"Cześć!"

 

Bringing home the gold

From Radio Polonia

The Paralympic Games, which came to an end in Athens, Greece on the 27 September, the Polish team shamed their able-bodied counterparts by winning 54 medals. At the mainstream Olympics a few weeks ago, the Polish team could only manage to bring home a miserable 10.

The Polish Paralympic Squad, on the other hand, have brought back 19 bronze, 25 silver and 10 gold medals. For instance, Pawel Piotrowski won the gold in the Javelin and Tomasz Blatkiewicz won the same medal in the Shot Putt - an event that also saw Robert Chywa win the bronze medal.

I don’t know if you have ever watched disabled sports, but it can be a moving and uplifting experience. For instance, how do you think that blind athletes compete in the triple jump? The athlete stands at the end of the run-up track while his or her trainer stands at the jumping end. The trainer then shouts or claps rhythmically and the athletes then launch themselves down the track in the general direction of the shouting or clapping. At the very last second the trainer steps aside and the jumper hits the slightly enlarged take off board and then hops, skips and jumps just like an able bodied athlete.

And football is played by the visually impaired simple by having a little bell inside the ball.

The Paralympics has all the attributes – and more – of the mainstream Olympics. The athletes are just as determined and committed. They also, sometimes, cheat.. The 2004 Paralympics saw seven disqualifications for drug taking. There was also the case, four years ago in Sidney, of the Spanish Learning Difficulties Basketball team – which won the gold medal. Afterwards it was discovered that some of the Spanish basketball team did not have learning difficulties at all, and the team lost the medal as a result.

The Paralympics has gained more and more media exposure this time than ever before, and the Paralympic Committee claims that 10 million Chinese and 8 million Japanese watched the opening ceremony. And in the sports bulletins here the Paralympics got very good coverage indeed.

Which is not surprising as the Polish Paralympics team did rather well this time; which cannot be said for the other Polish Olympic team. Poland is still smarting from the terrible performance of its team in Athens a few weeks ago, where they won only three gold, two silver and five bronze.

In fact, if it wasn’t for swimmer Otylia Jędrzejczak – who won the gold in the 200 metres butterfly, and two silvers in the 100 metres butterfly and 400 metres freestyle – then things would have been even more embarrassing.

The Polish Olympic team in Athens can only be described as a Greek Tragedy. In his quarterfinal bout, boxer Andrzej Rżany was so convinced that he was winning that, in the last round, he simply stopped attacking and cruised towards the final bell. So you can imagine how surprised he was to find out that he had actually lost on points. If he had kept fighting he would have reached the semi-final.

A rower, who thought she had won a medal, was disqualified because her boat was too heavy. And in the sailing, a Polish team was disqualified because they had forgotten to pack their lifejackets.

But saddest of all must be modern pentathlete, Marcin Horbacz. In the first three events, fencing, swimming and shooting, Marcin was in the silver medal position. And then came the show jumping. Now, in show jumping, the pentathletes can’t use their own horses - they draw lots. You get what you are given. Unfortunately, what Marcin was given was not so much a horse, as a juvenile equine delinquent. The horse appeared to have never seen a show jumping fence before in its life. Each time Marcin asked the horse to jump over a fence it promptly tried to dive under it. This went on for the entire round. Fence after fence was demolished. Finally, Marcin retired, and finished the competition in 32nd place. It’s not known what has happened to the horse, but I think it probably had an appointment with the knackers yard.

.The head of the Polish team has blamed the government, who are completely uninterested in sponsoring and encouraging their athletes, he says.. And this maybe so. But the excellent performance of the Polish paralympic team has shown that good performances can bring home the gold.

posted by: Oborski at 16:52 | link | comments |

Explosion Hits Warsaw Building

An explosion hit an office building in Warsaw. Windows were blown out on the 7th floor of the building situated close to the capital’s central business district.Firefighters report there were no casualties. It is suspected that the explosion might have caused structural damage. Inhabitants of nearby buildings have been evacuated.Police is investigating the causes of the blast.

posted by: Oborski at 16:49 | link | comments |

HEARD IN PASSING

From Warsaw Voice

"Let your love be as strong as the bars of this cell."
-Lawyer of Halina G., sentenced to eight years in prison for being an accomplice in a murder, during the wedding ceremony of his client, held in the prison building

"The problem of corruption will disappear when 70 percent of society is rich."
-Sejm Speaker Józef Oleksy during a meeting with school principals, arguing they should not give in to the media stereotype of corrupt politicians

"The left, instead of taking care of the poor, only offered lofty babble about reforming state finances and reducing social expenditure."
-Jacek Zdrojewski, leader of the Mazovia region of the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD), on why the SLD has lost most of its electorate

"Optimism comes easier when you don't know what you're talking about."
-Minister of Infrastructure Krzysztof Opawski

"Society should not deceive itself with news that production growth in some sectors of the economy will result in better living conditions. For Poles, this may be just as significant as the high production of bananas at African foreign-owned plantations is for the blacks."
-Bishop Edward Frankowski during a sermon on Poland's socioeconomic situation

"Each minister leaves a trace; this will be my trace, and time will tell whether I was right."
-Liljana Colic, education minister in the Serbian government, on her decision to ban teaching of Darwin's theory of evolution in Serbian schools until a new textbook is prepared that presents the theory of creationism

posted by: Oborski at 16:46 | link | comments |

The Poles Are Coming

From Warsaw Voice

Despite vacations and heat waves, politics don’t leave the Poles alone even in their sleep, including Polish youth.

Recently, just before leaving for the Olympic Games in Athens, a young weight lifter, Aleksandra Klejnocka, had a nightmare. She was being chased by a bus driven by socialist ex-Prime Minister Leszek Miller. “I yelled with all my might—Mr. Miller, I’m one of your supporters, please don’t run me over,” said the terrified girl. At the peak of Miller’s career, women didn’t run from him but flocked to him because he stated proudly that a man is recognized not by how he starts things, but how he finishes them. Miller began as the superman of Polish politics, the Polish Berlusconi, and ended up as a young woman’s nightmare.

The Poles haven’t forgotten about their politicians, but politicians have clearly forgotten about the Poles. The parliament has vanished for a couple of weeks—and quite interestingly, so has Marek Belka’s episodic government. The very government which has just a few months until the elections and loads of work to finish. The government is doing nothing because it’s not at home. The ministers are scaring Poles in the forests and on the lakes. The deputies aren’t passing any resolutions because they’re also not there. The deputies aren’t there, but they must be in high spirits since the leader of this charming company, Sejm Speaker Józef Oleksy, said this to calm down his compatriots’ nervous mood: “God created the world in seven days, what’s the problem with preparing a new law in two weeks?” Too bad if Oleksy’s as successful at lawmaking as God was at creating the world.

The deputies are doing their scary act on vacation, while Ludwik Dorn, leader of the rightist Law and Justice is scaring people in the hospital. After a series of ardent orations condemning the special healthcare system for politicians, as soon as he bruised himself while on vacation, this intrepid warrior against privileges for the political class checked himself into the VIP ward of a Warsaw hospital. The paper that photographed Dorn in hospital impudently called the right wing’s man of destiny a hypocrite.

The puritan deputy’s colleagues, who govern in Warsaw are continuing their battle for the purity of political life. The extremely busy team of Mayor Lech Kaczyński is raising clouds of dust everywhere, working so hard to combat corruption. The battle dust slightly dirtied the humble quarters of Janusz Fota, responsible for Warsaw’s streets and bridges, so he exchanged them for a new apartment. Such a worthy fighter against corruption surely deserved a nest in the Old Town—for a price eight times cheaper than on the free market. After a few weeks of scandal, Mayor Kaczyński realized something was wrong and gave Fota a choice: his official post or the apartment. Fota chose the apartment. That’s one brave rightist less.

Despite this, the people of Warsaw show unrelenting faith in their local government. The Municipal Road Board announced a competition to find a name for the new tunnel along Wisłostrada, the street running next to the Vistula; the tunnel’s construction had been accompanied by a number of strange phenomena. First its completion was repeatedly delayed, and once built it turned out to have cost one-fourth more than expected. Eighty percent of Varsovians voted to name the project “The Swindle.”

Whoever thinks fighting against corruption in local governments is a simple matter is wrong. In the royal city of Cracow, instead of listing his assets in the mandatory property declaration, one of the town councilors simply wrote “Kiss my ass.”

Some local governments show great concern for their town’s image. Piła had a problem with its coat of arms recently. Councilors noticed that the town’s symbol, a stag, lacked sex traits. “We don’t want a castrate on our coat of arms, we want a true stag,” the Town Council chairman said pointedly.

There’s progress in Polish local politics—the stag from Piła is going to have balls.

Despite the heat, some politicians in Poland, also at the national level, hold dear the image of their country and offer bold visions for its future.

During his visit to the UK, in a flush of enthusiasm, President Aleksander Kwaśniewski ambiguously called Poland the China of Europe. The president didn’t explain to the nation of knights and poets what he actually meant. The nation is perplexed: either the president wants the Poles to eat Peking duck instead of bigos, or he’s going to throw the opposition in jug at any moment.


The slight tinge of cosmopolitanism characteristic of the president meets with resistance from groups attached to traditional Polish values. Brussels was recently visited by a delegation of local government officials from Gliwice in Silesia. The mission caused a conflict. The opposition claimed Gliwice county’s promotional budget had been severely depleted as a result. The delegates replied they had taken Poland’s age-old treasures as promotional items to Brussels: kiełbasa and vodka.

The Catholic rightists are being touchy about Poland’s international image. The Polish Season in France included a report from the famous festival of Jewish culture in Cracow. The high-circulation Catholic daily Nasz Dziennik hit the nail on the head. “As its name clearly says, the Season was supposed to show Polish, not Jewish, culture,” the paper condemned wasting of public money to promote filthy mayufes instead of the beautiful and pure mazurka.

Making sure Poland stays in international headlines is Nasz Dziennik’s favorite, ex-chaplain of Solidarity, Prelate Henryk Jankowski. He’s in trouble because prosecutors are investigating whether accusations that he molested minors are true. Father Jankowski had no doubts as to whose doing this is and has said so: he is the victim of a Judeo-Communist conspiracy. Since the Judeo-Commies are rife in the media, a crowd of pious Poles battered a Polsat television reporter hanging around Father Jankowski’s church in Gdańsk. The police did not intervene, and the bizarre shabbos-goy from Polsat ran screaming to the prosecutors to complain about the behavior of the true Poles.
Gdańsk was prominent in the world media in times that were better for Father Jankowski, in August 1980, when Lech Wałęsa’s Solidarity was founded. Recently Gdańsk’s rightists motioned that the city’s central traffic circle be named after Ronald Reagan. According to his Gdańsk fans, Reagan was the man who made August 1980 possible. The only problem is, Reagan became president five months after the great August events.

There’s lots that divides the Poles, but some things unite them.
For example, a fondness for storks. In Poland, this large and heavy bird is a symbol of fertility and that’s the direction Poles should be going in. If Poland wants to dominate in the united Europe in accordance with its new constitution, by November 2009 it has to have produce 250 million new citizens. The appeal from Fakt daily, which published these calculations, was immediately answered by true Polish mothers: “We are prepared to give birth to children for Poland.” Europe beware, the Poles are coming.

There are other things to unite the Poles. Every seventh Polish man wears a mustache. This makes Poland the absolute leader in Europe, because only every 50th German and 400th effeminate Frenchman has a mustache.

A nation whose soccer players lose to Denmark one to five, and are out of breath running to get the morning paper, has to be best at something goddammit.

posted by: Oborski at 16:41 | link | comments |

Welcome to Arkadia!

posted by: Oborski at 01:55 | link | comments |

Intelligence Matters

Letter from Poland
From Radio Polonia

A new study has concluded that, on average, Poles have the third highest IQ in Europe. So what were all those dumb American Polack jokes about then?

You must have noticed that people have become very interested in finding out their IQ scores. If you have been on the Internet recently then you will probably have been confronted with one of those extremely annoying pop-up adverts inviting you to ‘test your IQ’. And this obsession is not just confined to the Internet. Last October, the private Polish TV station, TVN, ran a programme entitled The National IQ Test, where viewers were invited to test their intelligence along with a few in-studio celebs. And I have seen exactly the same type of programme in Britain.

Now comes the revelation that Poles have an above the European average crop of brain cells. Apparently only two countries in Europe – Germany and Holland – attain higher IQ scores. And this latest finding concurs with an earlier study, which again put Poland third from the top in Europe. Poles achieve an average score of 108.03 – which is, of course, 8.03 better than the average European.

And here’s an interesting fact – maybe: to get into the American version of Mensa you have to have an IQ score of 135 or above. To get into the Polish Mensa you need a score of at least 148.

So if Poles are so intelligent, then why were they (are they?) for so many years, the butt of jokes in America? You know the sort of thing: How many Poles does it take to change a light bulb, etc. Even in the age of Political Correctness, the Internet still crawls with this sort of rubbish.

But telling these jokes in public can get you into a lot of trouble. In 1998, Ted Turner, the founder of CNN, was, for some reason, making a speech to delegates from the National Family Planning and Reproductive Association in Washington DC. He was talking about how great contraception was when he was asked by someone in the audience what he thought of the Pope – who, of course, isn’t particularly keen on condoms and the like. After a moments thought, Ted Turner answered (strangely) by telling a Polack joke. “What do you call a Polish mine detector?” asked Turner jocularly, and then pointed at his boot.

Boom, boom.

Have you picked yourself up off the floor yet? Good. I have heard English people tell exactly the same joke about the Irish. All nationalities seem to find some group of people for the butt of their jokes. The French used to tell jokes about the Belgians - maybe they still do. The Belgians told jokes about…other Belgians. The Canadians told jokes about people from Newfoundland.

The Poles, by the way, used to tell the same type of jokes about people from a little town in Poland called Wachock. For instance: Why did the Major of Wachock buy a round field? Because he bought his horse from a circus.

Sigmund Fraud, though not noted for his joke telling prowess, certainly wrote lots about jokes. He thought that jokes were a way of escaping from psychological repression. Jokes were a way of saying the unsayable. All very interesting, but it doesn’t explain why certain groups of people are picked on in this way. Nor does it tell us why some Americans thought that Poles were a bit thick.

I have heard many different explanations for this – ranging from the demographic characteristics of those early immigrants to the US from Poland, to the type of syntax used by Poles when learning English.

Not long ago I read a book by Christie Davies, called The Mirth of Nations. Davies is a joke sociologist – he analyses why nations tell jokes. The book was the full of the usual impenetrable sociological theorising; but basically, he was saying that people tell jokes, not as a release from their repression, or to relieve pent up aggression between ethnic groups, but simply because they are funny. (Sociologists have always been good at stating the bleedin’ obvious)

Well, when Ted Turner told his unfunny joke to the National Family Planning and Reproductive Association in Washington DC, Poles were not amused. In fact, a Polish foreign minister announced that Turner was a racist and a bigot, and that if he didn’t apologise, quick, then, “there would be financial consequences.” Turner did immediately apologise, of course, to the whole of Poland; all 39 million of them.

So making jokes about Poles and how thick they are is no longer acceptable, mainly because these jokes do not comply with reality. Poles seem to do particularly well in IQ tests for some reason, as the latest study proves.

But if Poles are the third most brainy Europeans (on the basis of IQ scores) then who are the least brainy? Well, with an average score of 96.1 - and that’s 12 below the Polish score - it’s…the French.

Holland	Amsterdam	109.4
Germany	Hamburg	109.3
Poland	Warsaw	108.3
Sweden	Stockholm	105.8
Yugoslavia	Zagreb	105.7
Italy	Rome	103.8
Austria	Vienna	103.5
Switzerland	Zurich	102.8
Portugal	Lisbon	102.6
Great Britain	London	102.0
Norway	Oslo	101.8
Denmark	Copenhagen	100.7
Hungary	Budapest	100.5
Czechoslovakia	Bratislava	100.4
Spain	Madrid	100.3
Belgium	Brussels	99.7
Greece	Athens	99.4
Ireland	Dublin	99.2
Finland	Helsinki	98.1
Bulgaria	Sofia	96.3
France	Paris	96.1

posted by: Oborski at 19:18 | link | comments |

Polish Confidence Vote Seen In October

Polish Prime Minister Marek Belka indicated he would seek a key confidence vote in parliament in early October. The PAP news agency reported Belka as saying the vote would take place in the week following the submission of the state budget for parliamentary approval, which is scheduled for late September. Belka, who was quoted as saying he was optimistic about the confidence vote, will need to maintain the support of rebels from his ruling Democratic Alliance party and from parliamentarians in other parties whose support for the Democratic Alliance has not been reliable in the past. Belka must win the confidence vote if Poland is to avoid a new round of parliamentary elections. Most analysts say he is likely to survive, but only just.

posted by: Oborski at 19:15 | link | comments |

The new Warsaw Village Band CD is now available direct from Jaro!

posted by: Oborski at 13:49 | link | comments |

Moving stories from two wars...

POLITICIANS in Wyre Forest have put pen to paper for two very different accounts of life during wartime.

posted by: Oborski at 17:55 | link | comments (1) |

Warsaw Village Band on tour...

29.10.2004 - UK - Stirling, Scotland
30.10.2004 - UK - Edinburgh,Scotland - Queens Hall
31.10.2004 - UK - Dumfries, Scotland - Theatre Royal
02.11.2004 - UK - York - National Centre For Early Music
03.11.2004 - UK - Ottey, England - Otley Courtyard
04.11.2004 - UK - Norwich - Arts Centre
05.11.2004 - UK - Dartington
06.11.2004 - UK - London, Purcell Room
07.11.2004 - UK - Isle of Wright

Visit Warsaw Village Band online.

New Album late October...

 

 

 

 

 

 

posted by: Oborski at 01:04 | link | comments |

Warsaw Village Band

Warsaw Village Band play Purcell Room in London on evening of 6th November. Tickets £14.

posted by: Oborski at 03:28 | link | comments |

Polish Parliament Honours Beslan Victims

The Polish Parliament has stood for a minute’s silence and passed a unanimous resolution in homage to the victims of last week’s tragic school hostage crisis in Beslan, southern Russia.
‘We condemn the crime for which there is no justification. Killing defenceless children goes beyond all limits of cruelty’, reads the resolution. It adds that ‘violating the moral principles on which human civilisation is based is always a defeat for all of humanity.

posted by: Oborski at 08:53 | link | comments |

Radio Polonia Reports...

A Change of Heart on America?

Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski has issued an impassioned plea to the Washington administration to be ‘flexible, open and gracious’...
His interview with the New York Times has provoked a good deal of surprise in Warsaw.
Michal Kubicki has more.

The interview is generally seen as a veiled criticism of the US foreign policy. President Kwasniewski said he did not want America to have full dominance in the world and to play a divide-and-rule policy. It is a mistake – he added. He also said he felt hurt by Washington’s visa requirements on Poles.
For Robert Strybel, the Warsaw correspondent of the Polish media in America, the timing of the president’s remarks is rather surprising.

ROBERT STRYBEL:

‘It came as a surprise, even though this is a position that most Poles support, most Poles feel that there should be a waiver of US visa policy, as far as Poles are concerned, especially in view of their support for the cause – the American led campaign in Iraq. So, the general spirit of his statement, I think, has general backing. However, there are many things that have to be asked, for example, the timing seems very strange. He first of all gave this interview to the chief opponent of president Bush, his re-election - the New York Times which supports Kerry, and at a time when the Republican Convention just ended and president Bush had some warm words for Poland in his speech.’

Addressing reporters a few months ago, Mr Kwasniewski hoped for an imminent change in the character of Poland’s military involvement in Iraq

KWASNIEWSKI:

‘The change of the concept of the military forces, not the mission of stabilization, but some kind of peacekeeping mission, under the auspices of the United Nations.’

It is clear now that this scenario has not been implemented. Amid strong popular opposition to the Polish troop deployment and continued violent unrest in Iraq, Poland plans to scale down its military presence soon. Asked by the New York Times if he has any regrets over the decision to support the US-led war on terror, president Kwasniewski replied: ‘next question, please’.
According to Matthew Day his remarks reflect a growing frustration with the US policies.

MATTHEW DAY :

‘Frustration with the United States over certain issues like we have the long-running saga over visas for Polish citizens going to the United States. Many Poles feel that they should go without having to go through this palaver of getting a visa. The number of contracts for Polish firms in Iraq, they feel that they’ve just gone to the United States than to Polish companies and the Americans are just hogging all the good contracts. Maybe deeper down there is a sort of historical feeling that the Poles feel that America is beginning to behave in a rather bossy manner, it’s thinking of itself and it’s not thinking of other smaller nations who are actually making a big sacrifice.’

Poland has lost 14 of its citizens, ten soldiers and four civilians, in the Iraqi operation. In his interview, President Kwasniewski expressed the hope that the role of the troops will soon be changed from occupation to peace-keeping.
Matthew Day thinks that while his remarks hardly signal any rift in Polish-US relations, more critical comments from Warsaw can be expected.

MATTHEW DAY :

‘This is going to carry on. You’re not going to have a major rift. You’re not going to have a major disagreement. But I think Polish politicians will make the most of the opportunity to prod America, to criticize America, not greatly, but just to remind America that their allies maybe want things done differently.’

Poland has been a staunch ally of the United States right from the start. However much Mr Kwasniewski continues to support US policy, it is clear that the developments of the past few months have weighed heavily on his views.

posted by: Oborski at 01:49 | link | comments |

Polish Community in Osetia Suffers in School Siege

The small Polish ethnic community in the Northern Osetia also suffered during the bloody siege of the school in Beslan. In an interview for Polish Radio the head of the local Polish union Wiera Zielinska revealed that at least two Polish children were in the besieged school, they are in state of shock treated in a local hospital. Mother of one of them was wounded while grandmother of the other who was also in the school building was most probably killed. Polish community has been present in Osetia since the 19th century. Up to now their greatest problem was lack of Polish teachers as there have been no candidates willing to take the risk.

posted by: Oborski at 00:48 | link | comments |

Book of Condolence now open

The Polish Community in Kidderminster in the United Kingdom wish to hereby convey their sincerest condolences to the Russian people and in particular to the families and friends of those who have died so tragically at Beslan.

The dead, their families and friends are remembered in our prayers.

posted by: Oborski at 18:07 | link | comments |

Coalition's Iraq Strategy Meeting in Warsaw
01.09.2004

Representatives of countries who have troops serving in the Polish zone in Iraq are to meet tomorrow in Warsaw to discuss future strategy. The meeting precedes the fourth replacement of contingents in the zone. One of the subjects tackled is to be the number of troops in the Polish-led multinational force, deployment of troops and equipment. The meeting, which has been closed to media, is hosted by Poland’s Defence Ministry. Poland commands a force of around 6 and a half thousand in the south-central zone in Iraq, with a Polish contingent of 2500. Warsaw has declared intentions to reduce the contingent next year.

posted by: Oborski at 09:46 | link | comments |

65th Anniversary of WW2
01.09.2004

65th anniversary commemorations of the outbreak of WW2 today began early in the morning on Westerplatte peninsula in Gdańsk. At 4.45 on September 1st 1939, the Nazi ship Schlezwig-Holstein opened fire on the Polish military base at Westerplatte. Present at the ceremony was Polish Prime Minister Marek Belka. Meanwhile Polish President Aleksander Kwaśniewski and Defence Minister Jerzy Szmajdziński participated in the main celebrations of the outbreak of WW2 and Veteran’s Day in Wieluń Łódź province, central Poland. In 1939, a few minutes before the attack on Westerplatte, an air-raid on Wieluń killed around 2 thousand local residents.

posted by: Oborski at 09:45 | link | comments |

Poland – the good, the bad and the ugly!

Well here it is from a month in Poland. These are of course simply our personal, strictly non-official, comments! Let's get the worst off our chests first!

Pests of the year…
And the joint winners are Polish Mosquitoes (fortunately we had them for just one night on riverside patio in Gdansk but boy do they raid in swarms) and Polish wasps (who have a persistence fortunately
lacking in their British cousins)!

Wretched decline…
Blikle's Café on Nowy Swiat in Warsaw. It used to be THE place to go for coffee, Polish doughnuts and to relax in style. For some time it has been declining slowly – overcrowded, overpriced and nothing
special. Now you wait 15 minutes for a menu and after another 5 minutes or so when they can't be bothered to take your order it's time to leave. This was the first time we have ever walked out in
disgust of a bar, café or restaurant in Poland. If you loved Blikle's don't go there – better keep the memories of the glory it once was.

Not worth listening to…
The BBC Radio World Service. Once upon a time you could pick it up quite easily in Warsaw. No longer! Now you have to chase constantly repeated World (precious little from UK) News round the SW Bands. It ain't worth the hassle. In Warsaw tune into Radio WaWa and bask in the local sound instead.

Mixed Blessings…

…The heat!

…The Bankomats. Millennium Bank's are just brilliant – with clear easy to follow optional English instructions and are generally in good, safe locations. When the Senior Executives of Bank Pekao duly
arrive in Hell they should each be issued with an empty wallet and a valid credit card and faced with an infinite number of their own Bankomat machines and told that they can leave when they extract the 100 Zloty for the fare from one that works! At the end of eternity they will still be there trying to puzzle out inadequate on screen messages as to why they can't have the cash when it's in their
account!

…Road works all over Poland. That means endless delays but it also means that the roads are improving at last!

Now let's get positive…

Discoveries of the year…

…Hotel Podewils – the magnificently luxurious ten bed-roomed five star central waterside hotel in Gdansk with an exquisite restaurant menu and lovely and discreetly attentive staff and service. An
absolute classic.

…The superb Central Maritime Museum in Gdansk. Well worth a visit.

…The A2 Toll Road heading east from Poznan towards Warsaw. So what if Poles don't want to pay a few Zloty for the privilege. Just for once treat yourself to your very own no speed limit totally empty
private motorway – you know you deserve it!

…Restaurant Bliss – the Chinese Restaurant on the Mariensztat in Warsaw. Superb food with very subtle flavours at very reasonably prices (half of what we pay in Kidderminster). For families with
young children try the Arsenal at ul. Dluga 52. Dine outside if the weather is fine. Design your own excellent Italian meal while the children roam both play room and play area.

Perfect happiness…

…Cocktails in The Column Bar (it's not called that for nothing) at the Hotel Bristol in Warsaw. The place is pure luxury and the prices are enormous but you'll feel really good and you can easy the pain
on your pocket by arriving at 5.00pm for three Hours made very "happy" by 50% off your bar bill! Try a "Bristol Fizz" – Grande Marnier, fresh orange juice and sparking white whine – but check first that you can afford it!

…Sunday Brunch in The Bristol. The ritual starts at 12.30pm. You are shown to your table. If the weather is good opt to be outside in the courtyard. From the moment you sit down your water and sparkling white wine glasses will never be empty. There is also likely to be a vodka based cocktail to start. Start by visiting the chef waiter serving the caviar with all the trimmings and oysters in season.
Then it is time to seriously attack the vast array of magnificent cold fish, meat and salad dishes. Soups are also available. Perhaps you would like to watch as a chef concocts a sauce made from your own choice of ingredients to go with a little pasta. Then help yourself to whatever combination of main courses and vegetables or salads take your fancy. Then there is the huge sweet and fruit table and a range of cheeses to assault. Make as many trips to the buffets as you like while all the time your glasses refill as if by magic. Finish with Coffee. At 4.30pm stagger out into the street or better still the Column Bar! Sunday Brunch at the Bristol is very slightly over £21 per head all in!!!!! Youngsters are half price and can switch as and when they like, backwards and forwards, between your table and the main buffets and the "Kids Club" activities and eats! Book in advance.

…Dining at Fukiers on the Old Town Square in Warsaw. Yes, your Polish friends will tell you that it is horribly expensive and in Polish terms it is. By English standards, however, the prices look much more reasonable. The food is superb and the surrounding are stunning. If you are limiting yourself to just one real culinary treat in Poland this should be it.

Most improved…

…Warsaw Taxi Drivers. O.K. there is still be the odd rogue but they are becoming far fewer. Hats of to the scruffy guy with the battered red Ford who, when faced with our destination and routes littered
with road works, thought for a moment and then whisked us through a private car park and a variety of neat moves to complete a safe journey that could not have been a second faster or a centimetre
shorter at budget price! Nevertheless, do not pick up taxis on Castle Square! We got carried away by all our good experiences and got careless. The one who turned a £1.75 journey into a £5.50 bill for us carried a 6777777 phone number – avoid like the plague!

Travel Tips and Value for money this year…

…CDs range in price from £3 to £9 so Poland is a good place to buy and yes that includes UK and US CDs. DVDs range from £4 to £13. Tips: In Warsaw the big EMPIK store on Marszalkowski is the place to
go for range and choice for books, CDs and DVDs. Polish releases of Western film releases just have optional Polish subtitles NOT dubbed soundtracks so buy them in Poland! Many Polish hypermarkets carry big stocks at the very lowest prices.

…Paintings and small sculptures are extremely good value. There is a thriving high quality art scene in Poland. Treat yourself! A couple of years ago we fell in love with a most enormous stylised view of
Warsaw in blue in oils by Dwurnik in the Presidential Palace. Now we have a large water-colour by him. We couldn't even contemplate a purchase of similar quality in UK!

…Drink and food are good quality and still very cheap by UK standards whether you are buying in shops or eating out in bars, cafes and restaurants. Prices are so low you can afford to have the odd fling. Fukiers on the Old Town Square in Warsaw looks absolutely gorgeous and many UK visitors stare at it in awe and then walk on assuming that a meal there will cost a fortune and anyway probably need to be booked months in advance. Actually, the chances are that you can walk straight in and get a table and although it's not cheap it will only cost you a fraction of a similar meal in UK. Do it and it will be one of the highlights of your visit to Poland!

…Look out for ExpressMap (www.e-map.pl) street plans and maps of tourist areas and particularly their little Mini Plan series of city centres. They are amazingly easy to follow, laminated and therefore
eminently practical in rainy or windy conditions and singularly easy to refold correctly and slip in your pocket remaining undamaged. A simple but brilliant design concept! The Big ones are just under £3
and the magnificent Mini Plans, which fold to the size of a credit card, are about 70p each.

…If paying in cash in a bar or restaurant do NOT say "thank you" as the waiter picks up the bill and cash from your table unless you do really mean him/her to keep ALL the change as a tip! If you want the change to return keep quiet.

…Fuel is cheap and toilet and café facilities at big main road petrol stations are clean, comfortable, high quality, very cheap and excellent value for money. Use them!

…Public transport in Warsaw (buses, trams and metro) which is clean, frequent, cheap and fuss free. Use it!

Nicest translation error on a Warsaw Restaurant Menu…

…Your meal served with "Diabolic Sauce" to be accompanied appropriately from the Wine List by "Chianti Fiasco".

Oddest moment of the trip…

So there we are sitting sipping ice-cold Polish beer at an outdoor café on the Old Town Square in Warsaw when the mobile phone rings. It is BBC Radio Shropshire. They will very shortly have Basia
Trzetrzelewska, of 80's band Matt Bianco and subsequent solo career, in the studio and want to know how to pronounce her surname! Of course they have no idea where we actually are!

When we tell them Fran immediately ends up live on air discussing Polish pronunciation, the weather in Warsaw (boiling hot) compared to Shrewsbury (overcast skies we are told), Polish alcohol - the
presenter at BBC Radio Shropshire doesn't know, in our humble opinion, his Tequilla from his Vodka but is instantly taken with the concept of Polish Goldwasser which has flecks of gold floating in it "Don't even think about trying to reclaim the gold afterwards" Fran earnestly warned him on air.

posted by: Oborski at 10:56 | link | comments |

Polish Troops Will Not Withdraw from Iraq

President Aleksander Kwaśniewski has criticised the Polish Peasant Party leaders demanding the withdrawal of the Polish troops from Iraq. The Polish Peasant Party is collecting signatures under an appeal to the government to remove the Polish forces from Iraq immediately as the Polish soldiers are dying there in the name of a cause contradicting the interests of Poland. ‘Our withdrawal from the central south sector of Iraq would complicate the situation in the region causing more victims, more violence and maybe even spreading the war to the whole of the Middle East’, added the president.

posted by: Oborski at 03:32 | link | comments |

Draft Budget For 2005 Almost Ready

5-per-cent economic growth, inflation at the level of 3 per cent and deficit reaching nearly 10 billion dollars are the key points of next year’s budget. During yesterday’s working meeting of the cabinet the state’s expenditures were agreed to amount to 56 billion dollars. Deputy prime minister Jerzy Hausner claims that the draft budget for 2005 is an attempt to strengthen public finances. The minister also stressed that the most funds will be spent on cofinancing projects involving the European Union’s financial support. The dreft budget is most likely to be ready by September 10th.

posted by: Oborski at 03:30 | link | comments |

60th Anniversary of Destruction of Lodz Ghetto

The Polish central city of Łódź marked the 60th anniversary of the destruction by the Nazis of its World War II Jewish Ghetto paying homage over the weekend to 2 hundred thousand who died and a few hundred who survived. Ceremonies in Poland’s second biggest city included prayer services in synagogues and churches, as well exhibitions, speeches, concerts and performances. Thousands of city residents gathered to hear speakers including Ilan Shalgi, Israel's Science and Technology Minister, U.S. ambassador Victor Ashe and Poland’s PM and Łódź native Marek Belka. In the 19th century Łódż was known as "The Promised Land", drawing Jews from around the Russian Empire and Western Europe to work in its thriving textile industry. Poland's pre-war Jewish community of 3.5 million was reduced to 300,000 by the time the war ended. Many survivors fled post-war pogroms, and others were expelled in 1968 during a bout of anti-Semitism encouraged by the communist government. Today, Poland's Jewish community has some 5,000 to 6,000 active members.

posted by: Oborski at 03:29 | link | comments |

Wailing Wall

They call it the "wailing wall", but the only act of devotion on this west London street corner is to mammon not God.

Dozens of young, newly arrived Polish men line up here every day, often all day, waiting in vain for the promise of jobs in the new Europe to materialise.

For many the days are turning into weeks as optimism turns to desperation, dreams to poverty and squalor. London was not supposed to be like this.

Back home the papers had told them by joining the European Union on May 1, hard-working Poles would be welcomed in Britain with open arms. There were tens of thousands of well-paid, legal jobs.

But the truth is the opposite.

There are jobs ads at the wall, the window of Mr Patel's newsagency in Hammersmith just down from the Polish cultural centre. And, as members of the newly expanded 25-nation EU, the Poles are free to work in Britain.

But most of the jobs are either gone, non-existent or so poorly paid (about $9 an hour) that they barely cover rent and food.

But that is if the employer actually pays them.

The local Polish newspaper, Dziennik Polski, has been deluged with calls from Poles who say they were dudded after a week of hard labour and sacked with a minute's notice.

"I know people are desperate," said Katarzyna Bany, a journalist on the paper. "But they should have thought first before getting on the bus or the plane. It's sad."

Rafal Ogiba, 34, a married former bank worker from near Poznan, arrived in London four weeks ago.

When the Herald met him, he had 30 pence (about 75 cents) in his pocket, the remainder of a 12-hour shift in a restaurant that earned £50, and had been sleeping rough. He is living off charity.

He would like to move on, off the wall into the country or another city, but cannot afford it. He feels too ashamed to tell his wife back in Poland about his situation.

Mr Ogiba moved to London because he was told his job would be made redundant next year. "I have big debts for my house," he said. "You can live here without money but it's no life. I have a wife and two children. It's no [sic] funny to stay here."

When he first left Poland, he moved to Germany and found work on a farm, but unlike in Britain and Ireland, the Germans are not letting the EU's new entrants work freely.

Mr Ogiba felt nervous about working illegally, so he moved to London. "I am looking for luck in England. I was told in the restaurant there would be some jobs in September."

Thousands of Poles, tired of the endless waiting and exploitation, have given up on luck and are going home.

British Home Office figures show that of 15,000 Poles who arrived in Britain in the six weeks after May 1, more than half have returned.

The results contradict warnings in Britain's tabloid press that EU expansion would open up the floodgates to workers from the east. Expansion has not yet become a political negative for the Blair Government, as had been widely predicted.

Alasdair Murray, from London's Centre for European Reform, said while it was unfortunate that many Poles were finding Britain tough, their experiences showed that expansion had not been the bogeyman many Britons feared.

"There will be some people who feel that EU has let them down, that the whole point of joining was to help them find work in other countries, but again the figures of people who actually want to do it is relatively small," he said.

Not all Poles at the wailing wall are unhappy.

Kuba Lasek, 23, a carpenter from Warsaw, said he found several days work as a painter's labourer. When he was paid, the wages were up to four times higher than in Poland.

"It's not easy but it is possible," he said. "You must take life in your hands. If you try you will find a job. You can't find a job on the wall."

posted by: Oborski at 03:26 | link | comments |