Malady as an experience

As I continue to slowly recover, the time is now to dissect what I have been going through as an experience. Although I had to deal with health problems of my parents and grandparents closely, an onlooker's perspective is not comparable to becoming "temporarily disabled", as there was a short moment (only a few hours) when my mobility was more reduced than of a person on a wheelchair.

I strive not to take things for granted. Whenever I (used to) sit behind the wheel I realise I run a risk of being a victim of a traffic accident. I could imagine being immobilised as a result of an accident or a sudden event, but being bed-ridden by a slowly progressing illness was well-beyond my imagination. Lesson learnt - do not take anything for granted.

A malady shrinks your universe. Cycling around Czech Republic in August, canoeing in July, foray to the seaside in June, hiking in May, weekend in Kraków in April. All out of reach even today. At the worst moment a walk to the toilet was a journey of my life. On Thursday I endured relatively well a trip to Wola to a doctor which was quite something.

Being partly immobilised also means reliance on other people even in the basic activities such as dressing up. With hindsight I was lucky to be able to use a toilet or to take a shower on my own, however managing that myself was tiresome as hell.

Switching from the state of being fit and healthy towards an ailment which at its nadir involved intensity of pain which did not allow me to move without screaming out loud was an experience on the verge of being beyond my comprehension.

Coping with pain was another tough lesson. Lying and not straining the spine is indispensable in process of alleviating the inflammation. But for various reasons you cannot lie down 100% of the time, as it would do more harm than good. But if you move, you need to do it carefully, as one reckless move can leave you still in an awkward position, while your neighbours would be wondering why the damn you are screaming a blue murder.

Being sick teaches also patience. In the past, as an adult, I had never been sick for more than a few days. This time, after being a week spent mostly in bed, I realised getting back to normalcy would be a matter of weeks and an upside scenario is that this lousy episode ends by late October. Trying to accelerate the recovery could mean taking several steps back on that path so slowly does it.

Suffering reminds how little sometimes it takes to bring out happiness. I cherished the moment I could walk around the house on my own, the first night when pain's waning intensity let me sleep full seven hours, the first half-a-mile walk. I still somewhat envy people who can ride a bike, run or just sit for more than half an hour, but I believe in a few weeks I will rejoin them.

When confronted with the malady, worries of a healthy man's ordinary life recede into the background. What still mattered was money, as in my situation I could not count on a national health service, while high-class services do cost a lot of money. Money does not bring happiness, but certainly helps.

The last observation is that karma returns. In the last years I did my best to help people in need. I have done it disinterestedly, yet frankly speaking it has paid back.

Once you have reached the end of this post, I call you on feeling gratitude for what you have. The formative experience I have been going through is what I would not wish on anybody.

Slowly on the mend

In the last days eyes in Poland were on the south-western part of the country plagued by the largest flood since 2010. Although major cities escaped getting under water, mostly thanks to a big detention basin Racibórz Dolny, completed in 2020, several small towns have been completely destroyed, especially when dams or embankments could not resist masses of bursting water.

My natural reaction in response to such disaster would be to get involved personally in some aid raising schemes. Sadly, my health prevented me from that. This time I had to take care of myself to be able to help others in the future and confined to donating money to foundations and organisations which will make good use of it. In such critical situations Poles tend to display short-lasting, yet intense commitment to help those in need, yet restoring the damaged areas will last months.

Back to my backyard – the progress of my recovery is slow, but visible. On Monday I returned to working from bed or standing next to a chest of drawers. Workload turned out to be burdensome, however I could no longer stand lying in bed and reading. Getting back to professional life at least gave me some flavour of the days when things were normal.

On Thursday I drove (the very driving was ok, but getting out of the car after sitting 25 minutes was a nightmare) to a renowned doctor specialising in the lumbar spine. Last weekend I did a three-hour search online to pick five best orthopaedists in the region and my girlfriend ranked them. The doctor, Mr Kamil Koszela (I wholeheartedly recommend in case you have a similar ailments, which I definitely not wish on you) turned out to fully deserve all accolades. Knowledgeable, friendly, helpful and honest – he started the least invasive therapy by injected collagen into tissues around aching joints. Being pricked with a thin needle in such sensitive places does not belong to pleasant experiences, but it seems to have helped a bit. Next sets of injections due on 26 September and on 3 October, with three sessions being a bare minimum, but the therapy might be extended up to 6 sets.

According to the doctor, pulling through will presumably last until the second half of October, therefore I patiently wait. I know I need to give my spine much rest, so only lying and walking are in order. On Friday we took a two-kilometre walk, yesterday I also strolled in the sunshine for 40 minutes or so. Such jaunts are optimum to keep the body in some motion, ye avoiding excessive strain.

After I recover I will need to take preventive steps to minimise the risk of such immobility bringing me down in the future. Besides, I still do not know what I will be proscribed to do and not to do in my daily life and in terms of doing sports recreationally. This uncertainty does not add comfort, but I remain upbeat when it comes to my life returning to normalcy.

Lying in bed, rather than on my way to LA

Last week I promised not to post for a month, as today I was supposed to be on my way to the USA West Coast. Health-related circumstances have coerced me to defer those plans. The problems with lumbar spine are not a novelty to me, yet for several months I could forgot about them altogether. I looked after it, had a lot of recreational exercise outdoors, took physiotherapy classes in winter. If the spine was under a strain of a carrying heavy stuff or assembling pieces of furniture, I did it all wisely and did not feel any discomfort.

Maybe I took it for granted that the spine would pay me back with a painless service. After those carefree months I simply shrugged off the first incidences of pain, hoping they would go as quickly as they came. There was a day in late August when it ached intensely, yet then it eased off.

The week starting on 2 September 2024 was dramatic at work. I sat for much longer than 8 hours, stressed-out and most of the time in a bizarre position, to keep the back of my thigh away from a chair, after my skin had been literally sliced by a thin and sharp leash kept by a thoughtless dog owner. Day by day the pain was getting worse, but I carried on ignoring it, until Friday, 6 September, when it became unbearable.

On 7 September I went to a GP. She prescribed me some painkillers and ordered to lie down in a “chair” position. I followed her recommendations for two days, yet without any signs of being on the mend. Conversely, the pain was only more acute.

On Monday, 9 September, I went (by underground, since getting into any passenger car was out of reach) to a neurologist and had an X-ray examination done. He prescribed me another set of painkillers, since the core medicine from the previous set could cause an adverse reaction with antidepressants I take. By the evening, things were getting only worse. After sunset I could move my arms, legs and head. Except for this, I was actually bed-ridden – getting out of bed would have involved too much pain. The memory of being walked by my girlfriend to the toilet and holding on to walls and doors will not be erased for a long time.

On Tuesday, 10 September, my father drove me to a physiotherapist for a manual therapy session. Actually the benefit of the very massage (as delicate as it could have been) was quite possibly thwarted by the journey by car (getting out of took me a minute each time).

On Wednesday, 11 September I snapped a last minute appointment to an orthopaedist. The only benefit of it was an emergency referral for an MRI.

The next two days I strived to avoid any strain, though on Friday I went for a 30-minute walk, since staying in bed most of the time had gotten wearisome. I was fit enough to walk for a while without a major ache, yet sitting was still out of reach. Actually I could spend my time lying or walking, as even standing involved a discomfort.

Yesterday I had my MRI done, I wait to be it described and keep looking out for a superb doctor, who would tell me what the dos and don’ts for the coming weeks are and who will oversee my path to recovery.

Lesson learnt from this incidence hitting just ahead of grand holidays – buy insurance and always mark if you have an underlying illness. I had not done it, but luckily managed to cut financial losses. All accommodations and car rental reservation could be cancelled free of charge, while the flights with PLL LOT, despite being in the lowest tariff, could be rescheduled for mere EUR 120. The trip is now scheduled to commence on 24 April 2025 which gives me plenty of time to recover, which is a matter of weeks rather than days.

A progress report to be published in a week.

Endless summer

September has come up, scent of autumn is in the air, yet summer-like temperatures have not eased off.

Meteorogical summer of 2024 (i.e. June, July and August) in Poland definitely has been one of the warmest, but since extensive weather records disappered from Meteomodel page, my ability to put current readouts into historical context has waned.

Another measure of heat intensity is the number of days when temperature exceeded +30C (day-time high). So far in 2024 there have been 24 such days in Warsaw, compared to record-setting 24 days in 2015 and 22 days in 2006.

In the coming days the likelihood of temperatures exceeding +30C in the capital of Poland is extremely low. Historically the latest such incidence was on 14 September 1951 (second-latest on 13 September 2023). The September heat record of +34.5C, set on 1 September 2015 is unthreatened. It is far too early to judge, whether the entire September will be the warmest since records began, but last year's record of +18.5C will be difficult to beat.

In Poland's climate positive temperature deviations from long mean might cheer up in non-summer months only, but their frequency is worrisome. We had the second-warmest July in 2024, March temperature records beaten in late March 2024, February 2024 was the warmest since records began. In 2023 records were broken or nearly missed in January, September in October. The most recent month with mean temperature below long-term average was April 2023 and it was one of very few such months over recent years.

On one hand I would cherish clement weather and autumnal warmth (in contrast to summer heat) for possibly long, on the other I realise it is yet another signal of accelerating climate changes.

Next post in mid-October, after what is supposed to be the holidays of my lifetime (and involve substantial CO2 emissions, so maybe nothing to brag about).

Warfare musings

Forecasts of the Ukraine war development for the summer months were bleak. The Ukrainian defence was foreseen to break down, the invaders, apart from trespassing into the Ukrainian territory, were supposed to provocatively, yet tentatively attempt to disturb peace in the Baltic countries. Fortunately, only a minor part of those predictions proved right.

And then all of the sudden, on 6 August 2024, the Ukrainian army successfully moved the warfare into the territory of the enemy, launching the first incidence of was in the territory of russia or its soviet predecessor since WW2. The counter-attack carries on, with the invaders still shocked their own land has become a battleground.

The intrusion into a poorly-defended Kursk region were meant to prompt the invaders to shift some regiments from Donbas region, where things are not going well and the frontline is slowly progressing west. In simple words, in regions occupied since 2014, Ukraine is being defeated.

If the warfare carries on, 19 November 2024 will be the 1,000th day since its onset. The plan of the dictator was to take over Kyiv within a few days and install a mock-up government out there. Despite running rings around the capital of Ukraine, wreaking destruction and committing genocide, it has not worked out. Ukraine keeps holding strong and the war is far from settlement.

With the imminent attrition of both sides, 3 scenarios can be considered.
The first one - Ukraine wins. Despite ongoing supplies of arms from the West (leave out now who takes over as a president of the United States soon), Ukraine lacks resources to do so.
The second one - Russia wins - unlikely in short-term perspective, sadly conceivable in 2 or 3 years. It would pave the way for their next conquers, also to combat NATO countries.
The third one - both parties are fed up with the warfare and decide to sign a peace treaty. Ukraine loses part of its territory, the invaders ease up for a while. After a while the dictator rebuilds its potential and strikes again.

The old saying if you want peace brace yourself for a war has not gone outdated. With Russia ruled and weapon-equipped as it is now, we will not feel safe for many years. A full-scale invasion into CEE seems unimaginable, but a full-blown warfare is not essential to wreak havoc in the region. Deterrents must be in place, to discourage the dictator from a confrontation with NATO. Besides, unity of allies has to be manifested. For such reason I keep fingers crossed for the victory of Kamala Harris in November.

In love with Czechia

In 2023 and 2024, on occasions of residing in Wisła, but not only, I have visited Czech Republic a few times year. The Poland south-western neighbour is a country to be either loved or disliked. With each next venture there, I belong more to the former group and with each next trip I see more reasons to fall in love with the country.

I am fond of the country's residents, straightforward, cheerful and laid back. As many Poles, I find their language hilarious, yet with time it gets intuitive, hence despite many false friends, I find it easy to communicate with a Czech, when each of us uses their mother tongue.

Unlike Poland, Czechia is not a flat lowland. Its landscapes and undulating and much better looked after than in Poland. While outside towns the nature beckons, in towns public and private spaces are clean and tidy.

The country can boast of infrastructure friendly to anyone. Elderly, disabled, parents with prams, cyclists, pedestrians - they all have it easy to move about in the public space, whereas motorists are none the worse off it.

Czechs are more keen to take moderate physical exercise as a pastime activity. Stats show 55% of Czechs do regularly at least one sport, in line with the EU average and 20 percentage points more than in Poland. Sadly, my compatriots are third from the bottom in the ranking of most physically active EU nations.

The friendliness of the country spurs fertility. Atheist Czech Republic, where abortion on demand is allowed, has fertility rate between 1.70 and 1.80, while in catholic Poland it recently declined to 1.16.

Czechs tend to spend more time outdoors, including eating, drinking and socialising. Prices at eateries and bars are much more affordable than in Poland. A half-litre beer or a glass of wine for less than the equivalent of 7 Polish zlotys, or a decent lunch with a beverage for less than the equivalent 40 zlotys are easy to find.

We took a trip to the southern neighbour again, for the long weekend. We both had an intense time at work, which prevented us from extending it, so we drove out of Wisła on Thursday morning and returned on Sunday.

Our first stopover was in Pustevny, some 100 kilometres from the Polish border. We hiked through the forests and had a lunch at a beautifully preserved former mountain hostel.

The next stop was a town of Roznov, with a nice market square and a viewing tower overlooking the town. From there we headed for our lodgings in Luhacovice (a sanatory resort).

The region is not as full of vineyards and cellars as the southern Moravia, but still you can find plenty of them. Here, we pass some windowless wine storage huts, on our cycling trip (75 kilometres covered on two wheels on Friday in heat reaching up to +34C).

Given the strain, the heat and distance of over 30 kilometres from our accommo- dation, we resolved to return to Luhacovice by train (our bikes hung on racks similar to those in Koleje Mazowieckie trains). Another thing I adore in Czech Republic is that the country does not leave its citizens car-dependent. Each and every village has a few buses a day running, while the train we boarded connected Luhacovice and Prague, the service runs every two hours on weekdays!

The very spa town of Luhacovice dates back to the nineteenth century and is a heritage of Austro-hungarian realms, with superbly preserved pieces of architecture erected before WW1.

On the second day we took a round trip from Bzenec which is a centre of wine-growing industry in Zlinsky kraj. A three-kilometre ascent to the winery proved rewarding.

The next trip to Czechia is quite unlikely in 2024, yet looking forward to the next voyages in 2025.

The hottest July ever in Warsaw?

Though worldwide July 2024 could have broken all records, in Warsaw, despite the prolonged heat wave, it was not the warmest since records began, just the second-warmest. Despite being more than 2 Celsius degrees warmer than 1991-2020 average, with mean temperature of +22.1C it ranked beyond July 2006 (+23.5C), but ahead of Julies in: 1994 (+22.0C), 2021 (+21.9C), 2010 (+21.9C), 2018 (+21.4C) and 2014 (+21.4C).

Some stats typical for winter timelines:
- month-time high: +35.3C on 10 July 2024,
- month-time low: +12.0C on 31 July 2024,
- the warmest day: 10 July 2024 - mean temperature of +28.0C, vs. all-time record of +29.2C set on 8 August 2015,
- the coldest day: 3 July 2024 - mean temperature of +17.2C, mere 2.5 Celsius degrees below long-term average for the entire month,
- number of days with maximum temperature above +30C: 9 (in the second half of the 20th century number of such days over an entire summer stood at 5),
- number of days with maximum temperature above +25C: 25.

The only record broken in the capital of Poland was of the highest night-time low ever. On 11 July temperature did not decline below +23.4C, vs. previous record of +22.2C set on 9 August 2015. While in Wisła, on 28 July I experienced another tropical night, with a low of +25C. Had an awfully shallow sleep then...

Frequency and duration of heat waves and accompanying violent thunderstorms clearly signals the anthropogenic global warming is accelerating. Idiots will tell you heat record for Poland was set in 1921 (behind all doubt it will be beaten within a decade). I will remind the recent cooler-than-average summer in Poland was in 1993.

Mankind's activity makes things worse, not only by dint of general CO2 emissions. The very methods of combating the heat only intensify it. Air conditioning is becoming prevalent. The reason why A/C efficiently cools air down is that it blows out warm air outside an interior. City centres full of office buildings are hotter not just because paved areas and edifices absorb heat. They also get large portion of hot air blown out by air conditioners.

If you wish to find out more about the mechanics of this viscious circle, I recommend reading an excellent article on oko.press website (no paywall).

The article mentions a solution considered by Vienna authorities to pump cooled water from Danube river into the city's heating system pipes. I lack knowledge to evaluate energy efficiency of such solution, but it impresses me as an alternative to energy-consuming A/C.

It seems solar panels are the best fix for the heat, as their output is the highest when sun shines intensely and the need for cooling interiors is the highest. Though the electricity is green (if you leave out the entire life cycle of a PV installation), air-conditioning fuelled by sun energy still pushes heat outside (meaning you are better off at the expense of those not so fortunate).

Despite being aware of negative side effects of using air-conditioning, I blissfully take shelter from the heat in the cool office (where A/C would have been turned on anyway, so my contribution to heat blow-out is marginal). To get there I ride the underground and grumble about mayor Trzaskowski not ordering air-conditioned rolling stock.

While I will withstand the heat as long as it is not deadly, I fear of my parents' (mum aged 74, dad just turned 75) health. Heatwaves will be taking some burden off pension systems. In Poland mortality seasonality so far reached its low in summers (between 6,000 and 7,000 deaths weekly) and highs in winter (around 8,000 deaths weekly). Albeit spikes caused by heat waves were visible, they did not reshape the overall picture. As summer gets hotter, this is sadly likely to change.

Air-conditiong will become prevalent in our homes in near future if we are to avoid partial withdrawal from normal functioning in summer months. In spite of being familiar with its negative side effects, I will not shun it when furnishing my next dwelling, yet will do my best to minimise the environmental impact of keeping my place cool.

Off to Wisła again on Friday. The next post in three weeks.

On decay, decline, decadence

While popping by Fesitwal Słowa im. Jerzego Pilcha in Wisła we visited one of several temporary bookshops' stalls to come by a book for our friends' three-year-old son. As the purchase was finalised, a cordial seller handed us another book, Taśmy Rodzinne, by Marcin Marcisz. The book's cover is quite conspicuous, as it resembles a cover of an E-180 VHS tape. In June I indulged in reading books borrowed from a local library, while the gift book, which appeared anything, but precious (why would somebody want to give it away?), waited its turn on my bedside table.

Watch out! Several spoliers in the content below. 

The novel is bloody fucking sad and slightly chaotic, as the family story is told from the perspective of a 31-year-old son, but at times also seen with his father's eyes. A reader drifts between the present and the past, as numerous retrospections bring back the bleak family history.

Characters of the book used to be beneficiaries of the transition into a free-market economy in early 1990s. Father of the family was one of those who had both courage and luck to seize opportunities given by the nascent capitalism. The price to pay was working nearly 20 hours a day, yet trading in Western goods fetched large margins which helped him grow rich quickly. His family soon became the new elite, or actually the (despicable?) nouveau-rich of that era.

As retrospects depict the daily life of the family in late 1990s and early 2000s, earning and spending money looms as a main purpose of their life. Stuff bought for money seem to fill the emptiness of their life. The characters become typical thoughtless customers who buy things they do not need to impress people they dislike. Consumption becomes a goal itself, instead of facilitating reaching true goals.

Like in every family, if you scratch beneath the surface, you will find some dirty linen the author deftly washes. Here the father, being only breadwinner (his wife and mother of three children only looks after the offspring and is aided by a couple of housekeepers) not only dislikes his family. If they infuriate him, he loses his temper and beats sons to a pulp. The family has to balance dependence on and fear of the man who makes money to keep their standard of living.

The wholesale trading business which fetched extraordinary profits in the 1990s and 2000s grew large. Its scale required more prudent management. Besides, competition from large wholesale chains and discounter retailers began to hammer nails to its coffin. Now imagine the family, accustomed to high standard of living, suffers a shock when the money, hitherto in abundance, runs out. 

Family father, the breadwinner, considers two options: either a suicide, resembling a heart attack behind the wheel and subsequent collission with a tree, or a lonely escape to a distant country and starting out from scratch.

His wife plunges into depression when she cannnot afford to buy all material joys of her life.

The children discover money does not grow on trees, but also are forced to learn the art of saving and resisting temptation to indulge in consumption.

The lifestyle inflation is the prevalent phenomenon I observe all around. I realise why it is so tempting, but I have never fully comprehended it. Lavish spending has never taken my fancy, it has never killed my sadness, it will not fill emptiness in my life. For many people it makes up for deficiencies, it is a goal itself, rather than a tool which helps reach goals.

In my professional life I met several businessmen, owners of companies with nine- or ten-digit annual revenues. Three record-high costs of making ends meet for such businessmen and their families were between 2 and 5 million Polish zlotys per month. But my sample was confined to cases where a company was in trouble and banks called for financial contribution from its owner, hence their net worth was analysed. My jaw drops open, as I would lack ideas what to spend such money on. In turn my workmates' jaws drop open when I say if I had some spare 10 million zlotys, I would not buy a more expensive car than the one I currently have.

Just now I realised I have not shared the outcome of keeping a very detailed record of my income and spending in the entire 2023. I had resolved to do the exercise upon realising I have no idea what my cost of living are. I will not disclose my earnings and other non-financial income, nor how much I managed to put aside last year, but my spending will be revealed. I broke down my expenses in a matrix into recurring or one-off and into obligatory (those absolutely necessary) or discretionary. The former consisted of dwelling upkeep and bills, nutrution, health-related, household chemicals and car maintenance (though it could have been given up). The latter included socialising, travels, culture and all other pleasures and whims not essential to get by. My average monthly spending was PLN 5,522, of which obligatory monthly expenses averaged out PLN 2,969. It seems a single male with no dependants, no mortgage, living in his own flat a driving his depreciated, yet reliable car could eke out a living in the capital of Poland for less than PLN 3,000 per month.

The old Polish adage od przybytku głowa nie boli (literally: affluence does not cause a headache) does not actually hold true, which is superbly explained in Michael's post.

Off to Wisła for the next two weekends and the working week in between, so next post due in early August.

Centralny Port Komunikacyjny - plans not abandoned?

The mega-airport along with accompanying infrastructure was one of the flagship megalomanic projects of the PiS government. Soon past the election most people hoped the project would be discontinued, sunk costs farewelled and the very concept consigned to the dustbin. Since the development was a serious one, a decision whether to carry on with it had to be substantiated. The government hence summoned up an audit committee and while onlookers expected it to bring to the light the nugacity of building a huge airport, the outcome of its works suggested the project is to gently modified, not given up on.

Having gotten familiar with it, I still have no idea why a huge Frankfurt-like airport makes economic sense in Poland, especially since similar undertakings are in early operational phase or contemplated within less than 500 miles away from it (Berlin, Hungary).

The railway component of the venture, though commendable, remains just an addition to the airport hub project. The recently unveiled CPK concept involves construction of high-speed railways between main cities in Poland (2 hours by train from Warsaw to Poznań, Kraków or Wrocław is what I expect), but it remains unclear to me, whether the very airport will be properly connected with a fast railway with Warsaw and Łódź. If not, the major alternative to get to the airport will be the already congested A2 motorway, which is planned to be added one lane in each direction on the Warsaw – Łódź section. I realise driving this road already is a nuisance, but during the modernisation period it will become a nightmare. On top, one should ask a question, whether investments in road infrastructure are that appropriate, especially since a huge stride has been made in last 15 years in that area, while spending on railways was relatively neglected over that period.

The government’s plan to upgrade Chopin and Modlin airports parallelly to the CPK construction sadly lacks coherency and does not seem the most prudent way to spend taxpayers’ contributions.

I fear if the airport indeed becomes a hub, it will spark off a spike in low-distance connecting flights, the biggest evil to the planet, as carbon dioxide emissions per kilometre flown are the highest on such journeys. While the climate change concerns begin to have only bigger impact on our lives, developing a mammoth air transport hub goes exactly against the flow. If a human should ideally travel by plane once in three years, or only once a year, in a bare-minimum scenario, how come this undertaking can stand to reason?

I wonder what prompted Mr Tusk to change his mind. Whatever the arguments are, they should be disclosed to the public and backed by numbers. Albeit for the climate-related reasons all forecasts pointing at increasing number of passenger flights year by year, seem at best misplaced.

Skoda Octavia, three months on - vehicle review

I wrote about my motivation to fix myself up with a new car in January 2024, then shared my very first driving impressions just after picking it up.

On 23 June 2024 the car's odometer hit 5,000 kilometres, which means it took me exactly 90 days to cover it, but my Skoda app tells me on 54 days (i.e. 60% of the period) the car sat idle in my garage.

Besides, 80% of the current mileage was reached in long-distance travels:
- from Poznań where I picked up the car to Warsaw (300 kilometres),
- to Sieradz to my in-laws (400 kilometrs there and back),
- to Kraków (600 kilometres there and back),
- to Wisła and to Czech Republic a few times (1,200 kilometres there, around and back in total),
- to Wisła again (800 kilometres there and back),
- to the seaside (700 kilometres there and back).

I am undeniably impressed with how spacious the car is. Four tall adults can travel in superior comfort, the boot is capacious as hell and does not compare to any SUV. I do not regret the surcharge for the double floor, coming in useful when carrying heavy and large pieces of furniture. The wisdom of Skoda designers who have equipped the car in plenty of functional stuff has taken my fancy too. I have not managed to check out only one of them - the heated windscreen, as I was reluctant to park the brand-new car in the open air for a frosty night in late March, while having a garage at my disposal.

I have not made full use of the engine's dynamics, primarily since first 3,000 kilometres are still the period of running-in, but also due to environmental reasons and minding the safety of other road users. Maximum torque is available from 1,500 rpm and for smooth driving you need revolutions below 2,000 per minute. For outside-town travels, the gearbox does a perfect job. The sixth fear can by upshifted safely at the speed of 85 km/h and if you decide to cruise at such speed, fuel consumption below 4 litres per kilometres is within reach. 2,000 rpm on sixth gear are reached at the speed of 115 km/h, which means slow motorway driving is economical too.

In terms of fuel consumption, it averaged out between 5.0 and 5.5 litres per 100 kilometres over the period in review, with record-low 4.4 on my way to Wisła on Corpus Christi. I drove 100 km/h on tempomat, somewhat uphill, with aircon on half of my journey. Had I driven the other way(a but downhill), with no aircon, the car could have consumed less than 4 litres.

Octavia IV (I managed to order a pre-face-lift one, some PLN 20,000 cheaper than a post-lift version) is two generations younger than my Megane. One feels the difference in terms of noise inside (the old Renault is much louder) and in how it is spiked with electronics, which may irritate and at times goes bonkers. Despite those small drawbacks I am generally satisfied with the new vehicle and I hope it will serve me and my family for several years (I target two decades in use).