Watching one's tongue

If there is an area in which I could mend my ways, I would surely point at being less impulsive. I tend to quickly say or write some thoughts that come to my mind, without second thoughts. The outcomes of acting too spontaneously at times happened to be slightly embarrassing (I was too sincere and straightforward like an innocent child), but never offensive for anyone. Additionally and fortunately it has never occurred to me that I acted hastily in official situations, when weighing carefully one’s words is of paramount importance. But slip-ups with which a young corpo-rat can get away with, do not befit public officials. In Poland one such scandal follows another and the spate of such anything, but well-thought-out public statements is probably bound to never come to an end.

Last week agriculture minister, Mr Sawicki, during a press conference called farmers“suckers”. The government, to tackle the problem over-supply of domestic apples in the wake of ban on imports of Polish fruits to Russia, has put into operation an EU-co-funded apple buy-up scheme, paying growers PLN 0.27 per kilogram of apples (up to a certain quantity). Some growers instead of letting their apples being dumped, sold their fruits off for processing for less than half of the buy-up price… Their economic decisions (analysed up to that point only, since there might be other factors which have not been assessed in this short analysis) did not appear economically rational…

Not seldom does it happen that economic actors behave irrationally. Yesterday the price of one litre of 95 unleaded petrol at Orlen station in Piaseczno was PLN 4.95. At the same time, identical fuel at Orlen station in Konstancin Jeziorna was PLN 5.32. This means the same petrol was 7.5% more expensive on a station of the same distributor (for simplification I do not try to find out whether franchise could be in place) If you buy a full tank of petrol, i.e. 50 litres, you need to fork out PLN 18.50 more and even the cost of driving to Piaseczno and back to fill up a car, which is no more than PLN 8.50, leaves a tenner in your pocket. In simple words such price discrepancy is a simple rip-off. But because free market rules are in place, decision whether to fill up cars at Orlen station in Konstancin rests with drivers. Rational drivers would boycott the station, but yesterday (and on any other day_ the station in Konstancin was chock full of cars. In private, I deem the drivers who came there to buy fuel, suckers. If I were to explain to a wider audience (I do not consider this blog as a way of reaching wider audience) why the station has not gone bankrupt nor has had to decrease prices to stay competitive, as it should if the market was efficient, I would not dare to call those hapless drivers suckers. Mr Sawicki dared…

The next day former foreign minister and current speaker of parliament, Mr Sikorski, in a hurriedly given press interview, mentioned in 2008 Mr Putin in a conversation with Mr Tusk had put forward to divide up Ukraine between Russia and Poland. Several hours later he took back his words, citing lapse of memory as an excuse. Mr Sikorski’s misdemeanour is much serious than the blunder of Mr Sawicki. The latter only offended a group of his party’s potential voters, while the former (according to the version everyone officially sticks to) misrepresented the course of official meeting of prime ministers, compromised his own credibility and held himself up to ridicule. To boot, this clanger was dropped by a seasoned journalist who spent over a decade in the Anglo-Saxon world. I have never thought highly of Mr Sikorski, but the most recent confabulation puts him in even worse light…

Then things went as usual. Contrite Mr Sikorski staged a press conference and apologised, citing ample reasons for why he had made up a story of Putin’s proposal and had given a false testimony. Politicians from the opposition held out for dismissal of Mr Sikorski, politicians of the coalition, with the customary exception of deputy Kłopotek, in unison moderately defended him and tried to sweep the scandal under the carpet.

Poland has really peculiar standards in terms of dealing with reputational scandals. I do not posit one misstep should drag a person down for the rest of their career and do not view the other extreme as appropriate. Standards vary from country to country. In April 2014 South Korean prime minister resigned from his office after a ferry sunk near Korean shore. Five months earlier the Latvian prime minister also submitted a resignation after a roof collapse. I have to admit until today I do not construe motives for both personal moves. The reasoning implies a prime minister can be indirectly responsible for every tragedy in a country they run, regardless of total lack of their involvement in the disaster. This brings us towards a foregone concept of wina Tuska, which is ludicrously absurd. How can you hold a prime minister responsible for a disaster caused by a few construction workers failing to obey safety rules. If there is any explanation, I must be a matter of honour, a concept with which Polish politicians are totally unfamiliar with.

Whatever shameful deed they make, whatever subsequent scandal breaks out, for a few days they are under fire and then the dust falls and they carry on as if nothing has happened. Sometimes there are profound reasons to pretend everything is alright. Such was the case when members of Monetary Policy Council, offended by Mr Belka in wiretapped and then publicised conversation with minister Sienkiewicz, officially claimed nothing happened. Had they taken umbrage in public, they would have jeopardised the stability of the Polish currency, so the price of keeping up appearances was high enough.

I personally view a long-term track record and competencies as crucial in assessing one’s capacity to hold a specific office. For such reason I was not distasted by over-sincere “apologies” of Mrs Bienkowska “sorry, taki mamy klimat”. But if slip-ups tend to recur, it would be better to reconsider whether it would not benefit society if a person prone to get involved in repeatable embarrassing situations stepped down. Being unforgiving rarely pays off, but being too forgetting does not teach to think twice before going one step too far.

Conspiracy theories sprouting

EDIT, 16 April – my appeal. No matter how strongly we disagree with the decision to bury the president and his wife on Wawel let’s suspend all discussions and rows over this issue during the weekend. In the days to come we all ought to pay our respects to all departed ones who now deserve peace.

I haven’t prepared this overview on my own, it is just a summary of a compilation which appeared recently on WP.PL. Some are to a limited extent plausible, other smack of outright malarkey… Note that the points below do not refer to any confirmed facts.

1/ Russians had a hand in the tragedy – they had vested interest in getting rid of many Polish officials inconvenient for them, particularly president Kaczynski who was determined to fight for truth and his speech on Saturday could have thwarted the reconciliation policy pursued by Mr Tusk and Mr Putin.

2/ The crashed plane which had undergone an overhaul in August 2009 was deliberately wrecked by Russian secret services. Their agents allegedly tampered with the steering systems what could have impeded a safe touchdown.

3/ An explosion on board – some eye witnesses claimed they had heard a sound typical for explosion, akin to a bomb going off.

4/ Russians deliberately created a fog in Smolensk (as they could use chemistry to clear up sky over Moscow) either to prevent Mr Kaczynski’s appearance on the ceremony or to trigger a disaster.

5/ Black boxes were swapped – Russians were familiar with the technologies used in Tupolev planes so they concocted the record of the flight

6/ Warmth of Russians is just a smokescreen – their sympathy and help they offered us should distract our attention from their involvement in the scheme.

7/ The equipment on Smolensk was broken down – some say a few hours after the crash soldiers replaced some parts of air traffic control with new ones to cover up the blatant violation of safety issues.

8/ Mr Tusk was embroiled in the scheme. He plotted it in liaison with Mr Putin and Mr Komorowski. To boot all politicians had no other duties on that day and rushed to deal with the tragedy.

9/ Pilots faced pressure from president Kaczynski to land heedless of bad weather conditions (this thread was widely discussed on Poland-related English-language blogs).

10/ Katyn is a cursed place for Polish nation.

11/ The disaster was predicted by Nortradamus, who wrote about metal birds, which carried some eminent people from an invincible country and the country was soon invaded from the East.

12/ Not all victims died on the spot, some survived the crash but Russian secret services swiftly came around to kill them.

My comments to theories no. 11 and no. 12
Ad. 11/ I have “Centuries” by Nostradamus (in English) in PDF and searched for key words which appeared in the Polish version – nothing like this can be found there.

Ad. 12/ TVN 24 reported yesterday someone uploaded a film from the scene on which one can clearly hear shots. TVN 24 says however the film was uploaded on Tuesday, while the same footage was shown by Russian TV a day earlier.

Another note – Poles remain split over the funeral on Wawel. He worst thing is that I got lost, because there are several versions concerning the person behind this idea. Some try to suck up credit for the great idea, some try to shift blame to others.

From shock towards paranoia

The discrepancy between media coverage of national mourning and what I see in Warsaw is growing. I have written about it in comments on other blogs, so in short – I could not see mourners on the streets and in my school, people behave normally, talk about down-to-earth issues, if they mention the tragedy it’s only because another event was called off due to mourning. As the comments on sundry forums imply, those people who gathered outside presidential palace did it mostly for fun and to meet other people. After all a human being is a social animal – no wonder they came there to take photos, sing and share their feelings.

I would like to thank Russians here:
1/ for the sense of fraternity our nations have probably never felt,
2/ for president and prime minister praying for the fatalities,
3/ for a personal address to Polish nation,
4/ for help given to Polish prime minister and families who went to Moscow to identify bodies,
5/ for national mourning on a day which should be joyful for all Russians,
6/ for thousands of white and red flowers laid outside Polish embassy in Moscow,
7/ and for broadcasting Katyń film in first channel of Russian national television in prime time.

But is it a right moment to say a friend in need is a friend indeed?

I am also grateful to Polish officials who have decided farewell ceremonies and funerals will be held over the weekend. Holding it on working day would unnecessarily bring Warsaw and Cracow to a standstill.

I find it increasingly harder to put up with worshiping the deceased president, mostly by those ones who would slag him off just a few days ago. Once a clunky man making funny faces is now almost venerated, one element seems to be missing – a halo over his head. The Economist has published a balanced review of Mr Kaczynski accomplishments. Mr Kaczynski, who died along with 95 others, including many of Poland’s military and political elite, in a plane crash in Russia on April 10th, epitomised some of the best and the worst features of Polish politics. - they write. In Poland the profile of Mr Kaczynski’s is likely be angled. Until 10 April 2010 his presidency was controversial… After 10 April it has been idealised.

Meanwhile some bloggers allegedly cleaned up their sites what means they deleted posts which included adverse opinions about president. I didn’t, the full record of my critical views on his presidency is more or less here.

Somebody has also put forward to bury Mr Kaczynski and his wife on Wawel, among the most distinguished Poles. This looks as a misunderstanding. As a head of state he deserves a funeral and grave, but on Powązki Wojskowe, where many outstanding Poles are buried. To make it clear, I think none of Polish politicians would deserve to be buried on Wawel, even those whom I respect most should not be granted such privilege.

Poland’s civil society holds strong and the action to prevent it on facebook was supported by almost 10,000 people within a few hours. I support the idea to grant Mr Kaczynski a title of freeman of Warsaw – he was a mayor of the capital, his tie-ups with Warsaw were very close, but to name a new bridge or the national stadium is out of place for me.

NIE dla pochowania Kaczyńskich na Wawelu!

I know it’s controversial, but avoiding bringing up debatable issues will get us nowhere. Nowhere but to distortions.

Absolutely normal winter

Only the media and other sensation-hunters try to make a mountain out of a small hill. The temperature of minus fourteen degrees in December is more or less as normal as plus thirty in June. How have I calculated it? It’s simple. Mean December temperature in Warsaw is around -0,5C, mean June temperature is something like, +16,5C. Moreover the day-to-night ratio is roughly 2 in June and roughly 0,5 in December. This is important because it shows the time when the earth absorbs and gives off heat. That is why I compare the night-time lows in December and daytime highs in June. Add and or subtract 13,5 degrees and you’ll get respectively thirty or minus fourteen. My reasoning and calculations are a bit approximate as monthly amplitudes of extreme temperatures are bigger in the winter, but daily ones in the summer.

Nevertheless, media spread panic, when nothing unusual has happened and the audience have followed up with the winter madness. Yesterday in Warsaw I passed a group of teenage girls who claimed they didn’t remember such frosty winter. For those who have a short memory I prepared a quick reminder. The last days haven’t been the coldest this year, the temperature in Warsaw dropped to minus twenty two degrees on 6 January 2009 (seven Celsius degrees colder than these days), those girls should also remember 23 January 2006, when the temperature in the capital of Poland went down to minus thirty degrees. The different story is that the few past December accustomed us to the mild weather. The last cold December was in 2002 and the weather was very similar to the current one. The grumblers should blame themselves. There’s no other solution for freezing cold than to wrap up. Most of those elegant shoes or fashionable thin overcoats are not suitable for temperature of minus fifteen and heavy snow.

The media coverage snowed us with the reports of heavy winter attack. In simple words winter did polish off Warsaw on Thursday. I left home at 6:25 in the morning to get to school before 8:00 and I managed. Ul. Puławska was covered with typical slush (thanks for Micheal Dembinski for giving an idea on how to translate Polish word breja, it seems to be quite suitable, as the snow poured with salt or grit begins to melt), but cars were moving forward smoothly and so the bus did. It would have been amazing if the heating hadn’t broken down so students were freezing in the lecture rooms, but in general it was a good day because I won lots of gadgets in E&Y contest. I left school at 15:00 and a quarter later I stood in the middle of the crowd on Wilanowska bus terminus. As it turned out later, buses didn’t come, because had got stuck on the jammed Puławska. The first old Ikarus arrived from Woronicza depot. The ride home took only thirty five minutes (surprisingly short). From what I’ve seen or heard traffic in Warsaw was snarled up everywhere from dawn to the late evening.

On Friday the situation got better after the snow had ceased to fall. In the morning Puławska in Piaseczno was still covered with after-snow mud, but Warsaw managed to clear its street during the night. Warsaw managed clear its roads and the border of the capital, normally invisible was clearly marked by the dirty roads. Below Al. Niepodległości next to the post office where I popped in to send the next item from my allegro sale.


And a pavement along the street, still under the snow and slippery is an exception. All arteries and byways in Warsaw were black.


Nowa Iwiczna seems to prove to be an uncivilised suburb compared to Warsaw. Below my street around midday and then at dusk. Mixture of grit and snow lingers.



I took a few other snaps, however the camera was a bit reluctant to work in the cold and dark and in spite of my attempt to take sharp photos, it didn’t work out. Finally it told me about the shutter error and switched off. After removing memory card and batteries and overnight “drying” it ran fine today.

I decided to make extensive use of the Saturday afternoon and stroll through Nowa Iwiczna and Stara Iwiczna and carry out a road clearance inspection.

Below: the main street of Nowa Iwiczna (ul. Krasickiego), covered with a driven mud


The main street of Stara Iwiczna (ul. Słoneczna) doesn’t look much better


The layer of slush on my street remains intact.


And the coal train siding. Looks in use, but unfortunately I didn’t spot any train, even though the odds were higher (the lower the temperature is, the more trains have to carry coal to the power plant)


Despite the cold, media hogwash and commuting horror I try to look at the bright side of winter. Yesterday, after skies cleared up in the morning, the snow-capped landscape lit by the sun looked wonderfully.

Below: a view towards Puławska,


Pine trees swathed in the snow, as seen from the ground floor bathroom window,


A view from my room – back of the garden and neighbours’ plots


And a frozen pond in Mysiadło (don’t worry if you can’t see any pond…)


I’m identifying another problem – we haven’t had white Christmas in Warsaw since 2002 and your hopes for it may be dashed. We’re going to have a typical “Christmas thaw” this year, so I decided to secure white Christmas in advance and hoarded some snow in the garden (below).


The bigger snowdrift is rather unlikely to melt quickly.

Meanwhile the global leaders who gathered in Copenhagen had to endure the cold spell. The climate summit is perceived to be a failure, but I’m one of those who are pleased with such an outcome. The global warming is a fact. Whenever a frost wave, like the current one comes, I can read posts on weather forums like “and now try to tell me there’s a global warming”. Temperatures are rising in general, but it doesn’t mean we aren’t going to have extremely cold temperatures. But the link between mankind’s activity and warming is not confirmed. I believe it is more a natural phenomenon and our contribution to it is tiny. It used to be warmer on Earth. Why is Greenland called Greenland? Maybe because when it was discovered it was green, only later, when the climate cooled, it got iced. We should cut down on the carbon dioxide emission, but to reduce air pollution, to save forests which produce oxygen, to waste less and produce less waste. Global warming is a political issue, which involves colossal sums of money – and because big money is at stake, there will be no honest discussion on it.

Pushed around, ridiculed, degraded?

Not yet, though you might say the group is dying away, it can’t be dismissed… Who am I writing about? Approximately the group I’m describing numbers about two million of stalwart, steadfast supporters of the media empire of a prominent Redemptorist and of a certain right wing party which won the election in 2005.

You’re right – the legendary Moherowe Berety are going to have a post on them on my not yet legendary blog. Pity that probably none of them will ever read it and I’ll never see a comment left by one of them like “cosmopolitan traitor of the Polish nation paid by the Jewish forces of evil in conspiracy with Gazeta Wyborcza and TVN 24 mocks at the heart of Polishness”. But you’re wrong if you assume I’m going to ridicule them, I just want to put them under a microscope, that’s the goal.


source: Gazeta Wyborcza

The term to my surprise was first used in October 2004, not long before they became really famous after the elections of 2005 when they were reckoned to clinch the victory of Lech Kaczyński as a president and his party in parliament – against all odds and against the pools. In the voting which borne testimony of Poles’ disillusion with democracy they emerged as a group which supported the certain party, politicians and vision of our country. Soon they were mentioned in parliamentary debate by Donald Tusk who pointed at them as at the social group backing the minority government of Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz. At the beginning old ladies took umbrage at the term, but in a little while they started taking pride in being a part of a no longer dismissed community. The contempt for them, held by the youngsters led up to the humorous action initiated before elections in 2007 – “Zabierz babci dowód” (EN: take away your grandma’s ID). The jocose campaign, resulting from their active participation in the previous voting was intended to encourage young voters to take matters into their hands rather than treating it seriously. However, I disapproved a bit of it – ladies in berets are also a part of civic society and have a right to cast a ballot and have a right to vote for whoever they want. They other story is that I would do everything to mobilise the rest of the electorate to go to the polls in order to outvote them.

As I recall in 2006 all the leftist and liberal media were taking a peek of that group, examining and exploring it inside out. What they turned up was indeed nothing startling but brought to the social awareness the picture of a person quite often forgotten, demeaned, neglected. Not many people realised such elderly women were around us, trying hard to scrape along on their benefits, going every day to church, in their excessive free time listening to Radio Maryja, united in the family under the umbrella of “father director”. They all have one common denominator – they got lost in high-pace Poland rapidly developing after the transition of 1989. The society has been moving forward, embracing the western lifestyle, values, fads, but they couldn’t conform to the changing country. Tight with money, afraid to visit supermarkets, reluctant to relish on modern technical devices they were the possibly most unattractive target customers for the advertisers. Meanwhile the group, growing in number, gathered around the radio station of Tadeusz Rydzyk, where they had the opportunity to feel a sense of community, where they could get in touch with the people like them – also lonesome, lost, conservative, religious. The cause was good, but the business made on it – hang on... The listeners are brainwashed, they put stock in everything what “father director” says, with two major implications – firstly it’s their endowment for the media empire, foundation, etc. Those poor people each month after they get their pension or benefit head for the nearest post office to order a remittance to their spiritual leader. Secondly they emanate the hatred. In the first case it’s their naivety – they’re really besotted, manipulated, they believe in the good cause. The second goes in turn to my ‘beyond comprehension’ filing cabinet – how does it go together with the Christian teaching of the love to the fellow men? One of the most common picture from their annual rallies are the footages by TVN – the members of Radio Maryja Family shouting out at the journalist and cameraman of the liberal station – “Jewish envoys, embodiments of the evil”. In such way they were set against the enemies by their spiritual leader. Their stance stems directly from the fear of the unknown and manifests itself in such feats like tagging “Jews, liberals” all the ones who dare to dissent.

Their round-ups were regularly attended by politicians from Law and Justice, the most famous speeches were made by Jarosław Kaczyński. Two years ago he declared “the Poland is here” (PL: Polska jest tutaj) – as some hostile media took in the round-up spot was the last piece of the free Poland – who raided the rest of our country? This year former prime minister endorsed the new business – mobile telephony set up in affiliation with father Rydzyk. The rates compared to the ones offered by the competitors come out poorly, the allegedly user-friendly handset sold by the operator is three times more expensive than a basic phone in a supermarket and is produced on a Russian license – in a word the next scam, but the loyal followers will fall for it.

I feel sorry for them – lost, manipulated, full of hatred, intently seeking the way to give vent to their negative emotions, regrets, grief… All in all it’s just distressing…

Tax freedom day...

The symbolic date when we stop earning for the government and start earning for ourselves. This year it fell in Poland today, one day earlier than a year before. Today, together with alleged coup in Iran the topic hit the headlines. One of the journalists made me laugh as he said that we should envy the Hungarians who celebrated it in May this year. The situation of the Hungarian economy is really enviable, mostly is terms of bloated budget deficit that reached ten per cent of gross domestic product. GDP which, unlike ours, contracted by few per cent... Perhaps next year we’ll outrun Hungary, whose government is quite likely to raise taxes, in order to fill up the yawning hole in its state budget.

Today Nowa Iwiczna seemed even more God-forsaken than one week ago, in the election day. Did my neighbours go away for a long weekend or did they just decide to lie in or sit on their sofas and stare at TV screens?


I felt a bit otherworldly during today’s stroll. As I was treading from one sleeper of the local siding to another (the distances between them do not comply with the length of my legs) I heard the Gary Moore’s song from 1983 – Empty rooms resounding around the track… Explicable?



Loneliness is your only friend.
A broken heart that just won't mend
is the price you pay.

It's hard to take when love grows old.
The days are long and the nights turn cold
when it fades away.

You hope that she will change her mind,
but the days drift on and on.
You'll never know the reason why she's gone.

You see her face in every crowd.
You hear her voice, but you're still proud,
so you turn away.

You tell yourself that you'll be strong.
But your heart tells you,
this time you're wrong.

You hope that she will change her mind,
but the days drift on and on.
You'll never know the reason why she's gone.

Empty rooms,
where we learn to live without love.
Empty rooms,
where we learn to live without love.
Empty rooms,
where we learn to live without love.

Empty rooms,
where we learn to live without love.
Empty rooms,
where we learn to live without love.
Empty rooms,
where we learn to live without love.
Empty rooms,
where we learn to live without love.

All alone in an empty room.
Loneliness is your only friend, hooh.
Oh, she's gone and you're at the end.