2018 in a nutshell

A recap post, summing up what happened in anything, but uneventful year drawing to a close, written in a typical for this period frame of mind. I keep disliking the idle period between Christmas and New Year’s day when the world nearly comes to a standstill. I actually would have nothing against it being in late June, when days are long, warm and sunny, not at the darkest time of year, when greyness is underwhelming. I recall last seeing sunbeams 13 days ago, for less than half an hour, while taking a business trip south of Warsaw (I found them pesky since they were blinding me). I long for sunlight, I yearn for warmth, I hanker after weather which would lift my spirits. I need to wait out this ghastly period!

Beginning of 2018 meant starting out in a new position after being promoted. The promotion has involved being transferred to a different team and a pay rise, but my scope of duties has remained intact. Functionally, things are set to move on in 2019, since my manager has promised to assign me more decision-making power, apart from pure analytical work.

I was taking up the new role while struggling problems with mental health. Fortunately, the second set of pills, prescribed by an excellent psychiatrist, combined with the inner strength, have helped me overcome the illness which has not relapsed in next months, though conditions were conducive to it.

In February my ex-girlfriend and I rented a flat together. Sharing the daily grind had put the relationship to the test and laid bare how badly we did not fit each other. After nearly six months spent under one roof I decided to put us both out of misery and break up. I do not regret that decision.

2018 was a year when I changed places of residence three times. The temporary dwelling, found after a two-week search turned out to be a truly dejecting place, yet in less than three weeks after renting that flat, I purchased my own one, in need of all-out renovation. The remont has now entered the final phase and next weeks are bound to be busy with lots of stuff to be co-ordinated and handled if I am to move in by the end of February. In the meantime I will have to win the battle against my soring spine (same problems as in 2016 and the same set of daily exercises to overcome them).

Becoming a fully-fledged resident of Ursynów (not only being property-owner and registered there, but also living there) will coincide with the 10th anniversary of blogging. A few months ago I considered giving up on blogging on that occasion. Today I suppose with more free time available and living in an inspiring and spirit-lifting place I stand a chance of returning to top form as blogger and write with a huge dose of inspiration, as large as enjoyed in 2009 or 2010.

Scratching beneath the surface

18 October 2018, three days before the local election. The councillors of Warsaw unanimously pass a 98% discount on payments for conversion of perpetual usufruct into ownership.

A word of explanation for those unfamiliar with an odd concept of użytkowanie wieczyste (which have been taught to translate as perpetual usufruct) which traces back to 1945 when large areas of land were nationalised to facilitate post-war reconstruction of Polish cities from ruins, but in fact also to deprive private owners of their wealth. In this lame form of land lease the central or a local government is the owner of lands and leases them (for 99 years) to its users who own buildings erected thereon. The Polish government has decided to bring this preposterous legal formula to an end. With the beginning of 2019 the perpetual usufruct is transformed automatically into regular land ownership (leave off now several aspects of the mess caused by yet another law enacted in haste), however the current land lessees will have to pay for the conversion for 20 years. For lands owned by the central government, a discount scheme has been passed, allowing land lessees to benefit from 60% discount if they settle the conversion charge in 2019. Discount schemes pertaining to lands held by local governments have been left at their discretion.

I had thought the resolution passed on 18 October would remain a pre-election move, especially since I had been misinformed the 98% discount would apply to conversions finalised before the end of 2018. Just recently I checked the resolution had been referring to the new law on perpetual usufruct transformation (in effect since 1 January 2019). So no wonder when the newly elected councillors tried to back down on the resolution, uproar was inevitable. The new mayor of Warsaw, Mr Trzaskowski gave in quickly and on 20 December 2018 the 98% discount was reinstated during an additional city council session.

I plead to be positively affected by the resolution, as it will save me more than PLN 10,000 on the conversion charge applicable to my share in plot of land belonging to my flat and garage. Despite personal one-off benefits I strive to see further than the end of my nose. By voting for a much larger discount, Warsaw has deprived itself of stream of income, money which is necessary to develop Warsaw and make it an even more inhabitant-friendly capital. Actually with a scheme under which a regular payment for 2019 is 5% of the entire conversion charge, while if the discount is applied, it declines to 2%, it makes no sense not to pay for 20 years in advance.

The form of giving up on income and giving out money does not take my fancy. Although I opt for a lean government, some expenditures need to be borne by it and I am aware lower proceeds translate into higher deficit and higher taxes in the future. Why should I and other owners of properties built on lands owned by city of Warsaw be better off than those whose buildings are erected on state treasury’s lands or those who are full land-owners? The selective gift s a manifestation of populism, something I disapprove of!

On the other hand, reinstatement of 98% discount was a call to PiS government bring down the discounts applicable to lands owned by the state treasury. Politics-wise this was a shrewd move. Few people realise it, but the intention of PiS was not to get rid of pesky perpetual usufruct, but to garner loads of money from the conversion charge (anyone with a bit of money would make use of 60% discount which anyway means inflows to the government budget 8 times higher than annual land lease payment) to buy off voters. Now, PiS is in a fix since whatever it does, it will be worse off. Either it loses voters convinced for a little while by the opposition who outpaced PiS in throwing about money, or it loses a broad stream of money to be spent before the parliamentary election. The opposition in turn, has lost its credibility, as their electorate do not expect them to race against PiS in terms of throwing the government budget out of balance, but to lift Poland from the mess PiS has plungedit into.

But now, let’s enjoy three days of rest from politics and other nasty stuff. May the atmosphere be friendly and remember to take exercise. Long walks should be due instead of sitting by tables or staring at TV!

Unluck, fate, inattention, thoughtlessness or something else

Thursday, 13 December. Knocked off and left the office much earlier to make up for doing overtime and to foster not entirely private, not entirely business relationships, i.e. to hand Christmas keepsakes to some people whose helping hand come in useful. The last place I was about to visit was Renault garage in Konstancin. The car refuses to break down and pays back for taking care of it, but in case of unexpected defect a cordial garage manager might come with aid. Was a quarter past three or so, I drove down ul. Drewny towards Konstancin.

The sight of brake lights and then emergency lights ahead of me were a kind of alarming. A queue of cars came in a standstill before a pedestrian crossing. I walked out, to disgruntlement of other drivers, sitting in their cars, who deluded the road would get unclogged quickly and my vehicle would block the road. I expected to see a minor rear-ending rather than sight of a woman and two children run over by a passenger car, a scene I would wish nobody to witness.

It turned out among drivers who had stopped by there were two doctors and people better than me trained in first aid who looked after victims of the accident. After being assured the injured had been taken care of and the ambulance and the police had been called in, I made away from the terrific scene. I sincerely own up to feeling like passing out at the sight of blood or mangled human body and though the obligation rescue a fellow man is stronger than anything else, I prefer to leave handling such accidents to people who are better prepared to do it.

The scene laid bare a full array of patterns of human behaviours in such situations. Reassuringly, there always are ones who stop over and help, but several selfish traits come to the light even when badly injured accident victims are a few steps away. Firstly, sensation-chasing – I would not dare and find it inappropriate to take photos or shoot films in such situations. Secondly, impatience – standing face to face with an accident in which there could have been fatalities is a sufficient reason to get you out of rush, while several drivers’ biggest worry was how to pass the scene by and carry on with their rush.

The police are looking for eye witnesses of the accident – meaning drivers of cars whose brake light I saw had not even bothered to stay at the scene and talk to the police which is crucial to find out what circumstances of the accident were, especially whether the driver was speeding.

Sadly, the debate between commentators at TVN Warszawa’s forums turned into a squabble between defenders of the motorised and of pedestrians. I don’t know who is guilty of this accident, but as a pedestrian, as a cyclist and as a driver I realise all traffic participants exhibit too little attention, predict too little, fail to stick to the rule of limited trust to other traffic participants. As a driver, I realise pedestrians and cyclists are weaker, less predictable and less responsible road users, therefore I am to think on their behalf as well and predict when and where they might appear out of the blue on the road. As a cyclist, I prefer to use public roads as rarely as possible and use cycling paths, pavements and roadsides, even if bumpy and I realise despite much stride made, there is too little respect for cyclists and too much enmity towards them. As a pedestrian, I still feel inferior to vehicles, a stance I had been taught at home and at school and watch out twice before crossing a road, especially if I realise a driver might not see me. As a fan of eco-driving, I also prefer to wait until cars move by, as each braking and acceleration consumes fuel and causes fumes emission…

The very experience of missing being an eye witness of the dreadful accident by one cycle of traffic lights on a preceding intersection also reminded me we constantly live on the edge and a bit of luck, stroke of fate or some other factors might decide whether we live, die or our lives change forever, as the life of driver who ran over the pedestrians will never be the same, regardless of charges he faces. The frightful event has also reminded me to be grateful for basic things: being in good health, with clear conscience and not being stricken by a sternly distressing life event.

Remont – some half way into?

Time to catch up with the first proper photo coverage since construction works kicked off for good. The crew of two builders (uncle and nephew) is diligent and solid, however at the expense of pace. On the other hand, a delay of a few weeks is worth enduring if it saves troubles caused by glitches in the future.

In the kitchen wall and floor tiles have been laid, yet crevices between them have not been filled with joint (the task is quite arduous and time-consuming if to be done properly). Walls and ceiling have been somewhat flattened with gypsum, but the work is not yet completed (green paint still visible). Next Saturday a kitchen-furniture-maker is coming over to take measurements and prepare a visualisation.

In the hall the scope of works is similar to what has been done in the kitchen. The carpenter who will put in wardrobes in the hall and in the bedroom might take measurements once floor panels in the bedroom are laid, which stands no chance to happen this year.

In the bathroom walls had to flattened with kilograms of mortar (why had I thought this blocks of flats had been built so solidly), or rather layers of it. No plumbing works done yet, accumulated stuff has been waiting its turn for two months.

In the toilet the makeshift toilet bowl might not necessarily be replaced by a new one (and this is positive, as the new one is not exposure to the entire construction site dirt and mess) this year. The toilet and the bathroom will be the most man-hour-consuming spaces in the flat.

The living room and the bedroom serve as storage areas. Walls have been flattened with gypsum, but only partly. Today I spent around three yours tidying up the flat (the crew is

generally precise and reliable, but in terms of keeping the place clean they could do with some more respect to what they already have done!),

such activity will be a part of almost each weekend by late January. The Christmas tide ahead does not help see the end of the remont, since the builders will most probably take a two-week break and return to the flat (having sobered up) after 6 January.

Far from the home straight, but not losing faith.

Wrzeciono – I won’t be missing it

Moved out of the rented flat on Thursday (could not wait under the last day of my tenure since I had to take a business to trip to Szczecin, reluctantly). To be fair with the landlord, I had informed her I would move out shortly after buying the flat and despite the delay with the remont (though recent impressive progress of works is beyond my expectations, to which I shall dedicate a post next Sunday) I have kept the promise (had no choice since I had found another tenant to make up for the inconvenience I had caused) and moved to my parents’ house for some two months.

If I were to draw up a list advantages my place of residence over the past four months, it would contain three: good transport link with the city centre (35 minutes door-do-door journey to the office was the shortest daily commute in my life), functionality of the very dwelling and price-to-quality trade-off.

Besides, as the landlord came to take over the flat and return the cash bail to me, she confessed she had detested the place and could not have waited to move out of there. The place is certainly depressing. Ursynów on a grey late-November afternoon would sooner lift my spirit than Wrzeciono on a late-spring sunny morning. After residing there for a while I am glad I finally have not purchased a flat in Bielany and opted for Ursynów. At least the dwelling I have bought gives off loads of positive energy and I feel is a place I can call home. In the rented flat in Wrzeciono I felt like in a hotel (probably circumstances which had thrown me there were to blame as well); something was amiss about the place, some barrier I was unable to overcome.

After settling down (the phrasal verb acutally misused) in Wrzeciono I was quite curious to learn more about the history of the district. Back in the 1960 the former fields of Młociny airport were adapted to build a huge estate of tower blocks to workers of the nearby ironworks, Huta Warszawa. The new inhabitants hailed from provincial Poland and resettlement to a dwelling with electricity, running water, gas oven and central heating was an enormous leap forward in terms of standard of living, outshining all drawbacks of flats in Wrzeciono, especially their size (studios of 18 or 24 sqm, one-bedrooms of 37 sqm or two-bedrooms of 49 sqm), lack of balconies, crampy kitchens located in excesses next to front doors.

In 1990s after Huta Warszawa went bust, the place became a hotbed of pathologies and criminality where a decent man would not turn up except for broad daylight. In 2000 the neighbourhood began to get civilised. Representatives of the vilest pathology have either ended up behind bars, boozed themselves to death or died down, several new blocks of flats were built, new residents mixed up with older ones. The city and district authorities have also made a tremendous effort to improve safety in the area and revitalise the grey, old blocks. Still Wrzeciono has the notorious zone of ul. Dorycka (though the area looks out better and better year by year) where venturing even in broad daylight is not a pleasure, but I generally felt safe, even when returning to the dwelling late in the evening or at night.

Maybe living under one roof with my parents to which I have grown disaccustomed is not a dreamt-up scenario, but somewhat preferable to living in the depressing Wrzeciono. Oddly enough, property prices do not reflect general ugliness of the area. Proximity to the underground stations (my walk to Metro Wawrzyszew each morning took me six minutes) and popularity of the relatively cheap flats among tenants have driven flat prices up. Six years ago, when property market hit its 10-year trough, one could easily find a bargain by buying a (run-down) flat for less than PLN 6,000 per sqm. Today a flat in need of comprehensive refurbishment would trade for PLN 2,000 more per sqm, while thoroughly renovated flats have asking prices nearing five digits per sqm. Decently fit-out studios (offering monthly after tax income of ca. PLN 1,000 – 1,200) are priced between PLN 200,000 and 250,000 which translate into net-of-tax (but pre-CAPEX) yield of more than 5%, which somewhat justifies the absurdly high prices.

And to conclude, I believe interest rates should have been jacked up long ago while the benchmark rate ought to run two percentage points above inflation, i.e. at around 4.00% currently.

Blek srajdej

Why do we, Poles, have to embrace every single idiocy devised by the American capitalism? To quote Leo, for money! There is no better way to induce a slow-witted consumer to spend their money on stuff they (usually) don’t actually need than persuading them they are buying at bargain prices.

Black Friday (hailing from the USA, where it falls right after the Thanksgiving) is rather a novelty in Poland, as a decade ago, or even five years ago if it was celebrated, then by few. In 2018 blek srajdej is all the rage. Upshot: shopping malls chock full of people and online distributors’ websites crashing. I have witnessed stories of people taking a day off to indulge in bargain-hunting shopping and got infuriated by workmates collectively hunting bargains online in the office while I tried to focus on work.

A thrifty consumer with a head screwed-in can easily grow sick of advertisements of countless discounts and sales assaulting them from all angles that make them want to puke, but not make them give in.

The best one can do not to get carried away by the craze is to think what you actually need. I need rest, therefore I had decided to shun shops on Friday. Had done the little shopping in a discount shop on Thursday evening and ate a self-cooked lunch in the office on Friday. On Friday not a single grosz fled my wallet, nor my bank account, nor my credit card. Such was my uncanny way of celebrating the blek srajdej.

To be fair, yesterday I purchased lighting to my flat at bargain prices (and have not found crowds at the shop) and today I am heading to DIY supermarket to buy some kitchen equipment at bargain prices. My excuse is that I need that stuff, not go shopping for kicks.

The trade ban on Sundays has laid bare how badly Poles are addicted to shopping and to what disturbing extent they treat it as pastime activity. While I treat a trip to a shop as a task (go, buy, tick off), most people go there for pleasure to pass time and waste money. This looks like a perfect starting point to a rant on virtues of protestant work ethics whose contradiction is the today’s debt-financed thoughtless consumerism, reaching its peak in pre-Christmas period. Even if indeed it is perfect, I am giving it a rest for a while. Short of time again, but remont moving on – will post some pictures in a week or two.