A tram to Wilanów

I took a photo coverage of tramway to Miasteczko Wilanów under construction once, in September 2023. The urban rail link to a housing estate built from scratch in the twenty-first century, being a symbol of new-rich self-styled elite and the biggest cluster of anti-PiS voters in Poland, has been one of the flagship investments in transport infrastructure in the capital of Poland.

The two years when it was under construction were a major ordeal for everyone living along it. It had been scheduled to be opened at the beginning of September 2024, yet after a customary delay, tram services were launched without ribbon-cutting on 29 October 2024.

Given the workload, the necessity to spend times of exercising to recover, the short day and other excuses, I had no opportunity to spot the tram in Wilanów, hence no snaps with time.

Wilanów is now connected to central Warsaw with two tram lines, numbered 14 an 16. The latter connects the district with Metro Świętokrzyska, one underground station away from where my office is located. To reach the office at 8:30 a.m., I need to leave home at 7:47 a.m. If I lived in a distance of a five-minute walk to a middle stop in Wilanów, i.e. Świątynia Opatrzności Bożej and if I gave myself a two-minute headroom for reaching the tram stop, I would need to leave home approximately at 7:40 a.m. This means the commute is just less horrible than it used to be.

Lack of decent transport links is one of many reasons I have never been fond of Wilanów and haver never considered taking up residency there. Back in 2012 one could easily buy a brand-new unfinished flat from a property developer for below PLN 7,000 per sqm, while Ursynów was 10% more expensive. Today Ursynów is some 10% cheaper than the neighbouring district.

While a tram remains superior to a bus, given the current infrastructure, it is by no means a truly fast alternative, unless there is no bus lane. Its movement is hampered by numerous traffic lights, albeit it should be given priority over passenger cars. Besides, stops are scattered quite densely (which is not a drawback in general terms); consequently speed of a tram journey drops well below 20 kmph.

Despite some complaints above, I appreciate the new tram route and hope it cuts down on the traffic congestion and air pollution in the capital.

Off for some belated holidays in the Polish mountains over the next two weekends, hence the next post due on 24 November. Will I kick off writing a regular winter timeline by then?

Recovery enters the second phase

As my health has been getting better, I switched from self-focus to more universal topics, yet if I want to keep records of those nasty days for posterity, a periodic follow-up is a must.

Just after the recent health-related post I went for a two-day corporate off-site some one and a half hour away from home. I endured the journeys (behind the wheel) there and back relatively well, yet agenda of the event necessitated too much sitting and gave too little time for lying-down breaks, hence it somewhat slowed down the progress of my recovery. If such delay was the price to pay for spirit-lifting socialising, for my body it was affordable.

The series of five collagen injections into tissues surrounding my lumbar spine is completed. I feel markedly better, but still I am way off normalcy. My doctor has set a checkpoint in mid-November and then he will recommend, whether to take me on for a hospital treatment. It would be a one-day stay, not a regular surgery and after spending a sizeable sum of money at his practice, he would fix it up for me under the public health insurance (such is the path to being admitted to a public hospital in Poland quickly).

This week my rehabilitation has commenced. I few years ago I would not use the word "rehabilitation" in such context, as I deemed it to be a false friend. After consulting some reputable monolingual online dictionaries I have changed my mind, although in does not sound naturally to me.

The memory of my disability is fresh and gruelling and I am determined not to let it repeat. Discipline in exercising is hence a must.

The physiotherapist who takes care of me has ordered me to return to normal activities, including sitting when working, bowing down, carrying moderately heavy weights and short-distance cycling. Following her advice means having to cope with already bearable pain; confronting it is essential if I am to get rid of it.

She also claims a full recovery with a relatively short list of forbidden activities is utterly conceivable. It will just take patience, discipline and require building muscles and stretching all parts of body which are not damaged, as my lumbar spine is.

As good as it gets

While writing about the two previous romantic relationships, I kept track of ups and down we had had. When it comes to the ongoing one, in place since July 2022, no coverage of crises can be found here. I realised it recently, but cannot come up with the idea, why the numerous tribulations along the way have not been committed to the blog. I believe my friends have absorbed my squirts of emotions and what was talked over did not have to be put in writing to be gotten over.

One post inspired by a quarrel with my girlfriend was the one on the tendency to put things back. Today I detest procrastination even more after nearly a year of living under one roof.

Are we a perfect match? From scratch I could have doubts if we hit it off despite stark dissimilarities which at the beginning seemed unsurmountable, but eventually I decided to give it a try, making allowances for my negative perception, potentially skewed by a depression episode ongoing then.

We had our first crises still in 2022, including the most serious one in late November 2022. The notion was we were worlds apart. Then we began negotiations - a lawyer and a banker sat for nearly ten hours and brought their worlds together for a while. During those long conversations we have set some rules, yet divergences remain outstanding including some serious ones.

1. Children - I would prefer to have two, she at first considered remaining childless as a primary option, then persuaded herself to become a mother, yet to an only child. I realise she will be pregnant for nine months and by dint of pure biology she will be an infant's primary caretaker, therefore now the consensus is to have one child and then decide if we want a second one. I recently read the major cause of poor demographics are not childless people, but those sticking to one child only. How true...

2. Attitude towards money - I am rather thrifty, think twice before spending money and easily sacrifice current consumption to save for durable goods. With my minimalism I also make do without stuff which brings other people joy. She does not throw money about, has substantial savings, has never had debts other than already repaid mortgage, but on the other hand, she spends money with far bigger ease than me and at times holds it against me and accuses me of tight-fistedness.

3. Priorities in life - for me family, duties, helping others, work, spending time outdoors. For her - carefree life, work, sport, then family, but with a reservation she needs time for herself.

4. The daily life - for me business before pleasure. Duties need to be handled without further ado, once they get done, I can relax. I appreciate doing things on my own, like order and cleanliness. She fosters time to rest, while duties can wait and if possible, should be pushed aside.

Given the above there is a gap between us, yet there are couples who carry on broadly happily despite such differences. With similarities life is easier, with dissimilarities, there is room for complementing each other.

Should we split up? At such age (I'm turning 37 in December) it is not easy to find a reasonable woman, therefore the decision is between living a lonely, peaceful life and ups and downs of raising a family, any family. As I look around I see many people who have compromised and spend lives with companions anything but ideal. On the other hand, the major cause of divorces in Poland is not infidelity, nor violence, nor addictions, but a "mismatch of characters", a wide term used when couples are sick and tired of unsuccessful attempts to get on with each other.

I often wake up to ask myself whether I am living my life, whether I have not allowed by girlfriend to shape my life beyond the boundaries of my comfort and reasonable concessions inevitable in a relationship. I have fully embraced looking after a dog, which was a brand new experience to me. But her attempts to teach me to like lavishness or fancy eating have gone in vain. On Thursday I read a joke. What combo of factors is a frequent story behind a divorce? He did not change the way she wanted, but she has changed not the way he wanted. So true...

As we had a good streak during the summer, I planned to buy a diamond ring and pop the question during the trip to the USA. For health-related reasons none of the above plans has been followed out. With current ups and downs and uncertainty regarding future I have put those plans on hold. But back in August I told my friends at such age and after such relationship duration a man is faced with take-it-or-leave it dilemma.

On Monday I had a frank conversation with my parents. I broke the rule relationship tribulations should not be talked over with relatives. They have not had many opportunities to look at us, but turned out to be surprisingly insightful. Nothing new has been said then, but it occurred to me I have made a lot of mistakes in terms of not being assertive enough and not striking a balance between giving and taking. At such stage it might be difficult to make up for those mistakes, but after all, if we have built so much together, maybe instead of pulling it down, let's try to fix it.

Zygmunt making the headlines

35 years past Poland's transition into free-market economy, the time ensues for several entrepreneurs to retire. Their businesses are usually either handed over to descendants or sold to third-party investors. Succession in Poland has not been an issue brought up frequently. Until recently...

Family issues of Zygmunt Solorz-Żak are now like episodes of a gripping TV series. The very character is a media and telecommunications tycoon, controlling the largest private TV station, a satellite TV platform, two telephony and internet providers and also a power plant on top.

Divorced twice, until recently fostered relationships with three of his adult offspring, born to him by his two ex-wives. All three children were more or less successfully involved in running his numerous businesses. Half a year ago he married Justyna Kulka, aged 50, i.e. nearly two decades younger than him. The third marriage is cited by many as the source of problems and sparked a battle between the tycoon's children and his new wife.

I will not summarise the intricacies of the dispute, especially since we still know less than more. Everyone who saw the streaming of the extraordinary shareholders' meeting held last Monday might have serious doubts about Mr Solorz's capacity to make informed decisions and exercise control over his businesses.

In Poland, where everyone is an expert in any area, tribulations in the media empire are widely commented. Mr Solorz and his relatives are avidly judged. Only few commentators point out Mr Solorz might do whatever he wants with his private wealth. This assertion could be true, yet it is not, for the sake of a single important detail. Several of his businesses are listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. Their prices have declined by 10% to 20% since the turmoil commenced. Several small investors, institutions and pension funds have seen a chunk of their wealth evaporating. For such reason, the decisions of succession may impact virtually anybody, so are not just his private stuff.

From a banker's perspective, the stock market's reaction is absolutely justified. Mismanagement may send a sound business under quite quickly. I have seen smaller companies going bankrupt in the wake of conflicts between shareholders. For Mr Solorz’s businesses the path is longer. Mr Solorz himself does not take decisions, but can instantly appoint and oust senior executives, which means already gives sizeable potential for disruptions.

A new "normalcy"

My recovery, progressing slowly since 10 September, is taking me back towards "normal" functioning. I do still feel gratitude for being able to walk (yesterday I wandered five kilometres, which two weeks ago was totally out of reach), to drive a car, I cherish every moment without pain. Yet my life remains far from how it looked like until early September. I still work mostly from bed, sitting is confined to half an hour (which indicates how far I can drive), cycling or recreational sports are still forbidden, but I got a green light for a swimming pool. Same as many household chores and DIY tasks, which have become my hobby. Szlachetna Paczka also involves carrying heavy boxes to beneficiaries. Unknown is the list of activities forbidden to me in the long term. I realise I will have to come to terms with some limitations.

Early this week I received MRI description. The wait was long, yet the very description was duly and comprehensively drawn up. Some excerpts are dreadful (forgive me not consulting a dictionary to translate all the stuff I find hard to grasp in my mother tongue), yet my doctor says it is not as bad as it reads and in a few weeks I will be back fit.

In the third decade of October physiotherapy should kick off, once I get a green light for it, my recovery should speed up. Most likely I will continue to work from home, so my workmates should not expect me to show up in the office until December I suppose.

Although in my off-work lifestyle is not sedentary, hours spent behind my desk have taken their toll on spine, even despite an investment into a fancy (home) office chair I made in June 2020. I still don't know how the problem of having to sit eight hours a day five days a week will be solved. Time will tell. Same about longer travels, for the time being impracticable.

There are moments when I believe everything is going to shape up and moments when I am filled with gloom. If at the age of 36 I have experienced such mobility disruption, then what will my spine by like in three decades? I thought depression would be my biggest health problem, yet with properly prescribed medicines it is under full control and has not broken out even in the last tough weeks.

I slowly tame the thought one day a surgery might be the best solution and the only chance for a normal life. If so, provided doctors recommend it, I will opt for the least invasive method involving shorter recovery. I will not count on the public healthcare. Over the whole life I have saved money also for a rainy day. In case of a downpour I will not hesitate to break my bank to ensure I have superior medical service.

Writing a diary of my disease has reminded me what blogging is about. The notes written now will be a testimony of what I have gone through and how I have felt. I am sure I will revisit those posts several times. The read will hopefully fill me then with appreciation of health and remind me merciful fate should not be taken for granted.

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.