Remont – home straight

A first report from the battlefield in 2019 after weeks of keeping curious readers in suspense. A lot has been done since then (glass half-full), but still a plenty of finishing works ahead (glass half-empty).

The kitchen is ready for assembly of ordered furniture. The initial assembly date was 23 January, but getting behind schedule is inevitable on the front. The dishwasher awaits installation along with kitchen furniture. A fridge and gas oven are due to be delivered the day after tomorrow. This is the only room thoroughly cleaned up.

Walls in the bedroom have been painted and floor panels will be laid next week. Pieces of furniture have been ordered (with lead time of 3-4 weeks they are due to arrive in mid-February). After the flooring panels get into place, wardrobe measurements might be taken.

Condition of the living room is akin to the bedroom, however I have not chosen furniture so far, though the concept has been in my head for a while. Furnishing this room is least urgent to inhabit the flat.

The toilet needs some fittings, including the most crucial ones, i.e. a washbasin and water flushing buttons. Still some work to be put in before the toilet can be used comfortably ;-)

In the bathroom, compared to how it looked out in mid-December, tiles have been laid, however much is to be done – shower booth, washbasin and several minor stuff need to be installed. But everything in due course.

The hall has thus become a clutter room, although the mass of stuff kept in the flat is targeted to be decreased if new pieces of equipment are to be brought in. Measurements of the wardrobe will mobilise to tidy up the place.

With so many tribulations along the way (recently unexpected goings on have been frequent), I don’t feel like envisaging the date of moving in…

Sound of silence

The day after the funeral, when the mourning is formally over, though we have still not shaken off the distress, I am publishing translation of a note I posted on my profile on facebook hours after the decease of Mr Adamowicz. May my jumbled (I was stirred by emotions while writing it and with hindsight even it Polish some passages sound clumsy) thoughts on that tragic event be saved here posterity.

Beyond all doubt the public discourse in Poland is filled with evil emotions, manipulations, contempt, at worst with hatred. It is no secret as a society we are divided as never before (once again I was a prophet of doom), while the major divide line is the stance towards the ruling part and its vision of the world. Civilised, mentally healthy people like you and me may detest Mr Tusk, Mr Kaczynski, Mr Schetyna, Mr Brudzinski, Mr Petru, Mr Kukiz or any other politician. We may disapproved of them, if they irritate us, we may take to the streets to voice our protest, we may exercise the right to show our displeasure, but nobody will be harmed. Depending on the side of the divide line we are on, we may read either Gazeta Wyborcza or Gazeta Polska, watch TVN24 or TVPiS, to reinforce our views and pass judgements when the time to cast ballots comes.

Assassin of Mr Adamowicz by all accounts has been mentally ill, one could argue whether at the time of committing the felony he was out of his senses. The words he shouted out on stage after stabbing Mr Adamowicz seem to prove perception of the world of such people is simplified. The reasoning which drove the culprit. towards committing the crime, the causation that he had been imprisoned and tortured by Platforma Obywatelska, the why and wherefore Mr Adamowicz was meant to die, has come to his mind from the outside. Not accidental was also the choice of circumstances and venue of the crime.

Mere three days earlier the public TV had broadcasted a cartoon vilifying WOŚP. One and a half year earlier Młodzież Wszechpolska as part of a “happening” had issued a death certificate to Mr Adamowicz and several other mayors. The investigation on the happening has been discontinued. Another investigation, on nationalists who had hung portraits of European Parliament deputies is still under way, nobody has faced charges, despite the fact faces of criminals are visible on photos (prosecutors are looking for some eye witnesses in the United States). WOŚP and its commander-in-chief have repeatedly been victims of hatred, spilled by politicians of the ruling party and the allied media. Fortunately, the mud-slinging campaign has had the opposite effect and boosted donations to WOŚP.

Finally, Mr Adamowicz several times had been attacked by the media favouring his political opponents. Even on the day of his death „Wiadomości” overstepped boundaries of bad taste, by ignoring the request of Mr Adamowicz’s family and aired an abhorrent anti-PO footage.

I hope this senseless death will give food for thought to many of us, however I lack faith it has positive long-term impact on public discourse in Poland.

This year politicians will pay the bill for the last 4 years. Even if I were to crawl, to go on my knees to the police station, even if somebody was to carry me there, I will cast a ballot to fight for better Poland.

Still room for improvement

I have decided to put back publishing update on the remont front, until even bigger progress across the entire dwelling is witnessed, which I expect to come about by 27 January. Today I could only post the snaps of tiles laid in the bathroom and in the toilet. A noticeable progress, yet insufficient to assert the flat has taken its final shape.

On Wednesday I (unexpectedly) had a one-day foray in business to Kraków. After nearly a decade of working I am no longer fond of business travels, which in over 90% are a one-day tiresome trips with no time for sightseeing or enjoying the places I visit for more than one minute (this year I was lucky enough once, in Wrocław).

I got to Kraks by most convenient possible means of transport, i.e. by train. By timetable, the service between Warszawa and Kraków covers the 298-kilometre route in less than two hours and thirty minutes (beating the plane connection given boarding time and distance from the airport to the city centre), plus the station in Kraków was in the vicinity to my destination.

On my way to Kraks I sat back in a regular EIC train, with a notebook on my laps, to catch up with several minor overdue tasks. After less than an hour of the journey the carriage attendant came over to serve beverages. I asked for a coffee… Fortunately, they do not serve ready coffee or tea, but give out ingredients to passengers so that they brew it on their own. I found that peculiarity a nuisance, but on Wednesday PKP Intercity’s serving policy saved me. As the attendant was trying to hand me a mug with hot (fortunately not scalding) water, the train lurched and he spilled the water on my trousers (around my knees, not the crotch!) and the laptop. He callously uttered a simple “przepraszam” and carried on serving beverages. I was too focused on analysing how big the stain was and whether it would disappear by the time I meet the client and whether my notebook was anyhow damaged to react properly. Accidents will happen and I do not blame the attendant for harming me, such things happen, but I kick myself for not rebuking him over his disregard. My carriage was occupied in less than 50% and I doubt any of the fellow passengers noticed the incident and could react anyhow. Luckily, the water spot has left no trace on my suit trousers, nor is my company notebook damaged, but the bad taste remains…

On my way back I took a pendolino train, I lucked upon the only one in which wi-fi tests are carried out. And here, an endless gripe towards PKP Intercity for buying the overpriced no-frill trains from a foreign manufacturer (I believe Newag could have built the “premium” trains in a consortium with a more experienced partner). Why the hell they have bought tins in which mobile network signal is muffled so that normal phone conversations are disrupted and internet connection is at times too slow to use Messenger! Premium, fast trains connecting major cities in Poland should seemingly be targeted at corporate workers, some of whom like me: firstly, cannot use unprotected wi-fi networks, because firewalls or whatever other shits installed thereon protect them from doing so, secondly, have all resources to work on kept away from the hard drive so in offline mode their laptops are useless. Consequently I wasted over two hours and forty minutes in the train, as I could not work on my way to Warsaw!

Besides, the train came to Warsaw with a delay of fifteen minutes. Not a major fault, yet I bothered to keep checking punctuality of my service at Infopasażer (page was loading or refreshing for more than minute each time) and according it, my train was arriving to W-wa Centralna according to a timetable. Propaganda of success? Nobody’s perfect, but why misinforming?

Next time I will also take train if I go to Kraks, but I can’t wait to see trains as the primary vehicle of choice when travelling to all major cities in Poland. Currently Gdansk, Katowice (and the entire Górny Śląsk) are the only destinations where trains are preferable. To Szczecin and Rzeszów flights are a must, while everywhere else (predominantly to Poznań and Wrocław) I get by car, since in door-to-door travel duration, it still keeps being the fastest, though not the safest and not the most ecological…

Divided as never before

Not a reassuring post at the start of the new year, yet inspired of my observations made back in 2018. As a nation, Poles appear to be drifting apart in many realms of their lives, moot points are mushrooming, while arguments between opponents get fiercer.

The most vivid divide line which already has torn several families apart and put many friendships to the test is being pro-PiS or anti-PiS, which, if drilled down, is just a touchstone, since people on both sides of the divide line differ in terms of the vision of the world, role of family, society, religion, economy, the state. This topic has however been explored several times and probably deserves to be revisited in the election year.

Just before the Christmas Eve one of the Facebook groups I have been signed up for (Obywatele Ursynowa) was a scene of mud-slinging (the Polish language has invented a new word for worthless, but heated quarrels which is gównoburza) between advocates and opponents of shooting fireworks on New Year’s Eve and New Year’ Day. The former were standing up for tradition of celebrating the turn on the year, the latter pointed at the problem of scared animals which suffer badly that one night. In response the former accused the latter of letting animals cack on pavements and grass and not cleaning up the turds and claimed superiority of humans over animals. Not joining the dispute, which will resurface in late December again, I am against fireworks. Apart from feeling sorry for animals, I believe this is a dangerous (check the number of injuries and fires caused by them) waste of money, therefore I have been glad to learn several cities had abandoned the firework shows during city-staged celebrations.

In a week Wielka Orkiestra Świątecznej Pomocy will play again, for 27th time. Each year, despite the wave of hatred spilling on the event, and its commander-in-chief, WOŚP raises more and more funds for medical aids. The divide line nearly overlaps the pro-PiS / anti-PiS one. Needless to say, I will support WOŚP this year as well, more generously than before, not only to help raise money for medical equipment for children wards in hospitals across Poland, but to spite everyone who wishes to put the initiative down.

In the coming year car-ridden dumbheads will be clashing with cyclists and ecologists, vegans will keep calling meat-eaters murderers, same label as stuck to pro-choice campaigners by pro-life activists and so on and so forth. Individuals will inevitably differ between one another, but it depends on them whether they exploit those differences to enrich the society or harness them as pretext to fight enemies (i.e. those who dare to think differently). All aforementioned disputes have touched upon the limits of human autonomy (yes, the political one as well, if not the most) and where one’s freedom begins to harm others.

Tidings from the remont front next week – much progress to boast of recently!