Mid-summer walk, Ursynów

Gone is the heat that kept us company since mid-June. Except for a few days of mild weather, residents of Warsaw had to endure six weeks of temperature nearing highs of +30C. Having grown weary of sultry weather, I welcomed a relief brought by early days of August. Finally, a break from sweating during days and restless sleep at nights.

So when late afternoon comes, my enjoyable neighbourhood beckons. To the right – I cross ul. Moczydłowska to find out that a section of (formally) ul. Ziemska which used to be a trampled-down path, has been hardened with gravel and widened. I wonder what reasons stand behind such decision, but hope the goal was not to make this place assessible for motorists.

As I stroll west, I pass by a cabbage field. I wonder why a farmer prefers to cultivate arable land in a location where plots could be worth zillions of zlotys. A property developer would love to turn this cabbage fields into an estate of terraced houses, each to sell for 3 millions zlotys. In the distance – a plane coming to touch down at Warszawa Okęcie.

Instead of marching towards the forest, I turn right and find myself on. ul. Gminna. The scenery, especially the pines, bring to my mind seaside roads. And this very spot lies just a quarter of mile away from my dwelling.

I have scrambled up the top of Górka Kazurka, one of three hills piled up during the construction of Ursynów. The peaks of the hill have been reshaped into MTB tracks. In the distance, roofs of residential Kabaty.

Having descended the hill, I head towards the forest. Mosquitos no longer bite as badly as they did in late July, so I don’t need to make off. The area in the vicinity of Las Kabacki has retained its rural character and I hope it stays so (nature and wildlife reservoir status the forest holds sees to it). Only roof of blocks of flats visible in the distance remind I am in the capital.

The snap to the right was taken from a dirt track which on a map is officially marked as ul. Perkalowa. Greenery all over, beyond the meadow, Górka Kazurka. Nothing unusual except for the proximity of that spot from the nearest underground station – less than a mile!

I approach home, walking up. ul. Moczydłowska. I wonder what the point is in snapping with a nine-year-old compact camera, if in October my phone will be upgraded into a mid-to-high-end Samsung, whose camera might be superior to my old Olympus.

A minute later I ran across my ex-girlfriend. We broke up over three years ago. It was our first conversation since the day I moved out. Cordial, yet reserved. The decision has proven right. We were bound to go separate ways. There is no way back towards any friendship, but we come across each other again, we will finally not pretend not to know each other.