Eclectic Praga Północ

After more than a year of dating a woman residing in Nowa Praga, I have finally resolved to get to know the area better. The neighbourhood which in mind had been a squalid and off-putting place turned out to only partly reflect my image.

For about a decade the central part of Praga Północ has been undergoing a transformation from a god-forsaken, shady district into a modern, even posh area. The vicinity to the city centre which is just across Most Śląsko-Dąbrowski has definitely catalysed the un-coordinated modernisation. One of such examples are the buildings between ul. Stalowa, ul. Czynszowa and ul. Strzelecka. The modern one to the left has been squeezed between run-down, no longer inhabited tenements. The one to the right definitely is up-and-coming with its renovation potential.

While walking across the district (on Sunday, 6 August 2023) I made my way into a desolated courtyard by ul. Stalowa. The gate leads to a typical shrine put up at the very centre of the spot. I was a bit of scared while roaming there, as no living soul was around. Actually it benefitted me, as no scoundrel hang around. The tenement is not inhabited and the snap does not render the smell of excrements I had to endure.

 

The shot from ul. Równa depicts a typical landscape of Praga with all its elements - from the left:

- a relatively new block of flats built in the 1990s, with a quaint wall painting and graffiti,

- not too fancy cars parked on what used to be grass,

- a tall, yet narrow partly inhabited tenement with a dark gate passage,

- stand-alone rubbish containers (odour in the summer guaranteed),

- terraced garages (built in tines when car theft were a plague here) overgrown by ivy.

The only missing elements are inebriated pan Heniek and pan Ziutek sipping a beverage bought in a nearby monopolowy.

 

Ul. Czynszowa. The tram terminus resembles Italy. A narrow street, balconies typical for housing estates in Rome, a tramway in a symbiosis with the road and the pavement. Enlarge the photo to find out each of the buildings was erected in a different decade - the oldest blocks date back to pre-war times, some remember the communist era, while the newest were put up in 1990s and early 2000s.

 

The corner of ul. Równa and ul. Czynszowa, just next to the tram terminus is the essence of the district's climate. The Marian shrine looks like it is looked after by locals residents. The old mattress and pieces of furniture had laid there for weeks. A rubbish container calls for a roofed box. In the background, an old couple rambling towards the nearby church for a Sunday mass.

The building at ul. Środkowa 9 was erected in 1869 and for decades played host to Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Dzieci Ulicy. Thoroughly renovated between 2019 and 2021, now serves the same functions as it had done many years ago - is a home to Zespół Ognisk Wychowawczych im. Dziadka Lisieckiego. Note the building in the background. Though it looks like a brand-new block of flats, a careful examination and the study of Google Street View reveals it is an old tenement which has undergone an all-out refurbishment.

Staring at the spot by ul. Środkowa, closer to ul. 11 Listopada, I wondered when the time had stopped here? The pre-war tenements had their windows replaced, most dwelling remain inhabited. For some reason the large wall to the right nearly lacks windows, yet some of them have been bricked over. The terraced garage presumable date back to late communism. The wall paintings are relatively new. Cars parked outside the buildings hint at limited affluence of their dwellers (note the Skoda Octavia on WXT black plates - the vehicles has probably not change headroom since driving out of a dealer's showroom in late 1998). 

A close-up of the wall painting from the previous snap reveals it shows an engine. I wonder what the purport of the artwork is, but I captured the scene mostly to show you a row of already unused loos. Worth keeping in mind sanitary conditions in this area were poor for a long time.

The building at the corner of ul. Konopacka and ul. Stalowa is one of few ones which bear testimony of WW2 fights. Bullet-made holes in the wall have not been filled. Plaster has come off here and there. The shop reminds of a post-war procurement co-operative. Satellite dishes, open windows and laundry hung out to dry indicate some of the dwellings remain inhabited.

The climate of old Praga Północ is slowly fading, but I doubt the pace of transformation speeds up. The district no longer has such untapped potential as two decades ago, but it should take a wise liaison of city authorities and the private sector to make use of it in a way which would benefit the entire community.

Moravian vineyards by bike

Back from the long weekend spent mostly on two leg-powered wheels in South Moravian region. My in-laws hatched the idea of venturing there some time ago, but some issues put paid to their plans and eventually we have put them into practice. 

The region are the former lands held by the Liechtenstein family (the one whose tiny state is squeezed between Austria and Switzerland), yet were expriopriated in 1940s by the communists. Despite passing time the region still stands out in terms of well-preserved architecture which does not resemble a typical ex-communist country.

The South Moravian region is not far from Poland (7 hours of drive from Warsaw with 110 kmph at tempomat) and mere 3 hours from the Silesian agglomeration. Despite its proximity to my homeland, it remains undiscovered by my compatriots and by tourists from other countries too. Despite the mid-August peak of holiday season, the places we visited were anything but crowded. If somebody tells you the region is a little Tuscany, just take it for granted.

On our way there we made a stopover in Olomunec, a former capital of the region and of the entire Czech Republic. The city is now relatively small, but can boast of an epic old town, with eye-pleasing tenements, town hall and several monuments.

We have booked a last-minute stay in Lednice, probably the most enchanting town in the south-eastern corner of the Czech Republic. Four nights in a reasonably well-equipped apartment set us back only PLN 1,300 (or PLN 160 per night per person).

The castle, surrounded by a French garden is the centre of the town. The area must be looked after by cleaners and gardeners, with neatly trimmed lawns and plants enchanting visitors, but as Michael would argue, not moving with the times climate-wise. Oddly enough, the entrance to the gardens is free of charge and the park is not even closed overnight.

The region is famous for its vineyards, despite climate not much warmer than of Warsaw (average temperature across the year in Brno is one Celsius degree higher than in Warsaw). The area is most effectively sightseen by bike, with several trails marked out and many spots not reachable by car.

Valtice, here seen from the distance from a top of a hill overgrown with vitis, is the second most beautiful town in the region. Note excellent visibility on sunny, dry day.

Sonberk is one of the most renowned vineyards in the region, offering both bottled wines, as well as wine tasting on a terrace with a view on vitis trees, fields, lakes and mountains. Looking at the photo only, would you guess it was taken in the Czech Republic?

On one day we took a tour via a section of the iron curtain cycling trail and rode past Austrian villages. Our biggest discovery there were the crude oil extraction fields operated by OMV. Here, a pumpjack overseen by a matka boska naftowa.

The village of Vrbive can boast of the only wine cellars in the region. In line with the best practices, wine is stored underground, in properly ventillated dark facilities.

On our way back to Poland we dropped in on Brno. The current capital of the region stood little chance to lift my spirits if temperature outside was +34C and actual temperature on paved streets in full sunshine reached probably more than +45C. The Czech Republic still needs to catch up on unpaving its cities and getting the cars of out city centres.

This was my fourth visit to the Czech Republic within 1 year and I am growing fond of the country. It is generally clean and tidy (no litter nor dog turds on streets), people there are friendly, like physical exercising, drivers are considerate and respectful towards cyclists, prices remain affordrable.

If I was to recommend moving around the area I visited, a bicycle (for many an electric one) is an excellent choice, as many picturesque places cannot be even reached by car. Three full days for cycling trips (223 kilometres covered on bikes while the car sat idle) are just enough to visit major attractions of the region.

Megane hit 100,000 kilometres

On 2 August 2023 my Megane III reached a milestone – after twelve years and one month in service its odometer hit 100,000 kilometres. Such mileage is usually reached far earlier, yet if you use a car only if necessary, six-digit readout appears once a vehicle grows older.

The car has been with my family since driving out of dealership showroom. My parents bought it brand-new in July 2011 and they used it for more than five years sparingly for driving around town and intermittent long-distance trips. After more than five years, as my old car was turning less reliable, my parents opted for a new vehicle and handed over their (donated) Megane III to me. The car had just under 30,000 kilometres on the clock at that time.

For around the first year of its usage, it served me for daily commutes to the underground station, but after I moved to Warsaw, I switched to a routine of using it on average two or three times a week, for at least mid-distance journeys and long trips.

I have taken down dates it hit the previous milestones:
- 30,000 kilometres on 14 November 2016 (just upon the handover),
- 40,000 kilometres on 17 November 2017 (a trip to Berlin and Wrocław, to Mazury along the way),
- 50,000 kilometres on 18 August 2018 (trips to Toruń, Bielsko-Biała, Mazury, Vienna, Slovenia and Bratislava, Wrocław along the way),
- 60,000 kilometres on 22 August 2019 (a trip to Dolnośląskie along the way),
- 70,000 kilometres on 15 December 2020 (a trip to Bieszczady along the way),
- 80,000 kilometres on 12 February 2022 (a trip to the seaside along the way),
- 90,000 kilometres on 23 December 2022 (trips to the seaside and to Wisła twice along the way),
over the last 10,000 kilometres trips to Wisła, skiing to Jakuszyce and Prague, Wisła for the long weekend in May, Wisła and Bieszczady in early June and Wisła in July. Note out of 10,000 kilometres driven over seven months nearly 6,000 were driven in long-distance trips.

The car hardly ever sits in traffic jams and is very seldom used for short-distance (below five miles) journeys. With such driving habits the car’s condition remains impeccable. Wear and tear makes itself felt, but part replacements are predictable and do not suck a hole in my wallet. Only the air conditioning has been going bonkers recently and I fear it might be the first costly defect. Given the rising prices of brand-new cars, the car has not depreciated since 3 years – I estimate its resale value at PLN 25,000, yet for a while I am not going to check it out.

I realise given the car’s age (not a mileage), the days of its reliability might be numbered, so I am slowly thinking of a replacement, which would be probably a reliable petrol-fuelled compact estate car, bought brand-new and intended to be kept going for more than a decade too!

Off to Czech Republic to cycle around Moravian wineyards. A write-up with photos due in 2 weeks.

Being a dab hand

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fatherhood

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Urban cycling

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

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

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

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

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

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

Driving skills honed

I have regularly driven a car since 2011, covered probably around 150,000 kilometres since then, have not caused a collision (may it stay so, I had one, but was not a culprit) nor an accident. With such track record I could claim to be a skilful driver, but I keep in mind complacency comes before the fall. I keep my smugness at bay and every time I sit behind the wheel I make myself realise I might have an accident before I reach my destination and do my best to avert it.

Given the precautions I take and humility I strive to foster, I was delighted to learn my company had paid for a defensive driving course to all company car drivers. On top, I took part in a corporate competition and won a participation in another training, on a racing track. The prize has been probably the most precious one won in my lifetime, saving me some PLN 1,000 I could have paid for such event.

The defensive driving course was obligatory to all active users of the corporate fleet, consisting of whopping 1,300 vehicles, which are involved in 20 accidents (defined as resulting in at least one casualty spending at least 7 days in a hospital) yearly. My employer aims to reduce the number of such accidents to zero by 2025 – a commendable initiative for which I keep fingers crossed, yet I believe doable only by means of decreasing the number of cars in use (which would truly help the planet).

The defensive driving training was split into two sessions – during the theoretical one we analysed case studies of actual accidents and complex situations in road traffic and refreshed our knowledge of recent (imprecise) changes in the highway code.

During the practice sessions we drove around town, instructed how to do it more smoothly, predictably and safely. Needless to say one of the goals was to decrease the fuel consumption and the company cars’ wear and tear.

The second training, on a racing track was far more exciting. During the theoretical part we had truly practical exercises in first aid (commendable) and improved our skills of controlling a car in extreme situations (a waterlogged track was as slippery as thick slush) – we slalomed past obstacles, passed them by to return to the original lane or slid along a curve, trying not to lose traction.

The exercises were meant not only to teach us how to control a vehicle in dire circumstances. Our instructors showed us repeatedly a difference in speed of mere five kilometres per hour might make a tremendous difference in terms of avoiding an accident. Speed kills, you must not forget it! We were also confronted with the fear of falling into a skid or losing control over the car, however outside the public road, where nobody’s life nor health was at peril.

I hope I never have to make use of what I learnt, but if the worst come to the worst, I suppose, I would be more likely to keep a cool head.