New satellite photos of the neighbourhood

Several weeks ago I grumbled about outdated maps of my locality which are displayed in Google, contrasting them with rather new ones provided by Polish Internet Locator – zumi.pl.
Yesterday while looking for a florist’s to order the bouquets for my bachelor’s exam I stumbled upon new satellite pictures of the surrounding area. According to some premises, the new ones were taken in May 2009 (deduced by shadows of the buildings), on Saturday or Sunday (few cars on the streets, vehicles usually parked in front of houses and shops, not next to offices) around eleven a.m.
New snaps are much sharper than the previous, the colours are more natural and saturated. When it comes to up-to-date aspect, they outrun Google maps by light years. The biggest services still contains the maps of Warsaw from 2005 and its suburbs from 2002. That’s a shame…


My house can be easily recognised by a distinguishing detail – unlike the houses of my neighbours there’s no car parked in front of it. It must have either sit in a garage or was away at the time. We’re the only household in our czworak (Polish scornful term for the row of four terraced houses) which has only one car, our vehicle is also the oldest (bought brand new in July 2003) among the ones used by the czworak’s dwellers. One can clearly see both cars of my neighbour from behind the fence (Ford Mondeo, neighbour’s company car, bought brand new in 2007 and Suzuki Vitara from 2006, bought last year after his wife gave birth to their son – she never drives and says it’s just too big for her, so my moron-neighbour uses one car on weekdays and another during weekends), further neighbour’s Opel Corsa from 2004, bought last year (they also have VW Passat, 2005, bought in 2007) and the Ford Focus C-Max (bought brand new in 2008) of the neighbour from the other end of the row (they also have Mitsubishi Coupe, also bought last year, but produced in 2006). Maybe it shouldn’t meet my astonishment that my father feels like changing a car (even though it’s still in excellent technical condition!) if everybody around did it within last two year and everybody has newer cars. I still remain totally insensitive to it, like to all crazes, fads, whimsies, gadgets, etc. Somebody once told me one day I’d give in under the group pressure (colleagues from work buying still new cars, mobiles, etc.), but before I graduate I surmise it’s unlikely to happen. Every time I see a young businesswoman trying to park her SUV into a small parking space that sight makes me laugh. Why didn’t she buy a small, stylish car which would fit into the gaps of Warsaw cramped car parks easily?

MOTORING ABSURDITY OF THE DAY
Today my father called on his insurance agent (the motor insurance is due to renewal in two weeks’ time) to calculate the premium and found out… That according to statistics, drivers of Renault Megane cause accidents 3 per cent more often than an average driver so the insurance premiums (both third party liability and car insurance) for the owner of Renault Megane will be 3 per cent higher!!! And doesn’t even matter that my father hasn’t had any accident since December 1981 (dubious date, just a few days before martial law was declared), he’s in a group of increased risk. If anybody sees any link, any explanation to it, please let me know…