Sunday 31 December 2017

2017 in a nutshell


Customarily, last days of an ending year are a time of summaries, concluding thoughts and attempts to predict events in a coming year. Hence, let’s break it down to three main topics the blog has been meant to broach.

1. POLITICS

I admit not to have devoted much attention to current affairs in 2017. I have grown weary of nasty stuff going on around and have given in to the feeling I am too powerless to change anything. Many liberal voters have also displayed similar fatigue, so the activity of anti-government protests has generally waned, with one noble exception of mass protests in July to stand up for independent justice system.

PiS is holding strong in power and enjoys support of nearly half of all surveyed in polls, a larger part of electorate than those who voted for them in October 2015. The popularity of PiS is an effect, not a cause. Seasoned observers of the political arena keep arguing what has driven high support for party which resorts to autocratic measures and slowly, yet consistently dismantles democratic mechanisms. The blame weak and quarrelling opposition with lack of counter-agenda, they blame policy of lukewarm water in the tap, pursued by PO-PSL government, social inequalities, fear of migrants and criticism towards run-down Western Europe.

The key political event in 2017 was, in my opinion, change in the position of the head of government. Home-like housewife Beata, being a prime minister of ordinary people, was (unsurprisingly?) replaced by a modern-looking, wry-smiled former CEO of Bank Zachodni WBK whose net worth of over 30 million zlotys does not rank him among ordinary people. The nomination must have been a blow for several members of PiS who have stood aside Mr Kaczynski for many (mostly bad) years, while Mr Morawiecki started his political career merely two years ago and lacks merits several faithful henchmen of Mr Kaczynski could boast about.

Adrian (named after a character from “Ucho Prezesa”) has finally wasted his chance to morph into Andrzej. President Duda in July vetoed two out of three drafts law prepared by the parliament and in September came up with alternative proposals. As it eventually turned out, amendments pertain mostly to division of power between wielders of executive power and do not touch the lousy gist of new laws.

In 2018 I do not foresee a breakthrough. Unless weak opposition not only unites, but also lays out a reasonable and credible counter-agenda to rulings of PiS, little is going to change. I even doubt if a serious scandal breaks out, it will not drag down this government. The government has had numerous cock-ups along the way, but it remains teflon-coated. PO also has been shaken by several scandals for many years and support to it oscillated near 50%, in some time PiS follows the same path, provided they do not rig the elections beforehand (which is not improbable with the amended elections law recently enacted by the parliament).

2. ECONOMY

The Polish economy kept growing strong, however too low investments and too high reliance of GDP growth on consumption are still the ailments which need to be tackled by the government economists who seem to be complacent with how things come out.

The labour market in Poland has never witnessed such shortage of labour force. To fill in vacancies several companies need to hire migrants from Ukraine and retain current workforce with solid pay rises.

Pressure on wages is slowly translating into spurt in inflation which is not yet above central bank’s target, but has lifted from near- or below-zero values where it has been for some time.

The threat of inflation so far has not convinced central bankers to tighten monetary policy; consequently real interest rates in Poland are now around -1%. Most members of Monetary Policy Council tentatively speak of the first interest rate increase in the second half of 2018, those who would initiate monetary tightening right away are unfortunately in the minority. Unfortunately, since in my humble opinion the buoyant economy would withstand slightly higher interest rate with no major problems.

Poles also eagerly buy durable goods. Sales of brand-new automobiles and dwellings have been record-high in 2017. The car sales may dwindle rapidly, but the property market is not poised for sharp decline, since it is hard to find a reasonable flat in the advanced phase of construction or finished. Property developers have no problems for finding buyers for dwellings whose construction has not yet commenced, meaning they will not be left with stocks of built, ye unsold flats for the coming two years. Also property prices on the primary market in Warsaw, after being flat for four years, began to go up, but still in a moderate single-digit pace, fending off the risk of a bubble.

3. SOCIETY

Little has changed in this sphere in 2017. On the blog I dedicated more posts to private stuff.

2017 has been a year of frequent travels abroad. Never earlier in my life have I been outside Poland four times (Spain, Germany, Italy, Malta) over one year and never have I spent abroad 24 days in a year in total.

The affection has struck me out of the blue when I least expected it, after weeks of ruining uncertainty it has shaped up and is likely to last long.

Paradoxically, with a mass of good things happening to me, I was also struck by an illness. I am still trying to overcome (therapy proved fruitful, yet badly prescribed medications have wreaked some havoc and got things worse, currently I am on the mend) it and hope to fight it down in 2018.

I also hope to find enough inspirations for writing in 2018. Most bloggers active in the best years of English-language blogosphere in Poland have dropped off, two of us hold on. My goal is to carry on at least until I reach a full decade of blogging, namely until February 2019.

Sunday 24 December 2017

Cicha noc - film review


Not a secret for (sparse) faithful readers of this blog I am fond of Wojciech Smarzowski’s films. I watched all, except for Róża (time to catch up tomorrow or on Tuesday),  and reviewed here Drogówka, Pod mocnym aniołem and Wołyń. If so, seeing “Cicha noc” by Piotr Domalewski (silver screen debut of the young gifted director and scriptwriter) was a must.

If naturalistic depictions of grossly imperfect reality and acutely presented characters take your fancy, you will definitely not regret watching this recently premiered film. Unlike in most films where Christmas Eve is a bright day and snow lies all around, here even the weather is painfully realistic – the day is dark, grey and it rains. Just like on most Christmas Eves over the last decade.

The dark side of Polishness and shattered family relationships are played up in the entire plot. The Christmas Eve is finally shown as it looks out in many homes, as a source of distress and far from being ideal. The director has deftly managed to squeeze all sorts of familiar shortcomings into one family. A viewer beholds a multi-child family, grandfather with strong inkling for alcohol, jobless father on the rehab, over-caring, tired-out mother, children arguing over dividing proceeds from inheritance after another grandpa.

The director has put together all nasty things which might happen on this one special day and bestowed them on one family spending Christmas under one roof. This reflection of uneasy celebration is probably an amplified version of what many of us could see in a mirror. Luckily, if some of us witnessed or heard of scenes similar to those played out in Cicha noc, this was a just a fraction of the dirt showed in the film. Besides, the dirt is bearable, it does not flow out of the screen into audience as it does in Smarzowski’s films.

Many would be brought down by the cumulation of dirt the film, but my spirits have been lifted. Every time I see most people have it worse than me, it reminds me I ought to be grateful for what I have instead of complaining about what could come out better.

Sunday 17 December 2017

Toruń, just before turning thirty



Off to Toruń and nearby over the last weekend. The purpose of the trip was to take a break from everyone and everything, from all thoughts and tribulations that could bring us down. If you are to forget about the daily grind, the best recipe is a short foray to a nice destination, as at home your mind-bothering stuff keeps you company.

The very trip, except for the fuel, was a birthday gift, the one which I kind of extorted from my girlfriend, yet the idea was brilliant. On Saturday morning I only knew we were about to head for Torun, but had no idea about the details of our accommodation.

Instead of taking A2 and A1 motorway, I decided to take a shorter and more picturesque route via DK7 and DK10, both not actually congested on Saturday and Sunday. Landscapes of Mazowsze were much more eye-pleasing sights than drab noise barriers fencing the motorway off.

I visited the very city for the first time since June 1998 (counting out one business trip during which I turned up to a warehouse somewhere within the administrative borders), when Toruń was a school trip destination. Finding a place to park a car near old town was a challenge and one of less efficient methods of wasting some twenty minutes, but we took our time. Then we took a walk around the historical part of the city.

To the right, a Christmas tree, lit up by LED diodes. By dint of late-autumnal weather, the place still lacked typical Christmas climate, yet we should have got used to it (last truly wintery Christmas in Poland was in… 2002). The day was dull, grey, short, yet unforgettable.

We strolled further to come across a Christmas fair, a festival with German origins, getting increasingly popular in Poland and staged in most bigger cities in Poland, usually on market squares. Maybe not the best place to do the shopping, but it does not hurt to catch the climate, scents and the scenery.

After eating a lunch and finding the car, my better half programmed the navigation so that it led me to our destination, but somehow showed only directions but not where it guided me exactly. Thus until the last moment I did not know what the destination was. Finally it turned out to be Pałac Romantyczny in Turzno (here snapped on Sunday morning after most of the snow fallen on Saturday evening has melted) – a lovely place, now the object of lovely memories.

For posterity, a short (and duly incomplete) record of my probably bestest birthday ever. The good has come, hope the best is still to come :)

Sunday 3 December 2017

Remigiusz Mróz


Young and talented novelists are few and far between. Those truly gifted come into the limelight early and usually readership are fascinated with their uncanny style of writing, valour of touching upon problematic or delicate matters or such authors just happen to become the voice of part of their generation. Remigiusz Mróz, born just like me in 1987 (though nearly a year older than me), could fall into any of the categories above. His books have just stepping into shelves of bookshops and filled them, since the skilful writer churns out novels.

My friend Ola has recommended his books to me several times, quoting his age (our peer) and potency in writing novels in different genres – over the last five years several publishing houses released 25 books (crime novels, thrillers, science-fiction) authored by him. My first book by Remigiusz Mróz (Zaginięcie) was lent to me by my mother; I have nearly finished reading it from cover to cover (short of some 50 pages to reach the last page) and I am pretty impressed.

I should hold back from shaping on opinion on all of his writings (which I will draw on) based on one book, but Zaginięcie appealed me with realistic plot, dynamic twists of action, decent focus on details and consistency. A reader truly feels in the centre of the depicted world and characters seem oddly familiar to them.

The language Mr Mróz uses is plain, flows smoothly, is found light to receive. While I have been reading Zaginięcie I felt the author had little problems putting his ideas into paper and editors of the book had little job to do in terms of refining the style.

From my side hats down to the author for decent insight into intricacies of criminal law (no wonder, as he holds PhD in law) – one can easily make out when somebody knows what they write about and does not need to consult a third-party to make their story appear credible.

So again, I boosted the reading statistics which in Poland come out still horrible. More than 50% of Poles have not read a single book over the last year, while I belong to a tiny 10% of Poles who have read more than 7 books in 2016. Despite standing out, I cannot feel proud of myself, reading around 10 books per year (my mother and father read more than 40 books per year each, however as pensioners they have more spare time to indulge in reading).

Next post in two weeks – spending the next weekend I don’t know where, celebrating the 30th birthday with my better half.