford, Charles Lindbergh, Fr. Charles Coughlin) urged America to stay out of WWII. Yet the urge to protect civilisation from barbarism prevailed.
Today, the forces of barbarism are seen in the Middle East and in the Kremlin. Which is the greater threat to civilisation?
It all depends of where you live - and what your family's experience has been.
Poland should be doing all it can to encourage the UK to remain in the EU - for the good of all mankind.
This time last year:
Scenarios for change in Russia
This time two years ago:
A new bus for Jeziorki - the 809 to Bobrowiec
This time four years ago:
Bunker in Powiśle
This time five years ago:
Sunshine brings out the best in everything
This time seven years ago:
There must be a better way (3)
Monday, 21 September 2015
Farewell to Ciocia Jadzia
To the cemetery at Bródno for the funeral of Ciocia Jadzia (93), wife of my father's brother, Zdzisław Dembiński. My Wujek Zdzich died in 1973, aged 52. His wife outlived him by 42 years. They are now both buried together in the same grave.
Ciocia Jadzia was with the Home Army (AK) during the Nazi occupation of Poland. She worked in an underground factory making batteries for torches for use by the AK. When the Germans discovered it, she was sent to Auschwitz - the labour camp as opposed to the death camp. As the Red Army approached from the east in January 1945, the slave labour was forced to march into the heart of the Reich. Of 60,000 prisoners made to march west, 15,000 died.
Ciocia Jadzia was a fiery woman who had little time for the communists who replaced the Nazis after 1945. At a political meeting after the war, a communist agitator was trying to whip up support for the new regime, railing against the horrors of Nazi occupation. He mentioned Auschwitz. Ciocia Jadzia stood up and said: "I know about Auschwitz. I was there. Now tell us about Katyń".
She survived the communist era, outliving it by more than a quarter of a century. She died as a grandmother of three and great-grandmother of two.
On a personal level I am grateful for the fact that my children heard her testimony as a first-hand witness of Poland's tragic 20th Century history around the dinner table, and saw the Auschwitz number tattooed on her forearm.
Ciocia Jadzia was not forgotten by the Federal Republic of Germany. As well as a monthly war pension, she had been invited along with other long-lived victims of Nazism to special commemorative events held in Germany, events aimed at reconciliation and forgiveness.
The German response to the horrors inflicted upon Poland stands in stark contrast to Russia's. No formal word of apology to the hundreds of thousands of Poles deported to the GULAG. As far as the Kremlin sees it today, Stalin's arrest and deportation of Poles, Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians into labour camps in the heart of the USSR was justified - even if many of those deportees were children, such as my mother, then aged 12.
As the generation that lived through those dark days passes from this world, it is our responsibility to remember, to write down and pass on those experiences to the next generations, lest they ever be forgotten.
This time last year:
By train from to Konstancin and Siekierki
This time two years ago:
Summer's end, Jeziorki
This time four years ago:
Ząbowska, Praga's newly-hip thoroughfare
This time six years ago:
Catching the klimat
This time eight years ago:
Road to Łuków - a road trip into the sublime
Saturday, 12 September 2015
English as she is used in Europe
I spent the best part of the day editing articles for our (English-language) magazine. Fifteen all told - two written by myself, the rest by various PR and marketing folk working for our member companies. The standard of written English in use in corporate Poland has improved immensely over the 18 years I've been living and working here.
My gripes about common mistakes are getting fewer and fewer - at least in the rarified world of multinational business. Yet one that I find interesting is the lingering use of US English, long after Poland has joined the EU.
Given the default setting in Microsoft Word is US English (you have to manually set it to UK English in the tools/narzędzie menu, and few bother), I find myself annoyed that PR professionals are happy submitting texts to a British business organisation including words like 'center' , 'defense', 'catalog', 'aluminum' and 'labor'. The '-ize' / '-ise' debate rumbles on with Oxford-educated purists siding with Americans in favour of 'standardization across the organization', while Cambridge University goes along with the majority of Britons, Australians, New Zealanders and Irish (and me) in sticking with the '-ise' suffix.
In the tragic event of a Brexit, the EU's default language wouldn't change overnight to German or French (much as both of those nations would like that to happen). It would remain English - though whether it would remain UK English is another matter. Britain's soft power - the power of its version of the English language - would surely wane should it leave the remaining 446 million citizens of the EU.
English is understood by 51% of adults in the EU. (German comes second at 38%.) Across the EU, English is the most widely spoken foreign language in 19 of the 27 member states where it's not an official language. How much of this is the result of BBC and the Beatles, and how much of this Hollywood and Elvis, is a question for future historians. This is where soft power resides - in people's desire to learn a language because they want to embrace the culture - and not because they are forced to do so by an occupier.
In Poland, according to a study conducted by the European Commission's Eurobarometer back in 2012, only 33% of Poles speak English well enough to hold a conversation, yet this is the most-widely spoken foreign language - with German in second place at 19%. But as I wrote last December, the inexorable rise of English as Poland's second language is rocketing ahead. EF Education First, an international education company with Scandinavian roots, conducts a ranking of countries by proficiency in English. Poland came sixth in Europe in last year's ranking. In 2013, Poland was eighth and in 2011, it was 12th. A huge improvement (see Poland's performance in the English Proficiency Index here).
Back in 1990 as Poland was in the throes of political and economic transformation, it was clear that the days of Russian as the principal foreign language were over. There were many Russian teachers and few English teachers. A vacuum for soft power emerged. The French came in, with publishing houses, language schools and literary institutes setting up across newly-free Central Europe with the aid of French taxpayers' money - to no avail. Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Hungarians, Lithuanians, Latvians and in particular Estonians wanted English. English, English, English.
It was the enterprising Americans who spotted the opportunity rather than the stuffy, insular, risk-averse Brits. The first wave of English speakers in Poland mostly spoke with an American accent as a result. They learned to say 'sidewalk', 'elevator', 'wrench' rather than 'pavement', 'lift' or 'spanner'. But then in 2004 Poland joined the EU, and since then the influence of US English has been on the wane, as UK English has rapidly stepped in to take its place. Poles wanting to polish their English are far more likely to seek a native speaker of UK English for conversation classes than US English.
The presence of a million Poles in the UK, where Polish is officially the second-most widely used language after English, makes the cultural ties between the two countries far stronger than between the US and Poland. Outside the US Embassy on Warsaw's ul. Piękna, queues of Poles trying to get a visa have shortened dramatically. Why bother going through the humiliation of an interview to enter the US when the UK is only two hours away by plane and totally hassle-free when it comes to finding employment?
I do fear for what would happen should the UK leave the European Union. It would undoubtedly result in the final fragmentation of the United Kingdom as the Scots - and probably later the Northern Irish too - would up sticks, say farewell to the Monarchy and rejoin the EU. A small, discontented England would wither in global influence, unable to stem the outflow of investment capital to destinations within the world's largest and wealthiest economic bloc.
And on the continent of Europe, English would remain the default second language, but would become tinged with an increasing number of Americanisms.
This time last year:
Where asphalt's needed - Nowy Podolszyn to Zgorzala
This time six years ago:
I cycle to work along the cyclepath along ul. Rosoła
This time seven years ago:
First apple (today, the same tree groans with fruit)
This time eight years ago:
Late summer spiders webs
My gripes about common mistakes are getting fewer and fewer - at least in the rarified world of multinational business. Yet one that I find interesting is the lingering use of US English, long after Poland has joined the EU.
Given the default setting in Microsoft Word is US English (you have to manually set it to UK English in the tools/narzędzie menu, and few bother), I find myself annoyed that PR professionals are happy submitting texts to a British business organisation including words like 'center' , 'defense', 'catalog', 'aluminum' and 'labor'. The '-ize' / '-ise' debate rumbles on with Oxford-educated purists siding with Americans in favour of 'standardization across the organization', while Cambridge University goes along with the majority of Britons, Australians, New Zealanders and Irish (and me) in sticking with the '-ise' suffix.
In the tragic event of a Brexit, the EU's default language wouldn't change overnight to German or French (much as both of those nations would like that to happen). It would remain English - though whether it would remain UK English is another matter. Britain's soft power - the power of its version of the English language - would surely wane should it leave the remaining 446 million citizens of the EU.
English is understood by 51% of adults in the EU. (German comes second at 38%.) Across the EU, English is the most widely spoken foreign language in 19 of the 27 member states where it's not an official language. How much of this is the result of BBC and the Beatles, and how much of this Hollywood and Elvis, is a question for future historians. This is where soft power resides - in people's desire to learn a language because they want to embrace the culture - and not because they are forced to do so by an occupier.
In Poland, according to a study conducted by the European Commission's Eurobarometer back in 2012, only 33% of Poles speak English well enough to hold a conversation, yet this is the most-widely spoken foreign language - with German in second place at 19%. But as I wrote last December, the inexorable rise of English as Poland's second language is rocketing ahead. EF Education First, an international education company with Scandinavian roots, conducts a ranking of countries by proficiency in English. Poland came sixth in Europe in last year's ranking. In 2013, Poland was eighth and in 2011, it was 12th. A huge improvement (see Poland's performance in the English Proficiency Index here).
Back in 1990 as Poland was in the throes of political and economic transformation, it was clear that the days of Russian as the principal foreign language were over. There were many Russian teachers and few English teachers. A vacuum for soft power emerged. The French came in, with publishing houses, language schools and literary institutes setting up across newly-free Central Europe with the aid of French taxpayers' money - to no avail. Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Hungarians, Lithuanians, Latvians and in particular Estonians wanted English. English, English, English.
It was the enterprising Americans who spotted the opportunity rather than the stuffy, insular, risk-averse Brits. The first wave of English speakers in Poland mostly spoke with an American accent as a result. They learned to say 'sidewalk', 'elevator', 'wrench' rather than 'pavement', 'lift' or 'spanner'. But then in 2004 Poland joined the EU, and since then the influence of US English has been on the wane, as UK English has rapidly stepped in to take its place. Poles wanting to polish their English are far more likely to seek a native speaker of UK English for conversation classes than US English.
The presence of a million Poles in the UK, where Polish is officially the second-most widely used language after English, makes the cultural ties between the two countries far stronger than between the US and Poland. Outside the US Embassy on Warsaw's ul. Piękna, queues of Poles trying to get a visa have shortened dramatically. Why bother going through the humiliation of an interview to enter the US when the UK is only two hours away by plane and totally hassle-free when it comes to finding employment?
I do fear for what would happen should the UK leave the European Union. It would undoubtedly result in the final fragmentation of the United Kingdom as the Scots - and probably later the Northern Irish too - would up sticks, say farewell to the Monarchy and rejoin the EU. A small, discontented England would wither in global influence, unable to stem the outflow of investment capital to destinations within the world's largest and wealthiest economic bloc.
And on the continent of Europe, English would remain the default second language, but would become tinged with an increasing number of Americanisms.
This time last year:
Where asphalt's needed - Nowy Podolszyn to Zgorzala
This time six years ago:
I cycle to work along the cyclepath along ul. Rosoła
This time seven years ago:
First apple (today, the same tree groans with fruit)
This time eight years ago:
Late summer spiders webs
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