One swallow does not make a summer

President Duda’s veto to two out of three new laws overturning the justice system in Poland came as a shock to all participant of Polish political arena and to nearly all by-standers. PiS politicians have been left speechless, as they had believed a set of three signatures should have been a formality. Voice of the opposition was barely audible since they had not prepared speeches for the possibility of vetoing scenario.

Over nearly two years in office, Mr Duda obediently used to sign off all laws coming the parliament dominated by the party he owes his current position. For many months the incumbent president seemed deaf to doubts raised by lawyers and international organisations; only recently he called into question the amended laws on Regional Accountancy Chambers (according to opponents of PiS meant to facilitate overpowering local governments).

The recent double-veto, a painful blow to a grouping which raised Mr Duda to presidency was preceded by intense civic protests (of course those who took to the streets were descendants of communist secret service agents, thieves, traitors and other scoundrels), however I doubt thousands of people giving vent to their disapproval in major cities of Poland were capable of making the president change his mind. Most probably the veto was influenced by voices of people who are deemed to be authorities to Mr Duda.

Alternative theories say the whole veto story might be just a set-up clash devised by Mr Kaczynski or that Mr Duda has decided to finally build a reputation of an independent representative of executive power, not just a notary of his partisans from PiS.

By the way, the verbal clash between representatives of Mr Duda and PiS-run ministry of justice has been probably the biggest split in the crew of Dobra Zmiana since it has got hold of power. Beware though, the crack is not so deep to tear apart the faction which is in charge of the country.

This situation is a crucial reminder the office of president is theoretically independent from any political party and acts as a separate public functionary. In practice, as each of the presidents of Poland after 1989 won the election thanks to his political entourage, the common measure of independence is the number of draft laws coming from a president’s political comrades vetoed or number of draft laws put forward by a president’s political opponents signed off without a murmur.

I find it hard to assess drivers of Mr Duda’s resistance. One swallow does not make a summer, yet I am keeping fingers crossed for him as a constitution guardian. He would need to strain a lot and show a lot of independence to make up for two years of submission to his political henchmen and to erase the track record of signing off whatever comes around.

Off to Wielkopolska for the next weekend, so expect a new note around 13 August.

Pokolenia Ikea - book review

Though the series of books by Piotr C., an anonymous (a coincidence?) writer has received some publicity a few years ago when they hit bookshops’ shelves, I somehow missed out on them. Then, in recent months, via links on fejsbuk I have run across the Pokolenie Ikea blog. Posts out there appear infrequently, yet when a note is posted you can be sure it will be lengthy, yet carefully-written, well-thought-out and will hit the nail in the head of the topic it cracks down on.

Reading of the blog has turned my attention into the series of books written by the same author, born in 1976, allegedly a lawyer in one of wicked offices of multinational corporations in Warsaw. So far I have read the first and shortest one “Pokolenie Ikea” and around one-third of “Pokolenie Ikea. Kobiety”. The third one, “Brud” is still ahead of me. The decision to get familiar with Mr Piotr C.’s literature was swift and spontaneous, so I came by books in pdf, but later on, as I shared my first impressions with one of my friends, it turned out she was in possession of paperbacks and keen to lend them to me.

My first impression after going through first chapters of the first book was that I was waddling in filth and that it must have been a mistake, since this could not have been written by the same guy who publishes sensible stuff on Pokolenie Ikea blog. Actually my impression was much shaped by lack of proper distance towards reality I had at the very moment of starting out to read. If you do not belong to the world depicted in the book, keeping your distance to characters and their misbehaviours is the only way to safely endure it from cover to cover.

I still wonder how many people’s everyday existences look akin to how characters of the book live like. How many corpo-workers instead of raising families sacrifice over 50 hours per week to toil away for their employers, get well-paid but spend all their money on partying, boozing, dating and focus their all attention on looking for opportunities to have an intercourse with a first-met chick in her mid-twenties. My friends and workmates do not live like this. They have families, their spouses and children are priorities for them, they claim to have never lived like this, even in their mid-twenties, let alone around the age of 35 as characters of Pokolenie Ikea. Then I took a broader look and found such people working somewhere at the New Factory. I had few chances to work on something in collaboration with them, yet enough to find out I would not like to have anything in common with them. With my rather orderly life, I feel a sort of contempt for people whose (hollow) lives revolve around corporate treadmill, wild partying, casual sex, drugs and alcohol. Apologies, I got the order wrong, their lives ooze with perverse sexual adventures, everything else is just an addition.

But all in all, taking the picture of crazy folks in their 30s with a pinch of salt, I have found the story amusing, though the broader picture is rather bitter. Looking at characters, you see immature men in their thirties who desperately try to avoid facing adultness and shun responsibility. On the other hand you see women either sex-starved and resembling four female individuals from “Sex and the City” or desperately trying to latch into a guy having all makings of an ideal husband and father before their biological clock tells them it is too late.

Had it not been for the fact the author has claimed to be one of such kidults, I would have pointed out the whole series had been intended to ridicule the immature generation who cannot see further then the ends of their noses. But had it not been for the fact I have shared with you some episodes from my life I cannot be entirely proud of, I might interpret the book as a catharsis, an attempt to make up for all silly deeds, a penance consisting in guiding others not to take that path.

Conceivably I am scratching beneath the surface and struggling to find something beyond the straightforward purport of the books. Conceivably in vain, yet despite occasional disdain, I will make it to the end cover of the last, just to satisfy my curiosity.

Venture - adventure

Had a few longer bike rides this year, so after an 83-kilometre-long trip beyond Puszcza Kampinoska and back (with a stopover at my friend’s), I decided to seize the opportunity to try out whether I was fit enough for a two-day cycling trip.

The planning was quite simple. While driving through Puszcza Bolimowska in business some two weeks earlier, I had discovered how picturesque the place was and it had occurred to me the place would have been a nice destination of a cycling trip. Next steps were finding an affordable accommodation for an overnight stay and marking out a route.

Setting off from Piaseczno, we cycled through Nadarzyn, then to Żyrardów and onwards through forests to Bolimów where lodgings was booked. Total distance cycled: 95 kilometres. The next day we headed towards Sochaczew, rode through Kampinos, then on the edges of Puszcza Kampinowska to reach the finish line at Stare Bielany underground station. Total distance cycled (including a ride from W-wa Jeziorki station to NI): 82 kilometres. So in total, 177 kilometres in two days. Looks impressive as you read, in fact no big deal.

According to a popular belief, to be able to boast about such distance cycled you need to be damn fit and have professional equipment. I would argue both the former and the latter are gross overstatements.

If you ride a bike recreationally and cover no more than 20 kilometres a day, a two-day over 150-kilometre trip is a wild goose chase, but after a few rides longer than 50 kilometres each, the task in entirely doable. The only piece of advice to be given is to set yourself a moderate pace not to overstrain yourself and to spread out powers evenly.

I have a no-frill bike from Decathlon with few upgrades, I do not possess cycling outfit (saddle gel pad makes up for civil clothes), I only wore a helmet. A supermarket bike would to be advisable equipment, but plain equipment, as long as properly maintained and prepared is absolutely sufficient.

When talking about distance cycled, do bear in mind 50 kilometres do not equal 50 kilometres in terms of effort put into covering such distance. On plain asphalt 50 kilometres is a two-hour ride, while when ascents are on your way, each kilometre adds up to an even bigger challenge. If you cycle through a forest, especially in bumpy or sandy terrain, each kilometres wears you down more and more, hence 100 kilometres on asphalt might be taken in one’s stride, while 30 kilometres in a sandy forest could be far more tiresome.

Lastly, good to know how to fend for oneself during long-distance cycling, as your body will not be indifferent to such physical strain.

Firstly, drink a lot, I would argue one litre per twenty kilometres is a bare minimum.

Secondly, do stopovers every twenty kilometres or so

Thirdly, eat to bring your body calories you would burn.

Fourthly, enjoy the endorphins your body will produce!

Breakthrough?

I can’t recall when we first met. It must have been during one of Area meetings in 2015 in Warsaw. We’d meet several times, I knew who you were, you knew who I was.

Ten months ago you relocated to Warsaw. Somebody suggested I could try and ask you out, somebody unaware I had been tangled up with someone else. I replied I would not overreach myself just to try and let time bring it on, or not.

In early March while at the off-site corpo-booze-up we had a longer chat in your room. We behaved innocently as children. Last week you told me back then you’d had in mind to make use of the fact your room-mate had not arrived…

7 April

After a workshop we both attended I approached you and asked whether you would eat out with my fellow workmates and me. So casually, just not to make an impression that I care at all…

14 April

I walked to your floor to wish happy Easter to your team-mates, but particularly to you. As we parted I felt I wanted to touch you and to kiss you. The tension was felt in the air, but we did nothing to relieve it.

Easter

Just look up this post to get the picture of how hopeless I felt. In conversations with some close friends I mentioned there came the moment to brace myself for being alone by the end of my days, or at best stop taking it for granted I would get married and have children. They all in unison rebuked me over my disheartened state of mind.

26 April

Death of someone else’s father turned out to disentangle me from the weird relationship or rather loosened it up to the level of a healthily distanced friendship by reminding someone else her husband was a caring man not deserving to have his wife looking out for a substitute at times. The drastic termination pushed me closed to the verge of despair. Oddly enough, your presence helped me not to think about someone else.

5 May

The reality overpowered me. I needed to give in, I couldn’t care less. Out of this blues I came forward with a proposal you went with me to pick up a gift for my friend’s newly born child. I intended to take you out to an eatery, then maybe to see you off home. Instead you asked whether I would go with you to see vacuum cleaners. I confess the moment you asked that question I knew what it meant. I carried the vacuum cleaner to your flat for three kilometres, for some reasons I didn’t break sweat even though it was the first really warm day since many weeks. I put down the box on the floor. I knew it was your territory and expected you to deal out the cards. In didn’t take you long to grab my hand to push my body close to yours… (…) Around an hour later, as the door phone bell signalled your flatmate was returning, I made off in a rush. Until today opinions who had provoked that situation vary. At that moment the course and dynamics of events, though utterly predictable, was a surprise to me.

Next week I had absolutely no idea how to handle it, nor what direction I wanted it to take. Friday’s adventure loomed as one-off thing of the past. I perceived the situation as an attempt to seduce or manipulate me and therefore stayed cautious…

12 May

You asked me to talk over what happened a week earlier. My perception of what had happened began to evolve, but at that moment I could not tell her we would be together or not. I acted as an indecisive prat, yet I needed to think things over…

A few days later I asked you out for a lunch. At that moment the outcome of my ponderings was straightforward – if I had given up on you, I would have certainly hurt you, if I had given it a try, I could have hurt you. I was ready for being turned down. You were determined to give it a second chance. Then it went on quite smoothly and swiftly.

The next weeks did not resemble the magnificent state of infatuation, crush or fascination. It was the attraction we felt for each other that kept it together. I missed the emotional element back then. While sharing my doubts with friends, I coined an offensive term ciało obce (an alien body) to call you and to define the essence of what our relationship rested on…

Over the first weeks we both had quite many occasions to break up, including my trip to Germany, returning from which I didn’t know whether there was anything nor anyone to return to. On the other hand, we both kept fighting for it and there were equally many occasions to make up. I guess this bodes well for next months…

I still wonder, whether what now burns it just the desire or something more. I am noticing nascent friendship between us, an emerging emotional bond.

Though you attract me and turn me on so good, you are not a woman of my dreams. I can’t imagine you are my wife, a mother of my children, a shoulder to cry on when I’m in trouble. Friends have told me these are the reasons to give up on you, but something inside me tells me to keep it going.

I am letting things drift. Desire will burn down in a few months and what is left then will clinch whether what is between us falls apart or is worth fostering.

Oddly enough, since we have been together, my popularity with women increased so much that I‘ve grown nearly sick of it. And despite my numerous doubts I resist all temptations. For professional reasons we’ve decided to keep it secret. I know there is no better way, but I‘m also fed up with pretending to be a single on a constant lookout. After all we both deceive people around us.

No matter how it all ends, the whole set-up is an excellent example that instead of striving, trying hard, wanting badly, the best you can do is to follow the simple piece of advice: Miej wy***ane, a będzie ci dane.

Off for a weekend next week, so next note due in two weeks.

Conferencing

Just returned from a three-day industry conference held in one of the most known hotels located less than 100 kilometres from Warsaw. I go to such events two to four times a year and each such stay and observations made there prompt some thoughts on what conferences are actually for.

So having been present to more than ten conferences over the recent three years, I have reached a conclusion conferencing is a huge business and a marvellous machine for transferring money from some organisations to others, under the guise of noble ends.

The ones who benefit most in this business are:

- companies which specialise in staging such events,

- companies which deal with hosting and running such events (hotels, catering companies, marketing co-ordinators, etc.).

Nevertheless, the business keeps going since it is fuelled by expending “no-one’s money” which are the easiest to be spent – attendance in such conferences is hardly ever paid from private purses; participation fees are paid from corporate training budgets which, if not spent, will go to waste and would likely be taken away next year.

Based on what I have witnessed, there are main five reasons to attend conferences.

1. To show off / blow one’s own trumpet / make an appearance – this pertains to speakers who, by delivering workshops or speeches or participating in discussion panels can easily keep a high profile, underscore their position in a specific milieu, or boast of their recent achievements. If people see you, you do exist. If someone invites you, your existence is more noticeable.

2. To spend budgets – corporations send employees to conferences to prove they care for their development, staff take part in conferences to show they want to broaden their knowledge.

3. To facilitate exchange of knowledge – I do not want to detract from the main reasons why theoretically people attend conferences, yet if you are familiar with topics broached, you often witness industry experts reinventing the wheel, while what you learn are some uncanny titbits you can use later on to impress your interlocutors.

4. Sponsoring – companies which decide to co-fund conferences seize an excellent opportunity to boost their visibility among potential business partners and given they are clustered in one place, this can be accomplished effectively and quite on the cheap.

5. Networking – is unquestionably the biggest value added brought by conferences. Once you gather several, also notable, people ,in one place you give them opportunity to exchange business cards, engage in small talks and serious conversations and share knowledge, experiences, ideas and views in rather informal atmosphere. Looks like the whole setting is worth it.

All things considered, I am asking myself whether it is worth to attend such events to fish out a few titbits and talk to one or two noteworthy professionals. Mindful or all drawbacks and benefits, I would still say yes. I look at agendas of such events to check out whether lectures and panels touch upon the topics I need to be versed in to perform my job better and because of budget constraints I take heed of expenses related to such events (participation fees + accommodation + travel expenses) to pick out most worthwhile events. Looking forward to more of them.

Cycling

Last year’s purchase of the new bike was spurred by the ridiculous theft of the previous one rather than by sheer intention to upgrade. More than a year after first sitting on a saddle of the new bike (I have already replaced the original one with a more comfortable part) I can claim it is a no-frill, but not low-end bike. Despite the price of less than PLN 1,000 the quality is decent and except for self-loosening saddle screw (I need to carry a wrench along), its reliability is beyond reproach.

Having come into possession of the new bike, I have resolved to make use of it more frequently. Last year problems with spine were the main hindrance, yet over the winter I exercised regularly in the evenings and have managed to overcome aches.

Spring came late this year, with cool April bringing weather rather unconducive to enjoyable cycling. Warmer days of May have made up for this, but the true beginning of serious adventure with cycling fell in the second half of that month.

On 21 May I cycled 49 kilometres, from NI to Kabaty than rode a few circles around Las Kabacki, took a stopover in Powsin, pedalled to Konstancin, hung around and ate out there, returned to Kabaty and then on to NI. The terrain was flat, temperature was near +20C and I did not feel much tiredness. Next day I could not tell I had covered a quite fine distance pedalling.

On 11 June, after the holiday break I ventured to Wawer to check out the cycling routes in the district’s forests. I took a train from W-wa Jeziorki to W-wa Śródmieście, than changed it for a Deblin-bound service and hopped off the carriage in W-wa Międzylesie. Mountain bike trails in those forests are relatively easy, yet require more skill, fitness and power than cycling on a flat asphalt. 43 kilometres covered there (I could add 6 kilometres to and from W-wa Jeziorki station on top) could be named a bumpy ride and I felt them much more in my legs and spine than the previous trip, but the next day I felt like a new man.

On Corpus Christi after a short ride to W-wa Jeziorki and train travel to W-wa Stadion my actual trip began next to the National Stadium. From there I rode to Nieporet and then beyond the town to find a quite desolated shelter for a few hours of sunbathing. On the way back I dropped in on local McD restaurant to fill up my stomach and then cycled back to Warszawa Srodmiescie station (the worst part of the ride was the ascent up steep ul. Tamka) to catch the return train. In total I covered 82 kilometres and did not feel much fatigue in the evening, nor on Friday.

More trips to be taken over the next weekends.

Long-distance cycling still is a novelty for me. Except for one trip taken with a friend during holidays in 2005, I would go out to cycle for an hour or two to ride up to 20 kilometres. My first rides this year reached 30 kilometres but the resolution to cover three-digit distance during one day is a goal achievable by the end of July I suppose. If 82 kilometres in flat terrain have not worn me down, 100 kilometres are within reach.

I already have some places in mind that would become destinations of my bike trips this year. The very distance from Warsaw must not be an obstacle. Koleje Mazowieckie allow to carry bicycles free of charge in their carriages (to the right, my bike fastened with a wheelchair belt in a W-wa Wschodnia-bound double-decker), so all spots lying not further away than 100 kilometres from Warsaw can be reached by train and then by bike within one day.

So as long as circumstances, weather, fitness and equipment permit, make the most of summer weekends and indulge in leisure activities that brings out lots of joy!

Berlin calling

Took a nearly spontaneous trip to Berlin in the last days of May. I had had the intension to visit the capital of Germany for many years, yet I must have lacked a proper incentive to get my act to together and venture there. Actually, I was first inspired to travel to Berlin around the age of 15 when I was fascinated by U2 music, where the theme of many songs was the very capital of reunified Germany, besides another inducement came from watching “Wings of desire”, a film by Wim Wenders, shot in 1987 in West Berlin. And it has been the unbidden desire (further on it in some time) that spurred the very decision to book the accommodation in the capital of Germany and try to catch the climate of the city, in the meantime taking a break from everything and everyone.

A resident of Warsaw has basically three options to get to Berlin.

Firstly, by plane. The only airline operating flights between Warsaw and Berlin is Air Berlin (Lufthansa Group). One can choose from around four flights per day, while the price of a return ticket may reach no less than PLN 400, or even lower if you opt for cabin-luggage-only rate. In terms of travel time, the superior option.

Secondly, by passenger train. The services between Warsaw and Berlin are run by Deutsche Bahn and PKP Intercity. The journey lasts nearly six hours station-to-station and costs less than EUR 100, if the former carrier is chosen or I do not know how much if tickets from the Polish train operator are bought, since they are not available online.

The drawback of the options above is that you cannot make any stopovers along the way (something I have planned for my journey) therefore I had chosen to get there by car. On the way to Berlin I popped by my friend in Poznan and spent a few hours with his family, on the way back I took a detour via Wroclove. The benefit of such option might be the cost per person, increased with the number of passenger of board, another drawback is the fact you need to find an accommodation with parking space or pay for a  hotel garage (getting about Berlin by vehicle would be a crass stupidity) – after all a car is a liability as well.

While dropping in on Berlin, it is definitely worth to take an S-Bahn train to Potsdam. The ride last less than an hour and brings the opportunity to stroll around a picturesque, well-preserved palace and garden complex. While I visited the site, the sun was scorching, temperature was reaching +30C and though the weather was taking the gloss off the spirit of the place, the scent of magnificence and history was felt in the air.

The sites on my trail around Berlin were nearly all linked to the history of the city, especially to the period when Berlin was split into two cities separated by the concrete wall, being the symbol of divided Europe. To the right – East Side Gallery, a fragment of the wall on the eastern bank of Spree river which has been redeveloped by graffiti artists, although with far lower degree of freedom than e.g. at the wall of Sluzewiec horse race track in Warsaw.

Such border markings are present in many places in Berlin, however since post-border premises have been quickly developed, had it not been for the markings, you would not have told where the wall stood. To the right, a marking in Gedenkstaette Berliner Mauer, a commemoration site located in northern Berlin in the middle of the housing estate, where the wall used to tear the city apart.

Unlike Warsaw, Berlin has not cracked down on communist symbols as fiercely as Warsaw did in early 1990s and as it senselessly continues to do. To the right, I am standing at the intersection of literally Karl Marx Avenue and Paris Commune Street (unthinkable in Warsaw, even though both the philosopher and the Paris Commune had nothing to do with felonies of communism committed in the twentieth century).

Karl Marx Strasse was the thoroughfare of East Berlin, designed and built in the spirit of megalomaniac architectural style of 1950s. The place reminds of locality of Marszałkowska Dzielnica Mieszkaniowa in Warsaw. As I have learnt from information boards, in the early 1990s the buildings were dilapidated, yet the city took the effort to restore them to original state (rather not glory), so instead of erasing the bleak history of Berlin, next generations are meant to remember this used to be a capital of communist Germany.

Another such example, a Soviet War memorial in Tiergarten Park, less than half a mile from the Brandenburger Tor. Actually such sites are hidden in many Polish cities, including Warsaw (east side of ul. Żwirki i Wigury) and Wrocław (between Al. Wyścigowa and Al. Karkonoska).

Close to the very centre of Berlin is the Holocaust Memorial (Memorial of Murdered Jews in Europe) erected in 2005 and paid for by the government of Germany. 2,711 stone blocks symbolise the number of pages of Talmud. The very fact such place can be found at the very heart of Berlin proves well Germany is not afraid of speaking of its past sins and apologising for them.

Topography of Terror, an open-air museum in turn reminds of the dark period of 1933-1945 when Germany was under the rule of Nazis. This shameful heritage is presented in full light, with no understatements and no attempts to justify the evil. Germans can be proud of having atoned for its country’s sins and thus have set themselves free of the burden of history.

Not far lies another place which bears testimony to differences in approach to history by Germans and Poles. Checkpoint Charlie, the most famous border crossing in torn apart Berlin. The blood-tainted site is now surrounded by two fast food restaurants and if you turned around you would spot a pink pipeline. It is worthwhile to visit an open-air Soviet bloc museum, bringing close the dramatic history of the eastern side of the Iron Curtain.

The TV broadcasting tower, over 300 metres high is the highest landmark in the capital of Germany. For everyone fond of watching the world from above, this is definitely a recommendable attraction, since a lift, running at average ear-clogging speed of 6 metres per second carries you to an observation deck (price: EUR 14 before discounts).

To the right – one of many shots taken from the viewing platform (I must confess I found the open-air one in Frankfurt superior). My compact Olympus bought five years ago and used currently only during holiday trips has been up to the mark, as for its class. The optical 12.5x zoom gave the satisfying quality of the close-up photo, needless to say the photo contains details not visible by human eyes from such distance. Note the large green area, the Tiergarten park, a place in the centre of Warsaw I would miss.

Berliners can boast of developing the banks of Spree perfectly. The river and the city have been brought into one and river banks are excellent leisure spots, with several restaurants and hang-out areas.

After driving around 300 kilometres around German motorways, I confess newly-built Polish ones lie far ahead the legendary German motorways. On the way there I got stuck for an hours in a traffic jam on a modernised motorway ahead of Berlin; the inner bypass of the capital is plagued by dense traffic (although it is a motorway, three-digit speed in kmph is out of reach) and by traffic jams during rush hours. To the right, somewhere near Dresden, while driving from Berlin to Wroclove. Tip – if you take this route by car, avoid DK18 between Olszyna and A4 motorway in Poland. Wroclove-bound lanes made of concrete slabs of this dual carriageway date back to Hitler and perhaps have never been repaired. Outcome – maximum speed of 80 kmph at times is too much.

Then I spent another day in Wroclove, recharging batteries and roaming around my beloved places. Those, by all accounts, were the best moments of the trip. Here, at the fountain park next to Hala Stulecia, my feet soak in water, my body basks in the early-June sun. Moment taken and made perfect, worries shelved.

Took a tram to Plac Grunwaldzki then and march towards Ostrow Tumski. Passed by Katedra Św. Jana and headed towards Most Tumski, being also called the bridge of lovers who hang there padlocks with their names. School trips seasons was at its height, so the side effect of visiting the place was enduring the gaggle of teenagers.

Further on foot to Wyspa Slodowa, a gorgeous hang-out for students and teenagers, for meet-ups with friends, dating and sipping wine or beer. The place is illuminated by late-afternoon sunlight. Temperature is ideal, just slightly above +20C. For some reason, Wroclove is the only place outside Warsaw that feels like home.

Towards the end of my trip, the market square, lively place, full of tourists and open restaurants. I have been there so many times that this spot beckons less than other beloved sites, but if you drop in on Wroclove, not turning up here is a shame.

Spent the second half of fortnight-long holidays at home, catching up with meeting friends I had been hanging back on seeing, ticking off items from a list of overdue stuff to handle and trying to figure out what the future holds. Since situation on the front is quite dynamic, I am holding back from saving this for posterity. Once it clears up whether it falls apart or keeps going, I will keep a record of burning hot spring I have experienced in 2017. Unquestionably, the holidays drawing to a close were my best since 2014. Hope the ultimately best are still ahead.

Sadder but wiser

The more you do, the more mistakes you are likely to make. Only those who sit on their hands are not infallible. Even wicked corporations hold such approach dear! The more we experience, the more nasty situations life puts us through, the opportunities to learn we receive. Lucky those who do not need to draw conclusions from their own missteps and wise those who intently observe fellow people’s slip-ups, analyse them and take precautions not to repeat them.

It all commences in childhood. I remember well when my mother warned me not to put a finger into a burning flame on a gas stove. Obviously, I refused to listen to her and burnt my finger. Lesson learnt – keep fingers away from flames. Alternatively, the lesson learnt could be to listen what you parents say. With hindsight, coming back to choices made by me when I was a teenager or a student, I recognise my parents were usually right (I have never admitted it to them, as such statement would have all appearances of asking for continual advice) and often ask myself what they would advise me in a specific situation, how would they react if I told them about my crazy idea or what they would rebuke me over. By the way, I recall now a training delivered by a coach who claimed parents in Poland do not support their children ingenious ideas, but do their utmost to discourage their offspring from pursuing their ambitions, especially the dicey ones.

I also wonder what can prompt humans to give up on silly activities that might severely harm them? Would throwing up all contents of one’s bowels prompt a binge drinker to become more restraint with alcohol, or would they need to commit a crime or lose a job to get the eye-opener? Would causing an accident persuade a fan of fast driving to stick to speed limits? Or would a severe fine be helpful enough? What else, except for unwanted pregnancy or contracting an illness, would convince a person who indulges in occasional sex to hold their horses? How heavy shortage of money would urge a reckless shopper to think twice before spending money on stuff they don’t need?

I strive to look at other people’s and mine mistakes. Watching humans stumble but not necessarily fall fills me with confidence that cool-headed approach to life pays off. Holding back before making hasty decisions, minding the consequences, putting oneself in someone else’s shoes and trying to guess their perception of a situation, these all make up precious guidance how to become wiser and avoiding the side effect of being sadder.

Lastly, I ponder upon circumstances which can throw an individual off their sanity. The one which instantly is brought to mind is falling in love, a state compared to mild intoxication, when sound judgement is said to be turned off or at best impaired. But symptoms of falling in love and impact on a daily life or an infatuated person changes with time. A teenager in love behaves different than a human in their mid-thirties. And I put it down to benefit of learning from mistakes made by many people.

Expect a break from blogging the next weekend. I am heading west for a short, or maybe longer road trip. This will be not just a sightseeing trip, but also an opportunity to be on my own (oddly enough, this is now something I am longing for) and to think things over, to return happier, but wiser.