Behind the wheel, finally

It’s been a while since I last broached the accursed topic of domestic politics…

The leaks and then confirmed news that the most prominent back seat driver in this country is to join the government have brought a smile (or at least a smirk) on my face. It is not about looking back to 2006 when taking over by Mr Kaczyński as prime minister was a first drop in a waterfall that eventually led to early election in October 2007 in which PiS was defeated. It is about principles. In each civilised country somebody who keeps a tight rein on a state holds a position in a government (or another power-gripping one). Mr Kaczyński until now was the only decision maker to remain in a position of a (seemingly) modest rank-and-file deputy, thus shunning responsibility for all criminal deeds committed by PiS officials while in power.

Also the squabbles in Zjednoczona Prawica (beware, PiS does not have a single-party government, it has won the election in a coalition with two other parties and does not have majority of seats in the lower house of the parliament itself) and threat of conceivable split in the ruling coalition have filled me with some faith. After a while, I have dashed all hopes. Firstly, since situation in Poland is different than in 2006/2007. Too many Poles have either been bought off with social transfers or have been lifted into dignity by PiS. They are besotted well enough to endorse PiS, come rain or shine, so each piece of news putting PiS in bad light would be interpreted by them as work of hostile foes of Polishness. Secondly, since I want my country to be run well. If PiS and their coalitional partners concentrate on spats rather than wise lawmaking, it should be to the detriment of Poland. Yet, on the other hand, the more they focus on fighting for stools, they less evil they do to Poland, especially to the justice system.

One must bear in mind the next parliamentary election is due in 3 years. This gives PiS, Porozumienie and Solidarna Polska a lengthy streak to reshape (i.e. damage) Poland, especially to finish reforms which would turn Poland into a quasi-authoritarian country. They need to remember people’s memory is short, so whatever good they do now, will need to be reminded of ahead of the election, but whatever is screwed up, stands a chance to be forgotten by 2023. I suppose the next parliamentary election will be as free as the recent presidential election. I do not believe it will be rigged as the presidential election in Belarus in August 2020 was, but PiS will do their best to manipulate possibly many people to vote for them. 

What the government now needs to tackle is the rising number of new coronavirus infections. In this respect Poland is catching up with its neighbouring countries and Western European countries, where the number of new infections is already much higher than at the peak of the first wave of COVID-19. In Poland the number of new cases per 1,000,000 citizens is already much lower than in several countries where the situation has spiralled out of control, but since as a society we do not take precautions, their path is the one we will have to follow. We are now far better prepared to protect ourselves against the virus and know better how to cure the disease, but Poland no longer can afford a second lockdown. New restrictions, if imposed, will make our lives less convenient, but should be targeted not to smash businesses (though some economic impact is inevitable). The second lockdown is impossible for another reason – people are no longer as afraid of the pandemic (humans naturally fear the unknown, while COVID-19 is already a familiar pest) and will not be ready to obey strict lockdown discipline, as they did in March or April (unless police and army are to be sent to enforce the new rules).

Bieszczady – the only holiday trip in 2020

Back after a three-week break from blogging, of which one week was spent 450 kilometres away from the capital, at Poland’s alleged back of beyond, the country’s south-eastern corner, in Bieszczady. I must confess this has been my first trip to that region of Poland and my first mountain-hiking holidays since 2004 (high-school times). Bieszczady mountains are famous for being the least human-affected region in Poland. I believe with development of tourism and influx of EU funds, this holds no longer true. On top, with limited opportunities to travel abroad, the region experienced an invasion of holidaymakers this year, which kept on even after the beginning of the school year.

Getting there if you do not move by car might be a nuisance. Public transport at that end of Poland is poorly developed, yet anyone willing to get there from Warsaw should consider taking a Pendolino to Kraków and then changing to a bus run by one of private operators (timetables need to be matched). Moving around the area is an even bigger nuisance (one bus per day at inconvenient times for hikers), hence travelling by car was a costly salvation.

Accommoda- tion-wise, we stayed at Cisna, an anti-PiS stronghold in that part of Poland. I can recommend our lodgings – Troll at the very heart of Cisna – a room and large breakfast for 100 PLN per person per day (a lot in today’s prices?).

Sightseeing-wise, not many trips could be taken there. We finally have not dropped in on skansen near Sanok, but on any rainy daily (it drizzled from dawn to dusk) we took a trip to Polańczyk (photo to the right), Solina water dam, Lutowiska and Ustrzyki Górne, just to find out the region is attractive as a whole, but lacks place which are particularly noteworthy.

On the first sunny day, we ascended up Smerek. The elevation was nearly 600 metres and the ascent was rather long than steep, but as in every hiking experience, views from the summit (1,226 metres above sea level) compensate for the physical effort.

On the next day, we climbed the highest peak in Bieszczady, Tarnica (1,346 metres above sea level). The starting point for the trip was located on a higher altitude than on the previous, yet the elevation gain was similar. The ascent was steep again and was less pleasurable, due to abrasion of my right foot (two weeks of walking in my shoes had proven too little), yet we have made it to the peak. This was the most crowded of the hiking trails.

On the last day we scrambled up the trail to Połonina Wetlińska. The lowest elevation gain (350 metres to some 1,200 metres above sea level), yet view-wise, not least rewarding. Seeing the world from a top a hill looms as a reward to the sweating uphill.

When it comes to eateries, I wholeheartedly recommend Chata Wędrowca in Wetlina (being a picturesque place anyway), famous for legendary pancakes, which are anything but overrated. Queues prove it best!

On our way back we popped over for an afternoon in Zamość, a city I had yearned to visit for months. A broader description of thereabouts can be found on W-wa Jeziorki blog (no point in writing it up again).

And for the record, this was the first holiday trip with my girlfriend met via Tinder in early July. No spats over six days spent together all the time seem to bode well for the future.

Szlachetna Paczka – back as a volunteer

Last year I seriously got involved in Szlachetna Paczka as a donor. Having seen the misery of families, I resolved to sacrifice more than money and some time, I have decided to spend even more time helping those in need and join the initiative as a volunteer.

In June and July I went through recruitment process and have been enrolled as a volunteer in the region of Ursynów. Yesterday I had an all-day onboarding workshop, run on-line. The biggest challenges lie still ahead. In October I will visit families reported to the initiative, then pick those which deserve to be helped, recognise and structure their needs, then co-ordinate with donors the delivery of gift packages to the families.

The description above puts very briefly what I am in for. I promise to write a separate post about each stage (picking families, working with donors, delivery of gifts to selected families) as the time goes by.

Next months are bound to be a period of facing constant time shortages. Szlachetna Paczka is a time-consuming occupation, fourth quarter is customarily the busiest season at work (and this year pandemic-driven slowdown will bear the additional brunt on my workload) and finally my private life has shaped up and I need to foster it, therefore long notes on the blog are not in the offing.

Next Sunday I set off to Bieszczady (first time in my life), for a long-awaited holiday trip (before the number of new infections soars), first since June 2019. Do not expect me to post before mid-September.

Czarni - book review

Having read Chciwość and Bogowie (about doctors), magnificent books by Paweł Reszka which I hold on my bookshelf, I did not hesitate much when I spotted the most recent piece, Czarni, published early this year and being a bunch of odd talks with… priests.

The convention of the book remains the same as in two previous ones – the author interviews anonymous representatives of a specific profession and then brings their stories together (in a fairly chaotic way) and paints a picture what they are like. The sample of priests who agreed to be Mr Reszka’s interlocutors might not be entirely demonstrative, yet their confessions appear as straightforward and trustworthy sources of inside knowledge on how the oldest corporation in the world functions.

The way the book is structured into chapters lacks an easily recognisable order, however main sins of the clergy emerge from the entire work.

Firstly, hubris which gives rise to conviction that priests are selected ones and superior to other people, a conviction which according to humble priests is totally unfounded.

Secondly, greed, one word which does not necessitate further comments.

Thirdly, disdain for people, which is inevitably linked to hubris, but manifests itself in little respect for humans priests deal with on everyday basis and (more often) to one another.

Fourthly, career pursuit, not a very common sin, yet there is a group of priests for who end justifies the means if a step up in the hierarchy is at stake.

Fifthly, the life of ease they pursue. Priests usually hire ladies to clean their dwellings, cook meals, iron clothes, know little about running the house and everyday duties (some have never cleaned a toilet bowl, to quote the most vivid example). They do not even know what costs of living are.

Sixthly, the Church as an institution is obsessed with ordinary people’s sexuality and attempts to instruct them how to get on with it, while representatives of the Church are officially not allowed to have a little notion what real life looks like.

The spate of interviews is also an account of solitude. Once a man decides to become a priest, he decides to forsake a family life forever. It is also a poignant reminder being surrounded by people does not guarantee salvation from loneliness. Priests seem to be poor at filling it and generally cannot boast about reasonable ways of filling the void such as sport, hobbies, passions, highbrow culture. They spend evenings watching TV, eating, sipping alcohol.

A gap between how people perceive life of a priest and reality is the most astonishing conclusion from the book I have drawn. Bear then in mind your priest’s life is far from being divine.

With few young lads eager to sign up for seminars these days, the Church in Poland will be facing a shortage of priests in years to come. Until early 1990s the Church was a backbone of freedom, one of the strongest institutions in the opposition to the communist governors. Today the freshmen are not as open-minded as their predecessors, therefore the Polish clergy is bound to evolve towards conservatism, drifting away from vision of the world espoused by the current Pope who does a lot to move with the times.

Belarus, where are you heading?

A short note today, as since yesterday I have been struggling a mini-heat stroke which hit me after cycling 70 kilometres with a 5-kilogram rucksack on my back in +28C heat on Friday. I was intent to swim in a lake, but the trip could have been done with some more convenient means of transport.

It goes without saying that the presidential election held in Belarus last Sunday has been rigged.

Needless to say, the opposition’s candidate has been blackmailed and forced to flee the country and seek asylum in bordering Lithuania (interestingly that it was not Poland that has given shelter to Mrs Tsikhanouskaya (mind spelling difference between Polish and English)).

Sadly, does not take aback the European Union has proven its weakness again. Gone are the times of Ukrainian orange revolution in November 2004 or Maidan protests in the same country in February 2014 when Western leaders acted up to the mark in aiding Ukraine break away from the dictatorship (for the latter attempt Ukraine has paid a price of the Russian invasion).

Democrats are facing a difficult question whether to interfere into internal affairs of a sovereign country and bring in democracy (attempts to install it in Middle-East Arab societies have turned out to plunge those countries into chaos, despite setting them free from dictators) or to let things drift and wait until suppressed nations stand up. For me the situation is akin to a dilemma of someone who hears that next door a neighbour beats up his wife. I believe domestic violence is not just a fellow men’s business and a decent man has an obligation to intervene.

Lukashenko regime remains powerful as long as it has police and army officers on its side. A few days ago armed forces appeared to stalwartly defend the status quo and hopes for winning the battle began to fade. Towards the end of the week one could hear of more and more instances of desertion and joining the protesters by OMON functionaries and soldiers. I believe if we are to pin hopes in anybody, those are the armed forces without which the dictator is powerless.

On moments like this I hark back to December 1989 when Romania’s communist dictator, Ceausescu was sentenced to death. I generally am against the bloodshed and capital punishment, yet somebody guilty of quelling a country’s potential and subduing a civic society deserves a war-time rather than peace-time condemnation. Such ending should remind a dictator how they may end up. On the other hand, fear of being killed would prompt them to take the cruellest measures to shield their regime.

Keeping my fingers crossed for Poland’s eastern neighbours. I realise the change will not happen overnight, this will quite likely be a long process of devolving power, yet I hope the change moves Belarus forward.

The epidemic in overdrive

If you thought the coronavirus would retreat in high summer, recent infection statistics have proven you wrong. Last week we crossed the barrier of 600 new infections a day in Poland, in recent days the 700 and 800 thresholds have been crossed. In terms of cases per 1 million inhabitants Poland keeps doing far better than countries most severely afflicted by the pandemic four months ago, yet the trend does not fill with optimism.

As Michael rightly points out, our collective complacency is to blame. We have got fed up with constant sanitising, social distancing and abiding by all rules which made our lives less convenient. On top, unlike in Italy or Spain, very few people have been known somebody infected, therefore the peril has not appeared too close for comfort.

In late March we exhibited exemplary discipline, out of fear of the unknown. The spurt of anxiety was short-lasting. Psychologists claim human being are capable of large, yet short-lasting sacrifices. Besides, human memory is surprisingly short. On top, humans naturally want to rejoice to make up for time of sacrifices. The recipe for relaxation of virus prevention rules (partly written up by the government) might soon turn out to be a recipe for disaster.

The vaccine for COVID-19, if effective, is months away from us. We know somewhat better how to cure the infected, our health service is better prepared, but specialists estimate if the number of new infections exceeds 1,000 per day, we might run out of hospital capacity. The second lockdown is ruled out for economic reasons. For some time, the virus will need to be targeted with local lockdowns are sets of restrictions that might give people a hard time, but will not push towards austerity.

I personally try to live possibly normally, yet I strictly obey face-covering principles, keep my distance from people, avoid restaurants and cafes, except for open-air ones and shun crowded places. Much enough to minimise the risk of infection without risking my mental health.

Scientists have taken back their assertions that the virus is seasonal. In terms of transmission, the risk in open air on a sunny and dry day is perhaps lower, yet people get infected in interiors where conditions do not depend on the weather outside. Though the transmission might not speed up in the colder season, the incidences of flu and COVID-19 with similar symptoms will mix up, making it hard for doctors to diagnose which patient is down with which disease and possibly clogging up the health service.

Even those young and healthy who are likely to be asymptomatic, should not shrug off the virus. The disease is said to leave a mark of destruction in lungs, heart and brain, which is horrifying. I still pin some hopes in wisdom of people who should not deliberately do themselves harm. As a born pessimist, I still fear the worst is ahead.

Finally, not an extremely warm summer (in Poland)

After a streak of six autumnal and wintery months in a row with anomalously high average temperatures (from October 2019 to March 2020 each with mean temperature no less than 2 Celsius degrees higher than 1981-2010 average) spring and summer months of 2020 bring temperatures closer to long-term averages.

April 2020 was merely 0.7C degrees warmer than long-term average, while May 2020 went down in history as the coldest since 1992. This pertains to measurements in Warsaw, since in most parts of the world the month was the hottest since records began.

June 2020 was over 2C degrees hotter than 1981-2010 average, but only 1.3C degrees warmer than 1991-2020 average which will become a benchmark in 2021. The month did not seem hot to me, as I still had in mind how scorching it was last year. Indeed, June in 2020 was 3.5C degrees colder than in 2019. In 2020, only once over the entire month the temperature exceeded +30C. In terms of rainfall, the precipitation of 166 millimetres (vs. long-term average of 70 millimetres) has brought short-term relief from the drought.

July 2020 was 0.1C degrees warmer than 1981-2010 average and 0.5C degrees colder than the 1991-2020 average, which meant the weather was clement. Sadly, it could have done with more rainfall, as only 48 millimetres have fallen on the ground, which accounts for 65% of monthly average precipitation.

Fortunately, so far we have had only 2 days with temperatures topping above +30C (12 June and 28 July), yet on both less than +31C. This, along with pleasantly cool nights and early mornings has made working from home (no aircon here) quite comfortable.

August looms as the hottest month of the year, with conceivable incidences of inflows of air masses from Sahara, those which these days bring +40C temperatures in Spain or France. I hope in Poland the onslaught of heat will be short-lasting, as sweating in front of the computer in my living room is not what I would wish on my worst enemy.

I recommend you read Michael’s post on the epidemic. Next week I will attempt to write my own note, hoping the story does not unfold tragically quickly (since in some time a tragic time is inevitable).

Sport

In the time pandemic, when external factors forced me to stay at home, I have appreciated the importance of exercising, physical movement and keeping fit. I believe socialising and sport are the two main activities that bring on endorphins. As the everyday part of the former, i.e. working in the office, had to be contained (and will sadly remain so), the deficiency of good vibes had to be made up for with the latter. At first I took long (5 – 10 kilometres) walks every day. With time and inspired by some people, I have decided to get my act to together and do more.

Firstly, I have stepped up cycling. I began the season in late March, with a 51-kilometre ride. On most weekends with moderate temperature (day-time high below +25C) I took trips longer than 50 kilometres. My lifetime one-day record is 95 kilometres (set in 2017) and I aim to beat it and ride 100 kilometres within one day. The trip will be split into 3 or 4 passages, with some breaks to a have a rest, including a lunch break at a bar for cyclists. If possible, I find company for cycling, but the record-beating ride will need to be a lonely one, so that I adjust the pace to my body. Besides, I have purchased a solid bicycle U-lock that will allow me to use the bike to take short (below 10 kilometres) trips which I used to take by public transport when I had a valid travelcard, but recently I had to cover them on foot or by car, if I was short of time to walk several kilometres (shame!).

Secondly, since the swimming pools opened, I go there more or less regularly. I have unfrozen my Multisport benefit card, which allows me to enter a swimming pool once a day free of charge and the renewal takes effect on 1 August. Since then, motivated by not having to pay 16 PLN for a single ticket (but paying a monthly surcharge of 40 PLN deducted from my salary), I aim to go there some three times a week (time and other obligations permitting). This resolution remains conditionally valid, until swimming pools are closed again*.

On Thursday I took up running. For starters, I bought a pair of running shoes. I ran again yesterday and plan to do it every second day. At the beginning, not to overstrain myself, I march one kilometre, then run one kilometre and do so in intervals (equipped my smartphone in an interval timer application) for over 20 minutes. From the next week I will run 2 minutes and march 1 minute, then run 3 minutes and march 1 minute, then keep on running for 20 minutes, then 25 minutes, then 30 minutes. Jogging at the beginning might be uphill (not literally), yet it gives me pleasure and satisfaction.

We might be in a for a return of restrictions on social life, the private life might not shape up well, though prospects are good at the moment, days will be getting shorter and colder soon. Many factors might get us down, but exercising has a healing effect on mental and physical health, comes rain or shine.

* After relaxing social distancing rules the number of new COVID-19 infections rises in several countries and I believe some restrictions will need to be imposed again to clamp down on number of new cases, but they will not be as harsh as in March or April 2020, as no economy can afford a second all-out lockdown. The coronavirus deserves a separate post anyway and I promise to write up one in August.