The flat - half year into...

Yesterday I deliberately (and without regret) missed the opportunity to celebrate half-anniversary of purchasing the flat. Having spent most of the Saturday running errands related to furnishing it, I did not even drop in on there (caught up today). After six months being continuously busy handling the endless restoration, the sound of the word remont makes me feel queasy.

In the purchase-related euphoria I have definitely underestimated the scope of works. Before stepping inside as an owner, I had planned something more than redecoration, with major refurbishments to be done in kitchen, hall, bathroom and toilet. As the day after the purchase I checked the technical condition of windows (and decided to order new ones), the list of things to be done once, but properly and for years began to grow longer and longer. The redecoration turned into a makeover, which actually was indispensable to a neglected 20-year-old dwelling. With hindsight, I believe a few works more could have been done as well.

The time frame for the venture has definitely been underestimated, I missed it by a long shot and my horizon of 3 months was extended to slightly more than 6 months. The major cause was the first crew of builders which had been postponing the onset of their works week by week, until I my father found new craftsmen (fortunately, they came in mere 3 weeks later). The remont has been a valuable lesson of patience.

Budget-wise, I have not summed up all expenses yet, however if I overshoot my target of 1,500 PLN per sqm, the overrun will not break the bank (annual bonus arrives in March).

Actually everyone who has had their dwelling refurbished experienced has learnt that:

- Murphy’s law works well on construction front (for the sake of caring about your mental health, worth distinguishing those mishaps you could have prevented, had you been more familiar with technical issues from those for which you should not blame yourself),

- nearly all builders and other professionals are a different breed (oblivious of concepts such as reliability, diligence, deadline, agreement).

While talking to people who have endured their remont a few years ago, most sympathise with me and recall their traumatic time. Mine actually has not been so ghastly thanks to involvement of my father who has spent hundreds of hours overseeing the process – otherwise I would have to seriously consider hiring somebody who would look after it.

Today, while at the scene, I forgot to take any snaps but:

- kitchen furniture have been partly installed (originally due to be completed by 8 February), besides a table and two chairs are the only missing elements,

- hall awaits wardrobes (due in the first week of March),

- bathroom is generally ready, but lacks a washing machine (a matter of a few days between an order and a delivery so I have been putting this purchase back for a few weeks now) and cabinet (due to arrive on Wednesday),

- toilet also awaits, but a cupboard,

- bedroom furniture to be delivered on Wednesday (hopefully) and the wardrobe to be put in along with the one in the hall,

- living room furniture have been ordered, but should arrive in late March.

Besides, several minor things still need to be done… I due course

Another set of remont musings after I move in. Sick and tired, but elated will I be then, by then just striving to carry it through.

10 years challenge

Today, 10 years ago (is this quaint form which I heard and read several times in use by native speakers correct – in Polish dziś, dziesięć lat temu sounds at best clumsily?) I posted on the blog for the first time. Few bloggers soldier on for so long, few bloggers do not run out of determination to write. As the Internet is full of #10yearschallenge comparisons, I will not spare the effort to come up with some salient ones, yet without any photo documentation.

In February 2009 I was a 21-year-old student of Warsaw School of Economics. I moved to a different role two years later; today I work at a bank controlled by one of bigger financial groups in Europe (fortunately not repolonised), striving to keep a low profile and remain anonymous.

Despite coming of age, I have not raised my own family yet. In the meantime the family I hail from has gone less populous after deceases of my paternal grandparents.

I set up the blog slightly more than a month after a break-up with a girlfriend. Today, my tenure of being single lasts 7 months (and despite keeping up appearances, it still feels traumatic).

In 2009 and for several years later I lived with my parents, then rented two flats, finally I purchased my own one and after overcoming all tribulations (cards stacked against me several times on the remont front) I should move in to my dwelling in March.

Politics-wise… Ten years ago Poland was under the rule of Platforma Obywatelska, the president was late Lech Kaczyński. Today his twin brother keeps a tight rein on Poland and will refuse to give in. The autumnal election will be the battle for the future of Poland.

Economy-wise… 10 years ago the world was in the doldrums of the economic crisis, with stock markets hitting many years’ low and Polish currency being the weakest in 21st century. Today several developed economies are facing threats of recession, while Poland again resists economic contraction, however for different reasons than a decade ago.

Society-wise… In early 2009 I did not know the word smartphone, which revolutionised not only technology (cell phone, computer, camera, video camera, clock, dictaphone, organiser, radio, mp3 player, calculator, torch, map crammed into a tiny device) but also marked a negative change in interhuman communication – made people stare at their smartphones instead of talking to one another. Sadly…

For the sake of statistics, most often viewed posts of the decade are:

1. Black swan theory, inadvertently published exactly two days before the theoretically unimaginable disaster.

2. Freaks of the dicts – linguistic puzzles were one of my passions around that time. I believe once the remont is over I will need to take the trouble to refresh my English, whose command has definitely seen better days (using it every day at work, yet reading far too little, which has negative impact on vocabulary resources – lose it or use it! Err… oddly enough, I observe the same has happened to my Polish)

3. Oscar and lady in pink – a review of a poignant book, reminds my remont-related quandaries appear miniscule when confronted with an innocent child passing away slowly.

4. Pushed around, ridiculed, degraded – an analysis of part of current ruling party’s electorate. Moherowe berety are no longer a hard-core voters of PiS, yet my to-do-list should contain a study into who the mindset of most avid believers of the first property developer in Poland.

5. The banker’s role from bank employee’s perspective – a response to a post written by a fellow long-distance blogger whose tenure will always be nearly two years longer than mine. Michael, thank you for inspiration and for being the only one from the Polish-English blogosphere, thriving in 2009-2011 and then waning, who has not dropped off.

There was a time when I was planning to give up on blogging on the 10th anniversary. Today, despite headwinds, I am determined to keep it up, however in a while I will need to abandon the predictable formula of one post each Sunday and bring in some element of irregularity.

Perfectionism

“To strive for perfection” is a phrase I have frequently used on this blog, in several contexts, however each time it has had a positive purport.

On Thursday morning on my way to work I was listening to a radio and learnt 7 February was a worldwide festival of perfectionism. A query to the most popular search engine has not confirmed that piece of information, but even if the światowy dzień perfekcjonizmu was just another figment of journalists’ imagination (or fake news, something I detest), it has prompted me to rethink whether endless striving for perfection is at all times positive.

Whatever you indulge in, do it with restraint. Endless pursuit of excellence is another example of obsession, a perilous one. If on every step you try your hardest to do things perfectly, your existence stands a chance to be turned into veritable hell. Perfectionism slowly kills not only the one afflicted with it, but also people around them. A perfectionist boss is a pest to their subordinates, a perfectionist spouse or parent incessantly infuriates their relatives.

Perfectionism in imperfect world, where most people display couldn’t-care-less approach makes one’s life a string of frustrations and disappointments, since the surrounding world constantly fails to fall into line with a perfectionist’s expectations.

Personally, I am also perfectionism-stricken, albeit I believe to a moderate extent. Over time life has taught me to ease up, just not to go crazy. I also control myself not to formulate exorbitant expectations towards other people. On the other hand, my current manager is much tougher perfectionist than me and we get along… perfectly.

I envy easy-going people, whose lives are free of quandaries I can create in my head. People not fond of neatness, tidiness, orderliness seem happier than me. On the other hand, I realise while I might fight my drawbacks, attempts to turn myself into a different man even if they did not go in vain, they would not make me happy. Only being oneself, living according to one’s values may assure happiness.

On the remont front, the builders have finished their job yesterday. More on the recent tribulations soon. The end is near, but the home straight is a sort of windy and bumpy...

K-towers tapes – questions left unanswered

Much uproar in the public discourse after the unveiling of recordings on which nadczłowiek* Kaczyński was talking about eventually aborted office development plans. Interpretations of what can be heard on the tapes (takes a while if you want to listen to the entire bundle of recordings, since the basic file shared by Gazeta Wyborcza has a duration of one hours and eight minutes) vary drastically. My thoughts to share are on the sidelines of the debate, since I am trying to look at the entire scheme from a banker’s perspective and discern intricacies an ordinary commentator would overlook.

1. No one has bothered to comment on how an office rental could fetch a return of 30%. I infer Kaczynski and his relatives meant ROE (return on equity = own funds invested) generated by a leveraged (financed with a third-party loan) investment. In reality rental of office space in Warsaw generates yield around 7% yearly.

2. The mythical one billion three hundred million. I have not worked out so far whether this was the amount of loan to be disbursed by Pekao S.A. or the entire construction budget. The question is valid since the Polish Finance Services watchdog a few years ago has brought into force Recommendation S, a set of strict guidelines pertaining to commercial property lending (observance of which has been strictly controlled by the regulator since then), in line with which a bank can finance up to 75% of (net-of-VAT) investment costs. Here I see only two possible outcomes:

A/ Srebrna venture has 25% equity, i.e. at least 300 million PLN, which according to my best knowledge goes well above the market value of plot of land. This gives rise to another question, namely how Srebrna had come into possession of so much money.

B/ State-controlled bank Pekao S.A. would finance 100% of the project budget and be in breach of Recommendation S, however the regulator (with Marek Chrzanowski in charge of it) would connive at it.

3. The terms of conditions of the deal were described by the press as very loose. I have not read the source article in Wyborcza (or skimped to pay for subscription), only its summary in Onet, which sadly was compiled by a journalist not up to the task. I can tell you if I recommended a loan for a start-up, for preparatory works with bullet repayment and interest capitalised rather than paid in regular intervals, I would be handed a cardboard box and fired. Since the inception of my adventure with banking industry, I have always avowed, unless pressed by unemployment, I would never, ever consider taking up a job with a state-controlled bank. And I proudly hold with it!

In recent weeks one scandal afflicting ruling party prominent politicians chases another. Seemingly PiS is teflon-coated and support in polls has not dwindled markedly. The situation resembles the course of events which kicked in the previous government out of power in 2014-2015. It all had begun with tapes whose importance had been shrugged off and then president Komorowski who had been told to have to run over a nun while inebriated behind the wheel to lose the election, actually lost it. The history may repeat, while the European parliament election in May will serve as a gauge.

* nadczłowiek = literally more than a human, the word I have coined to describe the stance of himself Jarosław Kaczyński had demonstrated over recent months.