Czachówek's wild woods in winter

My walk around the manor on Sunday was enlivened by the view of a southbound passenger train approaching W-wa Jeziorki station. On a whim, I jumped on, and bought a return ticket to Czachówek Górny, jumping-off point for a very magickal place, an alignment of ley-lines, a rare atmosphere, and at this time of year, with thick snow on the ground, a place with timeless dreamlike quality.

For 9.78 złotys there and back (two quid!) I was transported 17 kilometres south of Warsaw's borders, to the eternal winter woods, where all was quiet and still; not a breath of wind to stir the snow from the trees.

Arrival. Back in a special place

I have dreamed of such places since childhood. Now here I am.

Just gaze into the gorgeousness of it all; gaze - lose yourself in thought

Could this be the Trans-Siberian, somewhere east of Omsk?

Rows of trees between the tracks

Like a frozen cloud trapped in a thorn bush.

As a child, I always wanted to know what's around the bend

Scramble up the bank to reach a higher viewpoint

Through the trees runs another line... from here to all points of the compass

Long train running: chemicals bound for factories of the west.

Czachówek is a marvellous place to escape the daily urban landscape, and at this time of year it offers scenes from your dreams.

This time last year:
Vistula freezes over downstream of Warsaw

This time last year:
Twilight of the Ikars

This time two year ago:
Polish TV adverts for parapharmaceuticals

This time three years ago:
Jeziorki wetlands in winter
[light snowfall, temperature above zero]

This time four years ago:
A week into Lent

Pavement for Karczunkowska - NOW!

It is at this time of year that as a pedestrian making my way between ul. Trombity and W-wa Jeziorki station or from Puławska to Trombity is really unpleasant. Ul. Karczunkowska still has no pavement (and we are within the borders of the capital city of the EU's sixth-largest member state). When there's deep snow on the ground, I cannot but walk on the asphalt. And when the deep snow has melted, the resulting mud also forces me to walk on the asphalt. Which is dangerous. Dangerous because cars drive far too fast along this straight road. Another Jeziorki resident was killed on this road last October. Two more were injured by cars in November. Making this busy road safe for pedestrians - parents with pushchairs, elderly people, schoolchildren - MUST become a priority for the city authorities.

In the eleven years since we moved into our house in Jeziorki, there have been some improvements. Last summer, three pedestrian crossings were provided, pavements have been provided around the eastbound bus stops, some road signs have been added. But this is not enough. A full pavement - on at least one side of Karczunkowska - is needed.

A busy road

A fast road

A deadly road

No room for pedestrians - no pavements on either side of the road.

At the Puławska end - no space for pedestrians here either.

Cars parked on the verge block pedestrians

Drivers not paying attention

Left: A sign warning drivers of pedestrians, by the junction of ul. Nawłocka and Karczunkowska - except it's obscured by a snow-covered tree. Parts of the road in front of houses usually have pathways cleared through the deep snow, but where fields abut upon the road - no one bothers.You are ankle-deep in wet snow. Not pleasant.

The city authorities claim that buying the land adjacent to the road is prohibitively expensive (costing the provision of 2.3km of pavement at 40 million zlotys, around £8 million/ €10 million / $12 million).

Nonsense. Even if a 3m wide strip had to be purchased all along Karczunkowska (which it doesn't), at current prices, 500 zł/m2 is about right, that's still less than 3.5 million zlotys for buying the land. So 36.5 million zlotys for building the pavement? Rubbish. Right now, land is cheap and builders are happy for whatever work they can get. This is the time to invest in infrastructure - not when the markets recover.

Time for Jeziorki citizens to get militant about this issue - before any more pedestrians are killed. Follow the debate on SkyscraperCity.com here (starts at thread no. 597)

This time last year:
From the train's open door

This time two years ago:
Until the Vistula freezes over

This time three year:
Of sunshine, birdsong and wet socks

This time five years ago:
Dziadzio Tadeusz at 90

Adventures in the Screen Trade - and More

For Moni's recent 20th birthday, I bought her (via Abe.com) two books that will come in Most handy. Adventures in the Screen Trade (1983) and its sequel, Which Lie Did I Tell, subtitled More Adventures in the Screen Trade (2000). Both books were written by Oscar-winning screenwriter, William Goldman. Before presenting the books to Moni, I took the opportunity to read them myself, which delayed the hand-over of the gifts by a fortnight.

And how glad I am I did read both books. Ostensibly, Goldman's books are about Hollywood, but at their heart is a wider truth that we humans love stories, and the way we tell stories - their structure, their inherent truth they carry about our lives, is crucial to their success.

The books are spattered with tittle-tattle about Hollywood stars, but Goldman explains why Hollywood stars are like they are (the entire Hollywood system is driven by the concept of the star to draw the mass audiences). Primarily stars, but studios, producers, directors, cinematographers, editors - and of course writers. All have a part to play in the commercial success of a movie - though at the outset, as Goldman famously states - 'nobody knows anything'. The oft-quoted statistic that of ten Hollywood movies, one will be a blockbuster, three or four will recover their costs and the rest will sink without trace, is proof of the statement.

After so many opportunities not to go ahead with a given project, studios still do; the commercial and critical outcome being completely unknown until the first sneak preview to a real audience. Once a movie has proved its mettle - or failed dismally - only then does everyone knows exactly why. But before it hits the screens - nobody knows anything.

Most informative from a writer's craft point of view are the two sections, one in each book, in which Goldman presents a short sample screenplay based on one of his own stories, and gets Hollywood professionals to critique them. Some are kind, others rip them apart. As you read the critiques - you think - "Yes! And Goldman failed to see that flaw?" or "Well, indeed, writing it that way is better than the original," or "No, that criticism isn't justified". And because neither Da Vinci, nor The Big 'A' were ever made into movies, we just don't know who was right. Nobody knows anything.

Hollywood is about money, it's about commercial success. Not art, or messages. That's left to European 'art-house' cinema. Hollywood at its worst is as disposable as popcorn. Die Hard 5 (Szklana Pułapka 5 in Polish) has just opened in Warsaw; I dare say in 20 years time no one will have even remembered that it was ever made. Yet it will probably make back the tens of millions of dollars it cost to make and a tidy profit on top of that.

Of greater interest to me are the films that do have something to say, contain insight into the human condition. Such films will still be watched in 200 years time. Polish actor Piotr Fronczewski recently said that for him, theatre is 'dom prawdy' - the house of truth, and so should it be of film. Through the artifice of acting - to a live audience or to the camera - the play or the film can give the viewer a more complete understanding and appreciation of what it is to be human.

The greatest movies are those that are both critically and commercially successful. And by commercially, I mean movies that are watched by intelligent audiences in repertory cinemas around the world year in, year out, movies that continue watched on TV and be bought on video, DVD or Blu-ray. It is a better movie that make $5m a year every year for a century than for one that grosses $50m in its first month and is then promptly forgotten.

I disagree with Goldman about the auteur theory - which posits that it is the director who stamps his or her unique artistic vision on the finished movie - is entirely bogus. This may well be the case in Die Hard 5, but the movies I enjoy the most, with a fair smattering of European ones included, are those where it is the director who has something to say.

The books are also about ego and the biology of the big deal. So much frustrated talent - wasted because they are merely the creators, crushed between gigantic egos battling it out on another plane. And remember - no matter how big your ego, how deep your pockets - nobody knows anything. Goldman's reminiscences of independent producer Joseph Levine are particularly telling.

I have learned much from Goldman - and much that can be transferred to other branches of creative endeavour. Having read the books, I can appreciate the importance of structure, timing and message when planning a business seminar. What goes for Hollywood also goes for the music industry as well as theatre. Two excellent books, which can be picked up second hand on Abe.com for a couple of dollars plus shipping.

See also: Why I watch films

This time two years ago:
The sad end of Andrzej J.

This time two years ago:
Drifting home

This time three years ago:
Today's dose of wintery gorgeousness

This time four years ago:
First intimations of spring

Winter returns to Warsaw

Winter's return on Thursday was modest in terms of temperatures (loitering around zero) but accompanied by copious snowfalls. Throughout the week we witnessed conditions improving for the onset of snow.

Ul. Marszałkowska, Tuesday; +6C

Rondo De Palma, Wednesday; +3C. Sunset's an hour later than on solstice.

Ul. Marszałkowska, Thursday morning; 0C; snow's tipping it down.

Al. Szucha, Thursday afternoon; 0C, but snow is settling, getting thicker.

Friday morning, Ul. Puławska, Dąbrówka; -1C. Snow's settled in the trees.

Where's the beef?

Ever since Poland joined the EU, nearly nine years ago, the price of fillet beefsteak (polędwica wołowa) has soared. It used to cost around 25zł a kilo (glory days!); today it's over 100zł. And the quality is questionable (where are those steaks that contain zero gristle or fat?).

I don't eat much meat, but when I do, only the best bit of the cow is good enough for me. There are many cheaper cuts of beef available; they look nice on the supermarket counter, but they are tough as shoe leather unless braised for hours. Flash-fry or grill - and your jaw muscles work overtime before you can swallow these inferior slabs of meat. Fillet steak should be good enough to eat raw (or extremely rare); its tenderness such that only gentle mastication is required, while the taste is supreme. BUT I CAN'T FIND ANY!

Firstly, supermarkets are often entirely out of stock (the chiller label tells you where it is - but the cabinet is empty). Butchers' shops rarely hold polędwica wołowa, but can order it for you (yeah, Mr Beefmonger, but I want it for THIS evening!).

Word is that after Poland joined the EU, the Germans, who love their fillet beef far more than Poles do, have been buying out every last scrag-end of the stuff. The best of what's left in Poland goes to restaurants (check out Butchery & Wine on Żurawia for Warsaw's tip-top meat eaterie), and what's left over is sold in higher-end supermarkets (Alma, Auchan). Carrefour? Forget it (dismal place). Tesco? John Cleese would have more chance of buying some Cheddar from Michael Palin. [Skip film to 1:31 in to see what I mean.]

Y'see, in the mart of competitive commerce - demand drives supply. And when the demand comes from somewhere else, the supply follows. Poland is a huge producer of lamb, and yet very little ever sees Polish chiller cabinets or indeed tables. It's nearly all exported (mainly to Arab countries - Poland has a large but constitutionally-controversial Halal butchery sector).

Polish supermarkets may offer little or no lamb - just as British supermarkets offer little veal. Brits can't bring themselves to eat little baby cows, while Poles can't bring themselves to eat little baby lambs (something to do with the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, I suspect).

And Brits can't bring themselves to eat horses, even when they come conveniently packaged as burgers. But that, dear readers, is a different matter...

Next week, Lent begins, and once more, for the 22nd time in a row, I will be forswearing alcohol, caffeine, confectionery, etc - and meat will be off the diet. My non-meat beefsteak substitute, the whole year round, is tuna, which I shall be eating more frequently - supermarket supply allowing. If no tuna - then fillet of salmon (without skin, without bones). Six and half weeks off meat will be good for my resolve.

This time last year:
Babcia vs. Roma action, Centrum

This time two years ago:
Reasons to be cheerful

This time three years ago:
Skiing in the Beskid Wyspowy

This time four years ago:
What's to be done about Warsaw's unmade roads?
[answer after three years: 'not a whole lot']

This time five years ago:
Jeziorki in the fog
[some lovely photos]

Interpreting, translating and explaining

I admire the work of simultaneous translators, sitting in cabins throughout long and often technical conferences. Equally at home with renewable energy, healthcare reform or financial markets regulation, the interpreter will charge along at the speed of the expert speaker, rendering an accurate Polish (or English) version of the often-ad libbed speech, delivered in English (or Polish).

As a regular moderator of seminars, forums or conferences, I will slip on an ear-piece to the check the quality of what's being interpreted, and more often than not I will be amazed by what I hear. The sheer speed of the interpreters' minds, at being able to turn what's being said in one language into another, is impressive. I'm left thinking - I couldn't do that. "Such an elegant turn of phrase." "Wow! I'd forgotten that word!" "Goodness - I never knew that!"

So whenever I'm signing off a seminar, I always remember to thank the interpreters along with the organisers, hosts, sponsors, and speakers. Simultaneous translation is a high art, and simply knowing two languages does not mean you can do it. Years of experience are needed. I've met interpreters who've done Polish-English for heads of state, members of the Royal Family or prime ministers, and was struck by their humility; they stay in the background rather than try to let their egos shine. An interpreter trying to be a bigger star than the politician or business leader he's translating for will not go far in his career.

I haven't the aptitude to be an interpreter. Translating the written word is a different matter. It's not about instant, there's more time to reflect. My mind is not good at spur-of-the-moment; with me, the penny drops after a while. Whether it's articles or longer pieces, I enjoy the challenge; in particular getting the tone and nuances right. I'll let you into a little secret - these days, I start off copying and pasting into Google Translate, then I spend time getting it right, buffing and polishing the words until they shine. I only translate from Polish into English. My Polish is nowhere near good enough ever be the target language; for me it can only be the source language. Good translation is all about style and tone; the rhythm must be right in the target language. It must sound right to another native speaker when read out aloud. [Deeper thoughts about the subject here]

To translate might not require the same instantaneous presence of mind that interpreting does, but it should still be done quickly. No room here for etymological asides or historical diversions. Get to the point Mr Dembinski, turn those sentences around - we're not in a classroom here, this translation is needed now.

I have learnt that explanations are best left to your students, to the classroom. For those who are genuinely curious as to why it's this and not that, those who require deeper insight into the structure and meaning of language. (And here, more often than not, the internet is a great source of back-up knowledge.) At school, I was taught that there were five verbs of incomplete predication - to be, to look, to appear, to become, to seem. Nonsense! These are all indeed verbs of incomplete predication, but there's more than five ('to sound', for example). What's a verb of incomplete predication? You can't just say 'I become.' You must complete the sentence with an adjective; 'I become happy'. Why not 'I become happily'? 'Happily' is an adverb, adverbs describe verbs (I walk happily). But then 'to walk' is not a verb of incomplete predication... I hope I've explained that clearly!

Clearly. Clarity. Clarity is all - whether you are interpreting, translating or explaining. Communicating clearly what's in your mind to another person. If we could all do that well, the world would be a less exasperating place. Edit. Edit what you're writing - make it sharper, more to the point. And when you're about to speak - edit (in your mind) - get to the point, don't beat about the bush. All this, I have learnt. Or learned.

This time last year:
More than just an Iluzjon

This time two years ago:
Oldschool photochallenge

This time three years ago:
Warsaw's wonderful nooks and crannies

This time four years ago:
Viaduct to the airport at ul. Poleczki almost ready

A visit to the Jewish cemetery, Warsaw

A visit to Warsaw's Jewish cemetery (on ul. Okopowa) was necessary. The 111 bus drew up, heading for ul. Esperanto*. The last stop on the route is a short walk from the gate of the Jewish cemetery, which has existed here since the early 19th Century. The sun had come out, though the temperature was hovering around zero. I've not visited the Jewish cemetery for over ten years; today would be a good day to revisit, and to share impressions on my blog.

The cemetery's very presence is a miracle; given what happened outside its walls. The Warsaw Ghetto occupied the area of the city between here and Pl. Bankowy; after the Ghetto Uprising, its buildings were levelled with the ground. For some reasons, the Germans never got round to destroying the cemetery, using the tombstones as part of the defences of their Festung Warschau. It survived the war and decades of communist-era neglect. It still feels neglected, but today there is a greater appreciation of its significance in Warsaw's history.

Above: the cemetery wall in the background, beyond, a modern development on Okopowa.

Above: grave of the Juljan Wilczyński family (grób Juljanostwa Wilczyńskich). Juljan died before Poland regained its independence; his wife Salomea died between the wars; their two daughters, Julja and Stefanja, both 'died a martyr's death' in the Ghetto - August 1942. A story repeated frequently in the cemetery.

Below: an alley runs westwards from the main path. Note the density of self-sown trees. The wilderness of this cemetery is in marked contrast to the well-tended alleys of the main Powązki cemeteries (civilian and military) bordering with it to the north.

An unusual tombstone in that it is in Cyrillic. Solomon L'vovitch Minkowski died in 1907, when Warsaw was a part of the Russian Empire. There are many tombstones pre-dating Poland's independence, but hardly any are in Cyrillic - most are in Polish, Yiddish or Hebrew. An absence of crosses marks this cemetery as being different from most Polish ones.

Below: granite and marble belong to the ages, sandstone and cast iron don't.

The cemetery requires another visit, after the snows have melted, when the trees are in leaf. The cemetery tells a profoundly powerful story; of a thriving community destroyed by an external hatred and intolerance that must never again be permitted to resurface.  

Pokój Ich cieniom.

* Esperanto was invented by Ludwig Zamenhof, who is buried here.

This time last year:
Under Rondo Dmowskiego

This time last year:
My Most favourite bridge

This time two years ago:
Street lighting under the snow

This time three years ago:
Ul. Poloneza - archival video before the S2 was built

This time four years ago:
Aerial juxtaposition over Jeziorki

The Big Melt

In the opinion of 100% of people I've spoken to this week - friends, colleagues, taxi drivers - this is the worst weather that Warsaw can throw at its citizens. Everyone is unanimous - "give me a sharp frost, -15C, crisp snow on the ground, blue skies - rather than this mucky slush".

Warsaw is drowning in meltwater, there's nowhere for it to go. Giant prisms of filthy ice melt down, rained upon by the sides of roads, brown salty slush thrown up by car tyres from the asphalt onto pavements, dog turds re-emerging from under the disappearing snow - and the rain keeps falling. And then the temperature falls, and the rain comes down as snow again, except the ground's now too warm for the snow to settle.

Below: Looking out of my bedroom window - dismal. The sleet's turning to rain as it urgently makes its way to earth. The remains of the snow are visible on the lawn, on the field beyond, the ploughed furrows are filled with water with a thin icy crust. And under it, thick, cloying mud. 

Below: looking out of from the balcony at the front of the house. The ploughed earth cannot absorb any more water; the next few days will be a test to see how efficient the new drainage system (only partially completed) for Jeziorki is in keeping the fields from flooding.

So much from Jeziorki, where the crows turn back. But what about town? It's ghastly. Below: March of the Foreign Investors' Delegation to the Mazowsze Marshal's Office, ul. Floriańska, Wednesday 30 January. These are not streets for smart business suits or footwear.

A propos of which - my winter footwear (Biedronka boots) are fine for tramping around muddy fields, but do not go too well together with my well-tailored slimline Vistula suits. My Loakes Chelsea boots (both pairs) have been appropriated by Eddie, and anyway they lack a chunky, gripping sole (essential when running for trams); something like that would be suitable for the next two and half months, when there are likely to be fewer sharp frosts.

This time three years ago:
Waiting for the meltdown (a whole lot more snow in 2010 than this year)

This time five years ago:
Warsaw's inadequate airport (since then Terminal Two has been opened, a railway line links it to the city centre and a new road will soon link it to the motorway 'network')