Being a dab hand

The 2022 edition of Szlachetna Paczka was seemingly over, until mid-June, when I learnt a new tap in a bathroom of one last year's beneficiaries had not been installed. As a leader I  took over responsibility for seeing it through. Armed with my tool box, I visited the old lady in her flat on Saturday, 1 July. The job turned out to be not just for a plumber, as removing the old tap, stuck for 45 years, was not an easy one. I continued my efforts on Sunday, with additional tools borrowed from my father, but still could not remove the old tap. I reapproached the task with my fellow volunteer (being a builder by professoon) on Monday and within 3 hours we nearly made it (shower hose connection still makeshift). Last Monday I finished the job with my bare hands, with the sense of the mission fulfilled.

A few decades ago a male not taught to handle tools and do basic repairs and construction- or car-related works on his own was a rarity. These days the proportion have not entirely reversed, but the proportion of men having both hands left (is the idiom correctly used here?) In terms of household technical issues has considerably risen.

When looking at the reasons for less common "technical dexterity", I would mention a general trend towards outsourcing and focusing on stuff you specialise in and can do better than others, scarcity of spare time as well as changes in lifestyle (a tilt towards living it up, rather than toiling away).

Reliance on specialists has its bright and dark sides. As a matter of principle you farm out a job to professionals (whose professionalism, credibility and reliability in Poland can often be called into question) who should handle it better and faster than you. On the other hand, no specialist would turn up at your doormat right away, which might be nuisance, if a breakdown calls to be immediately fixed. Besides, such service costs quite a lot of money, yet it propels the wheels of economy.

My fellow volunteer estimated our job in beneficiary's bathroom would set her back between PLN 1,000 and PLN 1,500 (with VAT receipt). Had I spent around 10 hours doing overtime instead of doing it myself, I would have earned around PLN 1,100 after tax, so probably my overtime pay would not cover the full cost of the service.

At first sight it seems expensive, but if you dissect components of the price, you may change your mind. Of PLN 1,250 subtract VAT, income tax, social security contributions, petrol spent (only last time I could cycle, as the tools were too heavy) on getting to a client and back home, depreciation (and risk of damage) of numerous tool, a subcontractor if a task requires assistance. What you get divide by the number of hours sacrificed for the task and you will get something like PLN 40 per hour in cash to a professional's hand. Multiply 40 by 8 hours a day and then by 20 days a month and he will get a net earnings of PLN 6,400, on assumption he has a full backlog of orders. Up to you to judge whether it is a lot in Warsaw...

I must say the alternative of doing overtime insteads of doing it myself is not tempting... For a poor pensioner, over PLN 1,000 spent on the tap replacement and accompanying works would have been a huge part of her modest monthly budget. Therefore skills possessed by the volunteers feed with pride and joy.

Szlachetna Paczka-wise, it is the right moment to announce I will not continue as a leader in the coming edition and make a step back to a rank-and-file volunteer, advising and helping only if asked to do so. I have arrange as successor (she has been just recruited and I have congratulated her on taking over the role) and I am sure she will continue the great job excellently.

Expect the next post in August, once I return from Wisła.

(post written from the underground train during two rides to work).

Fatherhood

Since late adolescence I have been sure one day I want to become a father. Not because it is a socially acceptable model, but out of a primeval instinct, probably not to let my genes go to waste.

My mother was 37 and my father was 38 when I was born. In late 1980s that was considered late parenthood. I actually was not their first child. My mother gave birth to a dead infant nearly 4 years before I was born. The age difference has made itself over my entire lifetime, especially in recent years when my parents' health is no longer enviable. I have always wanted to become a father earlier than my father did and the moment draws near. My goal was to bring up children in good health and not to be a burden for them as long as possible.

You could go on about philosophical consideration on the optimum age a male should become a father. Unlike with women, biology allows men to have offspring into an old age (albeit I believe natural erectile dysfunctions work to prevent this), but I don't think deferring the fatherhood, provided you have a younger female to become a mother, is a preferable solution. A slider needs to be set between maturity and ability to provide for a family (the older, the better) and a male's body ability to regenerate and stamina (the younger, the better).

Definitely a birth of a child is a game-changer in life which turns all routines upside down, prompts you to give up for a while on some pastime activities and lose sleep. An infant needs to be looked after 24/7, hence it is a timesuck for parents, but as many of my friends say, also the biggest pride and joy they have had in their lives.

Given the hardship of early years with the offspring might give a hard time, a reliable life companion is crucial. I am still fighting my fear I will be the one who takes care of most things and is burdened with most duties, which is a sort of strange, since such worries are typical for women who statistically less often can count on their partners than the other way round.

Although three paragraphs earlier I mentioned a male's responsibility to ensure financial stability of a family, I am avidly in favour of a modern family model in which partners roughly equally share household and children-related duties.

Currently the biggest pain in the neck of my girlfriend and mine is workload. I have never had to work as much as these days for a prolonged period and never got behind with work despite working 50 - 55 hours a week. When a weekend comes I am exhausted. I need to sort this out before becoming a parent, however have a prospect of a transfer to a different team with the beginning of 2024, with a scope of duties confined to client-related stuff (current I look after a junior analyst and co-ordinate a multinational project on Poland level). Again, I have written this note from the underground train to optimise my time...

Finanse-wise, my current salary is suffient to provide for a family (assuming my girlfriend reduces her wages to mine on account of changing a job to a less time-consuming), with a decent degree of comfort, hence my strategic goal is to save possibly much money for a bigger property and be less burdened by mortgage repayments once children-related expenses appear.

Having written it all, I bear in mind it takes two to tango...

Urban cycling

I have been an active bicycle user for several years - I have used it for leisure, doing sports, socialising (trips of 20 - 80 kilometres with fellow lads and girlfriends), tourism, for moving around Ursynów (or Wisła) or dropping visits to my parents or friends, but never, ever for commuting.

In late May I resolved to try using a bicycle for work-related moving around. First ride - to a client whose office is at the far end of ul. Poleczki, some 5.2 kilometres from home. Too short distance to go by car, too long to take 504 bus and then change it to 148 service, on top due to harsh cost savings, I am not allowed to claim a taxi bill reimbursed. Outcome - I put on a suit and cycle there on my mountain bike. The travel duration was fine - 20 minutes, but in a suit I did not feel comfortable. The temperature then was not particularly high (close to +20C), but the air was humid and on my way home I slightly broke sweat.

Two days later, I took a trip to the office (14 kilometres), that time in casual clothes. I usually have to take a notebook (unless it stays in the office for a few days in a row), packed lunches and some personal stuff. I had to pack it all into a rucksack, which was a bit of heavy and contributed to a stain of sweat on my back (bike bags or a solid handlebar basket could have been a fix for it). Since there is no cycling path along al. Niepodległości, I comfortably cycled along ul. Pileckiego and then ul. Puławska up to the intersection with ul. Dolna where the cycling path ends. The route from there towards Rondo ONZ is a bit of a nuisance, there are few sections of cycling path, while meandering past narrow streets of Mokotów with dense traffic is not a pleasure. Door-to-door ride duration: 1 hour and 5 minutes, some 20 - 25 minutes longer than by public transport, which gives additional 45 minutes per day spent on commuting, but also on physical exercise.

Cycling to work has some limitations, especially pertaining to weather and outfit (casual clothes are much more suitable). Not breaking sweat is possible, yet at the expense of slow pace.

I could definitely consider cycling as attractive commuting option on distances below 5 miles / 8 kilometres and with proper infrastructure (inadequate network of cycling paths in northern Mokotów / southern Śródmieście is a shame). 

For a while bycicle sticks to its previous role, since in mid-June I purchased a 3-month travelcard whose price has not gone up simce 10 years (PLN 250 for 90 days of unlimited riding in Warsaw and around is dirt cheap). I have learnt being a passenger allows me to focus on some down-to-earth stuff via smartphone when moving. Having said that I confess this is the first post I have written using the phone only, during two underground journeys! A shame time has become such a scarce commodity.