Relief from the heat

The summer of 2014 in Poland will not probably go down in the history of as remarkably hot, sultry, rainy or stormy. Temperatures so far have been slightly above long-term averages, precipitation not abnormal. For the record, weather summary of the period from 14 July 2014 to 13 August 2014 on Warszawa Okęcie weather station from excellent ogimet database is presented on the screenshot below.

One can easily notice no temperature records have been broken, with summer-time high below +33C, contracting to +37C recorded on 8 August 2013. What is quite remarkable about the analysed interval is that over 29 consecutive days, starting 15 July ending 12 August the temperature has not dropped for a single moment below +15C. There were days when day-time highs were well below +25C, but there was no night nor morning when one could feel a really cool breeze. Slightly similar, yet reverse pattern could have been observed in early 2010, when from 1 January 2010 to 29 January temperature in Warsaw did not rise above freezing at all.

Such freak of weather had several implications. For holidaymakers staying in Poland it meant good news. Water in lakes during the period of prolonged heat warmed up to well above +20C. Even the Baltic sea near Polish shore was unusually balmy, with water temperatures reaching up to +18C or +19C contrasting to no more than +15C most people expect. From what I heard in some places north-easterly drifts brought in cool waters from the northern parts of the Baltic Sea, hence beaches were chock full of people unwilling to bath in the sea, cooler than air by some twenty degrees.

Those staying in town had to endure heat in their dwellings. The better insulated the building, the longer it takes for it to warm up and then to give off heat. After a fortnight of high temperatures many dwelling were warmed-up solid and even opening all windows for a night gave little relief. Fortunately, if one has windows on two sides of a dwelling, draught is an excellent method for cooling down the interior when temperature outside drops. The place most affected by the prolonged heat seems to be the underground, which each year at the onset of summer is the oasis of pleasant chill and then resists to give away heat.

I hope the current spell of typical Polish moderate summer, a blend of sunshine and rain showers, lasts long, nevertheless I do hope temperatures reaching near +30C return for one or two weekends. In late August or early September such daytime heat is accompanied by cooler nights and brisk mornings which take the edge off heat. The summer is slowly giving way to autumn. Lower temperatures and shorter days are not the only signs of it. Many trees begin to shed their leaves earlier than usually. The same happened last year in August and with hindsight it turned out in such way the nature anticipated a shift in weather from hot summer into gloomy autumn. If this year the same pattern is to repeat, may it also continue into warm late autumn and winter, as it did last year.

A foray to a forest

Early March, sun is shining high and the worst of the winter’s gone (expect another winter timeline next week). When this kind of weather comes in, the nature beckons and first intimations of winter bring on getting out and breathing in the pre-spring air.

Last Saturday (8 days ago), I had luck to find two spare hours (free time is and will be scarce commodity for me) to pop over to the fringes of the nearest reserve of intact wildlife.

I set off from home at half past two p.m., marched one kilometre to catch a 709 bus, rode three stops and got off at the corner of ul. Puławska and ul. Jagielska. The very wait for the bus stop dragged on for over a quarter – public transport in the suburbs is often unreliable, but after all I didn’t feel like going there by a fume-emitting vehicle and it was still too cold to have a bike shake-down day. Having alighted the bus, I headed east, passed by a prestigious Laguna estate and having walked some 500 metres, I had the forest to my left.

I sauntered on, with a view to find a monument commemo- rating fatalities of terrible plane crash which happened here in May 1987. Having forgotten to take a map, I didn’t find it, but located the property from which the news of the crashed airplane came to the fire brigade. It’s Jagielska 2, in 1987 there was a rural dwelling here, in 2012 you can find here an international private school. A fine location, I must say. I wonder how children can get here, if none of their parents, nor any other childminder can give them a lift…

I strolled some 200 metres further east, to spot the official entrance to the forest. As I later learnt at home, I could turn there left, walk less than half a kilometre north and spot the monument I was searching for. Tough luck, I’ll be there before and after the 25th anniversary of the disaster anyway to commemorate the victims of the most tragic (in terms of death toll) Polish plane accident after World War II.

I was curious to see what kind of development can be found near the south-western peripheries of Las Kabacki. One can spot there well-looking detached house built over the last twenty years, with well-groomed gardens. A blot on the landscape are old, often derelict, dilapidated houses, some looking like summerhouses.

Many on big plots of land occupied by wrecked or almost falling-apart greenhouses. One day these areas will be rearranged; at the present there is nothing but a disorder here.

Between ul. Jagielska and the forest lie empty plots of land, waiting for a wealthy buyer, eager to purchase land for their own residence or to built a row of terraced houses for sale. The upsides of the location are vicinity of the forest, clean air and silence. It gets worse when it comes to commuting. A bus stop is two kilometres away, road is full of potholes, in the winter it has a low priority in snow-clearing. Unless the weather is good, you have no choice, but to use a car and spend money on petrol… Prices of properties in the suburbs must reflect time and money wasted on long commuting…

And the last element of the suburban landscape are spacious, detached, or semi-detached mansions, usually built in clusters. Most of those I noticed were uninhabited, many unfinished inside, and put up for sale. Until last Saturday I hadn’t seen a single sign of crisis on the Polish property market similar to those in countries affected by property market bubbles and here strikes a surprise. Enormous, yet spirit-lacking and anything, but cosy, houses no one wants to buy. It’s all a matter of price. These days in Poland supply and demand hardly ever meet.

As I was approaching ul. Puławska on my way to the bus stop, I spotted a plane. Blinded by the sun, I couldn’t discern what airline it was run by. And now a question to you – an Ukrainian as colours suggest? I’ve never heard of Aerosvit…

The bus stops near ul Jagielska have been temporarily (temporary solutions last long) moved in the summer of 2010 for the period when a footbridge over ul. Puławska is rebuilt. The old footbridge, eaten up by rust was torn down in mid-2010, almost two years have gone by and construction of the new one is not yet completed. I noticed stairs are not ready – they don’t reach the ground, lifts are still not fit to run and no one bothers to finish this hapless venture off.

A big board next to the footbridge informs me the modernisation of this and many other footpaths in Warsaw was co-financed by the EU… And what’s the benefit. Completed footbridges are closed off for months as urzędasy in the town hall are hanging back on issuing a use permit and soon after the facilities are opened some buttheads vandalise it. For a while local residents won’t be able to use the footbridge and drivers’ life will be made harder by one more set of traffic lights. Oddly enough, the light for cars turns red not only when someone presses a button and wants to cross the road, but light alternate in regular intervals – another absurdity…

Holidays are over?

It’s noticeable on every step – street are much more busy and full of rowdy teenagers. Days are getting significantly shorter. For no apparent reason people tend to fall into autumnal depression as their organisms receive less and less daylight. In my case this year it goes the other way round. I feel much better when it’s either dark or when the day is one of those foggy, overcast, damp, chilly. Maybe it squares with my dark nature?

All in all Mother Nature isn’t stupid and I’m sure she has carefully thought out the arrangement of changing seasons of the year. I’ve noticed that the year (in our latitude and climate) consists of seasons which naturally go by to give way to the next ones. We’re fed up with winter and then comes the spring when the nature is brought back to life, we’re waiting for the warmer and longer days, but after a while we’re missing some cool air and greyness. A Or am I an exception longing for it?

For me holidays aren’t over yet. Tomorrow I’m heading for Jelenia Góra to visit, or actually meet my family found after years through nasza-klasa. Hopefully this time I won’t be pulled back to Warsaw earlier (than on Friday when the return is due) and next Saturday there will be decent photo coverage of early autumn, always beautiful in the Polish mountains.