Dance class

September. Nagging heatwaves have gone by for good. Nights are drawing in. Time to break out of the lethargy in which I plunged just after the exam and in which I lingered over nearly the entire summer. Time to focus on less mundane stuff than floating between home and work with some occasional only entertainment.

Nearly three years of swotting up for three levels of the examinations have worn me down and put off learning for a while. My idea to refresh my command of German, lost on account of not using it (I was reminded of it specifically painfully last year while holidaying in Germany), has been given up. Firstly, I did not feel like taking up another course, doing homeworks, etc. Secondly, signing up for a language course would require attending classes twice a week either early in the morning or in the evening, which for work-related reasons (the New Factory requires more and more flexibility in terms of business trips and staying overtime) could not be viable, or on Saturday mornings, which in turn does not come into play for family-related reasons.

A new pastime activity was meant to involve some sort of physical exercise, so eventually I have plumped for dance classes. So far I have had two lessons and absolutely do not regret my decision!

Definitely it is never too late to learn something new and useful. While attending parties and weddings I was never chair-ridden, but I danced as good as I could (just as many people do). But why dance as you can, while it is better to “can dance” (pun intended, yet sounds silly, unlike the Polish lepiej umieć tańczyć, niż tańczyć jak się umie). My selection was the party dance course (taniec użytkowy) – not complicated, yet most coming in handy on social occasions.

Before signing up I had some doubts whether I was up to it. My sense of rhythm is below-average, yet my co-ordination of movements of limbs must not be bad if I drive a car at absolute ease, so I hoped I would not bugger up all along.

After two classes the impressions I can share are the following:

- as long as the pace of learning is moderate and an instructor does not try to teach you too much, grasping the dance comes up naturally,

- switching the partners continuously adds much value to the learning, since you do not learn how your partner moves, but develop universal habits and learn how to send and receive impulses to and from your partner,

- dancing not only enhances your daily routine but also helps you forget about the quandaries of the daily grind,

- it is essentially the chance to meet new people and simply have fun!, but

- unlike some of you may think, odds of finding there a life companion are statistically and practically low (in my group those people who do not come with a partner, have been sent by their partners to brush up on their dancing skills).

There was a time people urged to take a dance class to find a girlfriend. When they gave up on urging, I settled for it on my own! The sound approach, I believe, is to go there for any other reason than to find a girlfriend. Otherwise, I would have ended up frustrated!

And once the current course draws to a close, I will sign up for another one, just to have fun!

Hospitality put to the test

Abortion, in-vitro, gay marriages, separation of the state and the Church… The list of discords between Poles has grown long for a while and this month attitude towards migrants joint the catalogue of divide lines. Actually the problem has not come out of the blue, but the influx of migrants and / or refugees to Hungary has triggered disputes how United Europe should face the challenge and how Poland should behave in order to protect its interests with encroaching European solidarity.

I used the terms ‘migrants’ and ‘refugees’ as they both show up in the discussions, yet should not be mistaken for each other, nor used interchangeably. In simple words, the former term generally refers to people who strive to settle down in another country to seek a better life, while the latter term describes people who had to flee their homeland because they had been persecuted there or because their country is war-stricken.

The scale of discord was best observable on… facebook. As I learnt, among my (so-called) friends I have both avid supporters of openness towards migrants, calling for greeting them with open arms and playing host to as many of them as possible, as well as extreme-right-wing freaks, posting one post after another decrying the migrants, displaying them as Muslim rabble (or would-be terrorists) assaulting Europe and attempting to set up their own rules here. The gap between the embracement and rejection for migrants was so wide that while I looked at posts from the two sides of the dispute, I wondered where the truth lies.

If I had followed only my leftist ‘friends’ and turned off news feed from my right-wing ‘friends’, I would have shaped an opinion of migrants as of poor people who had to choice but to leave their property and lives they had led behind and escape their homelands to search for a safer home. The newcomers would enhance cultural diversity of Poland and after all out of purely humanitarian reasons, we should take them in.

Had I tweaked with the visibility settings and left in only news feed from my right-wing ‘friends’, I would have viewed migrants as uncivilised horde, made up mostly of men aged 20-35, invading Europe in uncontrolled way, living in camps resembling rubbish dumps, rioting with the police, slinging stones into trains, robbing food from trucks, wheedling out social benefits, etc.

So where does the truth lie? In between? With time both groups of ‘friends’ cooled off, while other, more balanced posts began to emerge. As it turned out, the picture cannot be painted with one of two colours, it is neither black, nor white. There is a variety of shades of grey and the problem of inflow of thousands of migrants has many facets and it is not as simple as advocate or straightforward embracing or rejecting migrants claim.

Among migrants there are refugees from war-afflicted regions, but many more migrants take the opportunity to search for easier life in Europe, whose leaders naively want to play host to everyone. As statistics of humanitarian organisations and TV footages reveal, most migrants are young men, who on one hand are potential conscripts, on the other hand who have been probably sent by their families for a mission to settle down and then help other family members move in.

I argue motives of majority of migrants are purely economic. They do not want to just live in a peaceful country. Had they wanted, they would have stopped in Hungary, Croatia, or Poland, but they treat CEE countries only as a transit areas on their way to Germany, Austria or Sweden, where they would live off generous social security benefits. Quotas on migrants allocation EU leaders intend to set are an absolutely flawed way to tackling the crisis, since they totally disregard reasons which bring migrants to Europe. Even if Mrs Merkel instructs Poland, by threatening to cut off the stream of subsidies, to take in 10,000 or more migrants, unless tighter border controls are instated, those migrants will eventually land in Germany, because they do not want to live in a poor country which can offer them fairly low allowances. The way European politicians handle the matter prompts comparisons to centrally planned economy or to allocating animals between zoo gardens, while all decisions are claimed to be made in the name of most humanitarian, lofty values.

While reading the above you might have the impression I might be intolerant to migrants. The impression might be misleading. I am not afraid of migrants, I appreciate cultural diversity, I respect different customs and religions, skin colour, etc. In my neighbourhood I run across several people from Belarus or Ukraine who came here in search for better life, often work in grey economy to earn money, rent the cheapest accommodation, eke out a living and the rest of the money transfer to their families abroad. In the corporate world I have worked with people from former USSR and even from Middle-East regions and they have all been competent and reliable workers. Sometimes I eat out in restaurants run by guys from Turkey or one of surrounding countries and although I am most fond of Polish cuisine, I hold dear their contribution to variety of eateries in Warsaw. Those people have one thing in common – they work, while by all accounts most migrants flooding Europe have no intention to take up any job, but aim to settle down in countries with most generous social security systems. This is who I am intolerant to – loafers, regardless of their descent.

Once I discarded political correctness, time to face another truth – attempts to bring in Western-style democracies to Arabic countries have been doomed to fail. People living there are from a different cultural circle and simply have not grown up to democracy. With time I more and more often think it would have been wiser not to bring down dictators who, surprisingly, better kept law and order, than setting up democratic systems which are rather a travesty of democracy and in terms of death toll prove inferior to dictatorship.

I wonder how the whole story unfolds. I wonder whether tightening border controls would put to an end Europe without borders established by Schengen agreement.

I wonder whether putting in walls on some of the borders will divert the stream of migrants to Poland and if it happens, how the Poland’s administration will cope with thousands of migrants heading for Western Europe, especially if Germany closes its borders.

I wonder whether Poles would see train stations occupied by migrants, or if A2 and A4 motorways will have one westward lane occupied by marching migrants.

I wonder whether the commotion will reduce the number of safe tourist destinations available for Poles.

I wonder whether travelling by car across Europe will be a safe as and easy as it used to be…

And I hope by spring next year it all straightens out…

For those seeking a fairly unbiased coverage, I wholeheartedly recommend The Economist’s column dedicated to migration crisis.

Pre-election bidding

Two months I uncompromisingly dissected the economic agenda of PiS (or rather a string of joyous give-away proposals) laid out to lure benighted voters. Campaigners of PO, slowly bracing for retracting into new role of being the opposition, had done little to challenge the puffed up expenditure assurances made by their competitors and their efforts had boiled down to a simple message that if the promises were kept, Poland would follow the traces of Greece. Until now…

On Friday rumours that PO would unveil its revolutionary economic agenda leaked out. Somebody had not managed to keep their mouth shut until Saturday and highlights of PO’s new agenda came to the light one day earlier. Scrapping social security and health service contribution and shifting towards funding the two systems from the state budget looked appealing, since such modifications would simply workings of the state administration, however raised doubts right away – whether the changes would fall into line with constitution and how they would be financed?

Yesterday I was all day out, hence had no chance to listen to speeches during PO’s convention, however what could be put together from the media coverage of the event and what can be found in the underlying official agenda document, do not square. And does not hold water.

I thought PO, despite its numerous drawbacks, slip-ups, and general fatigue, would at least not stoop so low to join senseless bidding in terms of economic promises. I should have expected to have been wrong, yet another letdown aches. The other, par for the course anyway, was that after reading the agenda released yesterday, I can only concur with Mr Kukiz, who incidentally refused to present any agenda of his grouping and claimed all agendas are a sh*t. Cross my heart, I find no more suitable word to describe the essence of PO’s agenda.

I am not an expert in education, health service, defence, security, foreign policy, but if there is an area of my expertise, it definitely is economy. Under microscope then goes the part of PO’s agenda dedicated to economic stuff.

First nuance which should grab attention of a careful reader is that the agenda is full of target solutions, not changes that are about to come into effect in 2016 or 2017, but when circumstances permit. On one hand the approach looks wise, since legislation passed in haste or reforms pursued when the government cannot afford to pursue them, would do more harm than good, while on the other, the “conditional promises” are the easiest to go back on.

The first pledge of PO is to crack down on “junk contracts”. Revisions to the labour law include obligation for employers to withhold social security contributions, minimum hourly wage of 12 PLN for junk contracts (only?) and introduction, within a few years, of an “uniform job contract”, a legal agreement having features of regular job contracts, to be applied whenever the bond between employer and employee appears long-lasting. Poland has a problem with abusing junk contracts. Employers save on labour costs (which are not exorbitant in comparison to Western Europe), while employees are deprived of basic security. For the government junk contract decrease proceeds from payroll-related contributions, causing shortages of money in social security and healthcare systems. Yet one needs to keep in mind junk contracts add flexibility to the labour market, beneficial for students, or people taking up a second job and these benefits need to be retained. A missing piece is the proposal to instate regular taxation to taxpayers actually employed by corporations, but theoretically employed as contractors. These are senior managers who are not entrepreneurs and do not risk their own money in business and thus should not be entitled to pay 19% corporate income tax, instead of 32% personal income marginal tax! I cannot quote the source at the moment, but I recall the data showing 2% of the richest PIT taxpayers accounted for 26% PIT proceeds. If senior managers / executives (whose annual pre-tax earnings are between PLN 300,000 and PLN 1,000,000) were taxed like ordinary employees, this would bring substantial inflows to the government and help decrease budget deficit!

The second proposal echoing in the media is the alleged introduction of 10% PIT rate and scrapping social security (ZUS) and health service (NFZ) contributions. I do not know what was declared by PO leaders in their yesterday’s speeches, but according to the agenda: (1) 10% will be the effective (not statutory) tax rate for the poorest families, (2) the solutions put forward are long-term targets.

There has been a lot of confusion about these proposal. For the first time in my life I heard of “uniform” tax, which unlike journalists have interpreted it, is not a flat tax, but presumably one tax which replaces regular income tax and other tax-like contributions. PO most probably suggests progressive taxation with pro-family allowances or deductions with tax rates not specified at this stage. What is however more disturbing is that in return for scrapping ZUS and NFZ contributions, income taxes would need to be increased.

The rest of the chapter on economic agenda is full of general, hackneyed proposals. I could comment on any of them with little hope anyone would take the trouble to read the whole post from cover to cover, but will confine to a few main conclusions:

(1) I could write such agenda as well. You could hire a bright 20-year-old student who will list and elaborate on everlasting modest proposals, such as: decreasing unemployment, reducing taxes, simplifying tax systems, improving tax collection, cutting down on red tape, boosting exports, supporting innovations, fostering investments, effectively using EU funds, building new roads, and go on and on…

(2) Most proposals are very general and lack specific solutions. For instance the sentence: “we will help mortgage borrowers who struggle to service their debt in a manner which will ensure equitable treatment of debtors repaying mortgage in Polish zloty and in foreign currencies and will not put at peril stability of the banking system” is not only too long, but also does not specify measures the government would use to achieve the goal, as well as the cost for the taxpayer. Lack of precision is the key drawback not only of political agendas, but is the broader problem of the whole politics in Poland – just bring to mind how questions in the bygone referendum or the one proposed by president Duda (especially the one asking about decreasing retirement age) were formulated…

(3) Some proposals include the total cost of the proposed solution, but the readers get only the final number, not how it was arrived at. I realise few people read agenda, even fewer would read attachments with calculations and assumptions, even fewer would be able to verify their reliability, but for the sake of transparency and credibility, would it hurt to back the final figures with calculations.

While I watch the drowning man (PO) desperately trying the catch the straw (regain its disgruntled electorate), I am being put off tactical voting (as many people I am weary of the current government, yet wary of PiS wacky government) but lean towards voting for… Nowoczesna.pl. When the association was established in May 2015, I was sceptical towards the grouping and its founder. Mr Petru is more a celebrity and representative of “survival of the fittest” approach to economy, than an economist, leaders of Nowoczesna.pl often represent the cruellest face of corporate capitalism, not something I hold dear, yet something I live off. If there is grouping that would best represent my vested interests and future financial well-being, it appears to be, oddly enough Nowoczesna.pl. Yet by no means should such party head the government. It could only tip the scales in decision-making as coalitional partner of a less economically liberal party. I may wish Nowoczesna.pl enters parliament, but it should have a tiny tally of seats there, simply because it does not represent ordinary people, whose, not mine, well-being should be primarily fostered!

Hotter than ever, drier than ever…

Gone is probably one of the hottest summers in the history of Poland. Gone are the tiresome heatwaves. Gone is the thermal discomfort we have endured for weeks.

I am fond of statistics, in particular of weather statistics, hence I have taken the troubled to quantify August 2015 which was the warmest August in the history of temperature measurements in Warsaw - average temperature reached +23.0C, beating August 1992 when it stood at +21.5C and was the second warmest month in the history of Warsaw since 1880, after memorable July 2006, when mean temperature was +23.5C.

The chart below displays quite well the temperature anomalies witnessed last month in Warsaw. Over virtually the entire month average temperature was above mean temperature for specific days, with considerable deviations at the end of the first decade of the month and in its very last days.

 

The month had a misleadingly cool commencement. On 1 August I was setting off to the mountains on 4 a.m. and outside it was quite chilly, somewhere behind Nadarzyn car thermometer showed +5C. I thought I could do with winter tyres as well…On the same day temperature shot up and two days later exceeded +30C.

The heat wave according to the phenomenon’s pure definition lasted 11 days, since each day from 3 August 2015 to 13 August 2015 maximum temperature recorded was above +30C, and was the longest heat wave observed in Warsaw ever (oddly enough the average number of days in a year when temperature is above +30 is mere five). Had the definition been adjusted down by one Celsius degrees, the heat wave would have lasted incessantly for 15 days, until 17 August.

The heat wave reached its climax on Saturday, 8 August 2015, when temperature rose to +36.6C, 0.4C short of heat record set exactly two years earlier. The day was followed by record-hot night, when temperature did not drop below +22C even before dawn. The average temperature over 24-hour interval stood at +29.2, far warmer than in Athens, Rome or in Madrid on an average day in July.

Days between 19 August 2015 and 26 August 2015 brought blissful relief from heat, with day-time highs in mid +20Cs and lows below +15C. Had it not been for that colder period, August 2015 would have gone down as the hottest month ever.

Last days of August 2015 and 1 September 2015 brought another influx of unusual heat, with temperatures in Warsaw reaching +34.7C and +34.5C on respectively 31 August 2015 and 1 September 2015, with the latter breaking the previous heat record for September set on 7 September 2008 (+30.7C).

On top of this deficiency of precipitation also made itself felt – rain fell twice in August 2015 – on 16 August and on 25 August with the two showers being a drop in the ocean that should lash down from heavens to bring back hydrological balance in Poland.

Abnormally high temperatures have given nearly everyone a rough ride. As experts point out, it is not the intensity, but length of the heat wave that determines its tiresomeness for people. Hence three days with temperatures peaking at +37C are more bearable than two weeks of heat reaching only +32C each day.

Despite weather conditions hazardous for health, number of reported diseases caused by heat was not appallingly high, especially if cases of drowning in rivers and lakes are counted out.

Whoever could, took shelter from the heat in air-conditioned interiors. With increasing number of offices, other public buildings and flats having air-con put in and turned on, electricity consumption soared, reaching levels last observed in record-cold first decade of February 2012 (when temperatures at night dropped well below –20C). In the meantime, power-generating blocks in power plants could not be cooled properly (due to shortage of water and its too high temperature) and this resulted in planned blackouts. Several industrial off-takers faced restrictions on consumption of electricity, something that was just a matter of time and what happened for the first time since the ultimate downfall of planned economy in 1990.

Drought also closed the gates to the forests for tourists, on account of extraordinary peril of fire. And last, but no least, many trees began to shed their yellow leaves far earlier than usual. Despite the heat, it felt like autumn. Yesterday, when I cycled via Las Kabacki, paths were covered with a blanket of leaves, something which ought to be observed in late September.

The problem with the heat in Poland is that an average Pole has no chance to shield it. In winters, when temperatures reach –25C you simply stay at home, keep warm (unless your housing conditions are dire) and only the thought of the bottom line on your heating bill wipes the smile off your face. In summer, an average Pole needs to withstand temperature of +30C inside their dwelling. While in shopping malls and modern offices and in cars air-conditioning is nearly always in place (what an incentive to stay overtime), residential housing still lacks it on larger scale, but given the direction of climate changes, air-conditioning will not be just a luxury, but a must, allowing one to survive the summer comfortably. These musts, while once they grow prevalent, will boost energy consumption again… Summer electricity bills might soon become the price to pay for lower heating bills in milder winters…

And what is about to ensue thereafter? Today temperature fails to creep above +17C, it is astonishingly chilly if we bear in mind just five days ago it was +34.5C. Weather patterns do not tend to recur, therefore record-hot August might to followed by: very warm autumn or a very cold autumn, or a typical autumn, or by any combination of the three. Long-term numerical forecasts foresee an anomalously mild winter, while some signs wildlife and plants send to us indicate a harsh winter ahead.

My own tolerance for heat somewhat decreased this year. In 2012, 2013 and 2014 I actually did not mind it when temperature was above +30C. I remember well walking around the office around midday on 8 August 2013. Temperature was +36C, I was wearing suit trousers and long-sleeve shirt with pulled up sleeves and felt no specific desire to rush to the air-conditioned office. This year even in the temperature of +30C I could sit idle, have nearly nothing on and soak with sweat. There were several night when I could not sleep a wink because of the heat. Drained of energy, I began to feel sympathy with Greeks whose laziness is to some extent grounded in the climate they fail to endure.

In the meantime my holiday plans have gone down the drain :(. The travel companions, while I made the reservation and reached out for money to make a confirmatory payment, dropped off, while our destination, Hungary, was invaded by scores of ruffians (pardon the expression) and actually we would be in a quandary, wondering how the situation would unfold. While it is politically correct to take pity on refugees and sympathise with humans who had to flee their war-inflicted homelands, I argue it is advisable to ask ourselves whether not only we can afford to play host to refugees (the answer is clear), but whether those people would assimilate into our civilisation. As a nation, Poles would respect their culture, religion (unless they are lunatic Muslims attempting to wage a war against the rotten West), etc., but in return they would need to adjust to customs of the country which offers them asylum. Frankly speaking, I do not embrace a prospect of thousands of unemployed mouths to feed inhabiting refugee camps or irate hooligans vandalising public infrastructure or robbing trucks with food (as they allegedly did in Hungary), exhibiting their anger with the fact Europe fails to greet hordes of immigrants with open arms.

This may be unpopular, but the influx of migrant to Europe, stemmed or not, is the price to pay for attempting to spread democracy in areas of world where dictatorship would simply prove better. Democracy is by far the best political system, provided a society has reaches the proper level of development. Guys from the United States who excel at breaking out wars thousands of miles from their borders should also realise it.

Outdoor gym

The first outdoor gym I spotted was the set of equipment next to Multikino Ursynów, in mid-2014. The second, which I not only glanced at, but also I tried out was the one in Ursus, on Easter Sunday this year (despite the chill). The third, which I grew fond of, was on a hill in Szczawno-Zdrój (back at times when the area was not famous).

The fourth one, I have been doing my best to use at least once a week, is next to the pond in Mysiadło. Photo by Kurier Południowy.

It has been here for almost a year. Locals were urging a very active councillor from Mysiadło to lobby for some exercising facilities near the pond. The very area, though located in the vicinity of lots of dwelling, has been infamous for being a hangout for local fans of alcoholic beverages, including those under age. With the appearance of some infrastructure, i.e. new benches, rubbish bins, the gym; after cleaning up the pond and tidying up the surrounding area, better days have come for the place. Local drunkards still sometimes hang around there, but the place is now often full of young parents walking or playing with their offspring, local pensioners and anglers.

The cost of the gym has not burnt a hole in gmina Lesznowola’s budget – for mere 25 thousand zlotys a few machines have been installed and to my surprise, they have not been vandalised. The facilities are in fact solid and have been solidly attached to the ground, so it would take months of workout to build up muscles strong enough to wreck or spoil them.

I typically go there each Sunday morning. Saturday mornings are reserved for swimming pool, so Sunday is ideal. I prefer the early hours, i.e. around 8 a.m., since odds of not having to wait until another community member gets off a piece of equipment are lower. Plus in the very hot August as we have experienced this year, 9 a.m. was often the last hour when temperature was bearable. Despite the small hour, however, I usually was not the only one to use it. The  morning-time users are generally older than me (from their 30s up to their approximately 70s), both females and males. Some stop over here during the morning jogging, some get off their bikes, take a few minutes of exercise and continue the ride, some come with their dogs and while a dog runs around, they work out. I don’t know how about later hours, but maybe youngsters also attend it.

Advantages, apart from the most obvious, namely that one works out – proximity, free usage and being in the open air, meaning one can also catch precious sunrays.

Drawbacks – scarcity of equipment (less than ten pieces) and no possibility to set the “heaviness” of the machines – either you strain too little or too much.

The outdoor gyms falls into the general trend of local authorities encouraging residents to keep fit. Cycling paths, sport fields (not only football pitches), swimming pools, outdoor gyms – having all of this around mobilises at least some sofa-ridden layabouts to move their arses and do something about their body. Just like investment in education theoretically should prevent structural unemployment, investments in citizens’ fitness should yield savings on health-care and elderly-care spending. The progress in medicine has already lengthened our lives considerably, now is the time to fend for the comfort of living, or to make it precise, to defer the moment it decreases as a result of ageing.

A little more comfort in the neighbourhood

Ul. Mleczarska, whose reconstruction has been tracked on PES since late 2014 (most recently in late May 2015) has finally been opened. The completion deadline of 30 June 2015 has actually been met, since in the last days of June the street was virtually ready (and passable), but the official opening on 6 August was for no apparent reason outshined by another ceremony.

Looking north from the intersection of ul. Mleczarska, ul. Słoneczna and ul. Sękocińska. All photos taken on 20 August around 7 p.m. Holiday period this year reached its peak in August and traffic remains sparse. Sun illuminates the road and fields in Stara Iwiczna, turned yellow due to shortage of precipitation…

The railway crossing with the Siekierki single-track line was built in June, as one of the last parts of the whole development. Looking west, towards the sun, about to set in an hour. In the distance, left to the track, a playing field in Stara Iwiczna, built under the high-voltage electricity wires…

As part of the reconstruc- tion, slopes up to the level crossing have been flattened and lengthened. In July the terrain west to ul. Mleczarska occupied for months by huge earth-mounds, was also levelled. Finally one also knows the plots are a private property (though not fenced off). The owner of this land virtually sleeps on money. I have not checked the zoning plans for the area, yet location-wise the spot is perfect both for residential development and for services. The only drawback is the vicinity of the rail track. Although trains do not run here often, but while heavy sets of wagons with coal trundle, folks in the nearby dwellings presumably experience a little earthquake.

The roundabout at the intersection with ul. Energetyczna. Sizeable, splendid, yet lanes are narrow enough to force drivers to slow down to no more than 30 kmph. Nevertheless, the traffic solutions applied, namely separate lanes for right-turns, smooth the traffic out, especially if we bear in mind Poles still tend to get confused when they approach a roundabout.

Civilisation has crept in. Compare the pics to the right to a series of snaps from roughly the same places taken in June 2011. Everything has fallen into place. Motorists have a decent road (I would argue speed bumps could be flatter), pedestrians a safe pavement, cyclists their riding path.

Once ul. Mleczarska was officially opened, another roadworks crew stepped in to revamp ul. Raszyńska in Piaseczno. Works kicked off all of the sudden on 8 August and 12 calendar days after that the street changed beyond recognition. New asphalt, no potholes, decent pavement. The intensity of infrastructure works could imply local elections are to be held this autumn…

Some finishing works will be done next weeks, lanes will need to be marked out, water drainage roadside ditches will need to be reinforced with concrete panels and I wonder whether speed bumps will be put in here. The signage reminds of the previous ones. I drove there 40 kmph and despite flat tarmack and considerable width of the road, the speed did not seem safe. Too many cars coming in and out of properties by the street, too many reckless cyclists and pedestrians trespassing onto the road without taking a trouble to look whether a vehicle is coming to make the customary urban area speed limit of 50 kmph suitable here. We could do with more discipline among all groups of traffic participants…

I only fear four years will not be enough for the government of PiS to lift my neighbourhood out of ruins.

Taxpayer beware

Taxpayer, beware

Not that recently one of regional tax office branches boasted about soaring tax collection rates, as a result of simplifying the language in which letters to taxpayers are written. Plain Polish works miracles, yet workings of tax administration as a whole still could do with some improvements.

I have not expected to receive any letter from the tax office. Since I earned my first money in 2007 until last week, I had not got any, yet on Monday I found this in the letterbox…

In principle, you could argue whether it is written in plain Polish. For me the missive is generally comprehensive, although I had to read it twice to get the message. It could have been shortened, I suppose, cause brevity as a rule adds clarity.

Before filing the tax return I double-checked it, especially personal data and tax calculations, yet as it turned out, I missed one thing – after putting KRS (national register of legal entities) number I failed to write the amount of tax I wished to be transferred to a beneficiary (charity, foundation, etc). I don’t know why, I thought it was obvious, if I wish to donate 1%, it is 1%. The situation proves you might wish to donate less than 1% and must specify the exact amount even if the don’t wish to make any haircuts…

A quick glance at webpages dedicated to tax accounting does not give the answer how exactly to clear the issue, but the letter instructs clearly not to tamper with 1% donations. In order to find out how to get the amendment right I call the contact person in the tax office the next day. The lady informs me I need to submit: 1) an amended tax return, 2) a written justification why the amendment is being on made (on a special form) and lets me know I may not now write the correct amount to be donated to a beneficiary, since after 30 April it is too late, so the only way to straighten things out is to fill the two fields (KRS number and amount) blank.

OK, I screwed it up, lesson learnt, apologies to the ones not better off. Since I filed the tax returns in person, I need to make the correction personally as well. The tax office is opened from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., so has exactly the same opening hours as my “usual” working hours, hence the most reasonable way to visit it is to decide to turn up to work later. I pick up the documents and when in the office, I go exactly to the room of the person who sent me the letter to me. She checks the amendment forms, says it is OK, enters it into the system, I am about to leave and…

…I am stopped in my tracks. “Sir will not leave now, sir has not filed sir’s personal income tax return for 2013”. “What the f**k?”, I think. I turn back and argue this must be an error. The lady insists the computer sees all my tax returns, except the one for fiscal 2013… I kindly ask the lady not to write relevant summons (with threats of severe fines for shirking the duty of tax accounting) and promise to return in half an hours with relevant documents confirming I am clear with the tax office.

I rush to the car, at home I quickly find two documents which confirm I entitled the Employer do fill the tax return (PIT-12) on my behalf and the very return (PIT-40) sent to the tax office by the Employer. I copy the documents in case the tax officials want to keep it, grab them and drive back to the tax office.

The lady greets me with lovely smile on her face. “I found it”, she exclaims, “your accounts have been done by your employer, the Employer”, she says. “Indeed”, I sigh…

The whole story actual looks to have brought no benefits – wasted paper, waster time of clerks from the tax office, my wasted time, my unnecessary stress. Water to the mill of a ruthless bureaucratic machine… The tax office branch in Piaseczno has a splendid new building I had a chance to sightsee. The modernity of the edifice could however go together with smart work done inside it…

A trip to Lower Silesia

Probably each region of Poland has its unique climate, yet only the Lower Silesia can boast about unrepeatable style, architecture, landscape and… has something that beckons. One of the reasons why I find the region so compelling is that it contains lots of intact (or destructed, yet recently splendidly restored) heritage of the Germans who’d ruled it for centuries, until 1945. Part of Lower Silesia, including capital of the region, Wroclove, have been destroyed during the march of the Soviet Army towards Berlin at the end of WW2, yet the areas south-west of Strzegom and Legnica shunned the fate of becoming battlefields. Most residents of those areas were driven away to Germany shortly after the war, leaving the whole cities and villages to flowing in settlers from central Poland and pre-WW2 eastern lands incorporated into the Soviet Union.

Whenever an opportunity to visit these places crops up, I do my utmost to seize it. Last such occasion was during the last weekend, which I extended by two days to make the trip economical time-wise and petrol-wise. Incidentally it must not pass unnoticed since the new S8 expressway linking Łódź and Wrocław was opened in November 2014, duration of a door-to-door journey by car has shortened to some 5 hours (including 15-minutes stopover and assuming driving at reasonable speed).

I had my lodgings in Szczawno-Zdrój, a Post-German sanatorium resort, which fulfils the role same role in Poland. To the right, a cure-water drinking house, in its Post-Prussian character, decently renovated.

Two types of tourist can generally be run across in Szczawno-Zdrój: either elderly inpatients from numerous sanatoria or young couples with small children. For both groups the town might be appealing, since those not fond of crowds, a plague of many Polish holiday resorts will find here peace of mind and few fellow tourists roaming around. To the right – a pedestrian precinct on early Saturday afternoon.

To the right – a snap from a nearby look-out tower erected on a small, yet steep hill. At first glance the panorama of Szczawno-Zdrój reveals its post-German history. I’m fond of this architecture. Note also the contrast between refurbished streets and how run-down some houses are. Although it’s not that bad here…

To the right – Dom Zdrojowy, the former Grand Hotel, luxurious spa built by Germans more than 100 years ago. Sadly, the standard of the edifice has little changed since then. The ground floor of the building serves as canteen for roughly 1,500 inpatients of this and other nearby sanatoria (two shifts for each meal), three upper floors offer accommodation for inpatients sent here under health insurance scheme. Standard room – 10 sqm for three persons, common bathroom for several rooms. Standard up-to-the-mark for young travellers searching for cheap hostel, not for people in their 60s or 70s coming here for three weeks to recharge batteries.

Wałbrzych, the core city of this part of Lower Silesia. Once seven black coal mines have been the key employers in the city. Today all mines have been closed, one fulfils a role of mining museum, and Special Economic Zones brining in foreign investors are meant to stem the migration out of the city and reduce unemployment. To the right, the town hall square in the very centre of the city. Sunday, before midday. Not a living soul around.

The beautifully renovated market square also is desolated. Area near the fountains is the hangout for local drunkards and for rowdy under-age hooligans. Searching for an open café in the vicinity on Sunday? I asked some locals strolling with their child in a pram, if there was any opened. They stared at me with disbelief and replied there was none, since no one would come there so there was no point in opening.

A peek from the market square between the buildings lays bare the penury of what is hidden between splendidly restored façades on the market square. A perfect illustration to the conflict whether Poland is in ruins or not. You can selectively pick out several examples of places which definitely are not in ruins and places which are in ruins; sometimes worlds apart means less than 100 metres away, as in this example.

And actually most parts of old Wałbrzych (I have not visited the areas where the city sprawled after 1945) look like this. An empty, depressing place, and to boot not the one in which one feels safe in broad daylight. I was slightly afraid to leave my car on Mazovian plates on the street in the centre of Wałbrzych, not because keeping the car there was genuinely dangerous, but because number plates revealed where its owner came from, a region which could be disliked by locals.

Świdnica, unknown even to most Poles, home to notable sights. The market square in the shape typical for Post-German areas, rectangle-shaped and with town hall building in the middle of it. The character of the place brings to mind Gdansk, Poznan and Berlin, while you stay in small town in Lower Silesia in which a famous flea market is held once a year.

Kościół Pokoju, put on Unesco list of heritage buildings, is a must-see destination in Świdnica. Erected in the seventeenth century has undergone thorough renovation in the last 10 years. There a few such places in Europe, hence it is particularly worth preserving.

Inside the church is even more breath-taking. Oddly enough, most visitors inside were Germans, who happen to visit the lost fatherland and appreciate the heritage left here much more by Poles. Or maybe are just more eager to fork out 10 PLN for the entrance fee.

Historically the evangelic church “competed” with the cathedral located within a walking distance from it. The church is open to visitors and nearby facilities are the head office of Kuria Świdnicka. What immediately catches one’s sight are expensive cars (they could be parked next to corporate fleet of the New Factory and you would not distinguish between the two) and anti-abortion posters.

In terms of timing, I was fortunate to venture there when weather was perfect – except for the last day, temperature barely above +20C and sunny or slightly overcast. What ensued later was the heat wave which will definitely go down in the history of meteorology in Poland as one of the longest and most intense. August 2015 stands a chance of being the warmest month in the history of Poland, beating July 2006 (average temperature in Warsaw: +23.5C). The heat wave will deserve a separate posting, due when it draws to a close (I hope it comes to an end soon, but weather forecasts leave little hope for day-time highs below +30C until 20 August).

Worlds apart

The girl

When I joined the New Factory she was already there. I passed her by each day several times while walking past the reception desk on our floor. She looked twenty and I thought she was a weekend-mode student working as an assistant to earn money for her university tuition fee.

Normally the occupation of a receptionist is treated as temporary. Usually students take up such mundane jobs to earn a livelihood, sometimes to fill their CVs and then they move on to more ambitious positions. This is not the case here.

She is quite sociable. Easily hits it off with everyone, yet her come-and-go attitude does not help her build true friendships. With time it turns out she is 45 days younger than me, yet since I was born in December and she in January the next year, she finished her studies a year later (in 2012). As a child she was an actress, in her career she had some impressive roles in films and TV series. If you tap her name into google, you will find her more-or-less up-to-date photos and learn in 2012 she graduated from the Faculty of Law and Administration of the Warsaw University (full-time studies). Tens of fans are wonder what she’s doing.

The job with a New Factory is the first one she has held on to for more than one year and the first one in which she has a regular job contract, involving all rights, privileges and pension contributions, rather than a junk contract. Actually she only cares about the type of contract for only one reason: with a regular labour-code-governed contract she is entitled to 20 days of paid holidays a year. Until now when she felt like going somewhere, she’d quit her job and upon return looked out for a new one. None of her jobs was anyhow related to what she had studied, comparing to what her studies should have prepared her for, all her previous jobs (and the current one) seemed actually well below her competencies.

She likes the job with the New Factory. It involves meeting lots of people and chatting to them, keeping them company during lunches, making a morning coffee to a management board member. She appreciates the fact her job involves no strain and no stress. Office workers around her have hectic days, face pressures, get irate easily. She doesn’t understand their quandaries and is glad her job is so carefree, despite the fact she earns just a fraction of what her stressed-out workmates get paid. Her salary is just enough to meet her basic needs: cosmetics, clothes, weekend clubbing, holidays; a very decent pocket money. Her parents with who she lives seem to put up with her lifestyle and her grandpa whose car she uses (and once a month she leaves the vehicle, grandpa fills it up and then she picks it up with full tank of petrol) also seems to be quite tolerant.

While we lunched last week, she told me to look at her and asked what I thought she should be doing in life. After turning down several ideas she had come up with, I suggested she should search for a job in which she could make use of the knowledge accumulated during five years of law studies. She nodded her head, pulled a face, nearly burst into tears and said it would need to involve some strain.

She backs PO. She believes PiS is backward and would bring nothing good for Poland. She tells Mrs Szydło should return to the sack (Szydło wróć do worka, a pun stemming from a Polish idiom, when reversed meaning bad things should come out of light).

The neighbours

They have lived in NI since ever, their parents as well. They were on this land years before building houses on this suburb became all-the-rage in the 1990s. They sold little of the land they had had, since the family was big and a sizeable plot was needed to put up houses for all the children.

The neighbour is the local, his wife comes from eastern Poland. They met the time he was breeding foxes in late 1970s. They got married and prospered well until 1989 when exports of fox furs to the former Soviet Union came to a halt and consequently their business went bust. In the new reality they engaged in some trade with the former Soviet Republics, yet as they were shuttling between NI and the borders, four children they had at the time began to be brought up on the street. Then they switched to local trade and opened a stall on the former biggest bazaar of the CEE, where today the National Stadium is. Golden times have gone by and for more than a decade the neighbour and his wife have been jobless. They do not need to. Their properties are large enough to sublet rooms for construction workers (20 PLN per person a day, yet in black economy) and officially let a larger hall for a company (here already a registered business, generating a recurring stream of income of a few thousand per month).

Their older son (32) is a successful graduate of a technical university. While he was approaching graduation, his professors had a high opinion of him and recommended him for a few positions which could give him prospects of brilliant career. Eventually he has not taken up any of those jobs. I have no idea, whether potential employers have rejected his candidacy or whether he turned down all those jobs, because they would have interfered with his academic career, namely the doctoral studies he began eight years ago and in the meantime suspended for a year; his PhD is still pending.

Their younger son (29) according his parents’ ambition was meant to firstly finish studies and then to find a job with a town hall. Unfortunately, so far there was no job offered to him there, while the family’s ambitions are put on hold, the son takes up temporary jobs on construction sites (he indeed is a dab hand).

Two daughters (27 and 25) have finished studies and work as shop assistants in one of clothing retail chains’ shops, most probably also on junk contracts. The youngest daughter (14) keeps learning and watches her parents and older siblings staying at home or dabbing in dead-end job. What are the chances she pursues a career ambitious people want to make?

Despite the fact the family consists of seven people they easily make ends meet. They have a variety of sources of income: rent from their corporate tenant, some cash from construction crews renting rooms, the neighbour’s sickness benefits, the older son’s assistant salary, the younger son’s wages from construction sites, the daughters’ salaries from the retailer. Except for the office rent proceeds, these are most probably peanuts, yet add up to a sum which allows the family to meet their basic meets. Fair enough.

The neighbour and his family hankers after PRL, yet votes for PiS, despite not being totally fond of all points of the party’s agenda. Yet PiS passes muster, it will restore law and order in Poland, take away the wealth from the elites to give it to ordinary people and put behind bars all thieves and cons who currently run the country.

In the descriptions above I did my utmost to include only facts and avoid expressing any opinions on how other people choose to live. Yet there must be a reason why I have decided to post the two stories. Every time I read in a newspaper or in the Internet about my peers as a “lost generation” (stracone pokolenie) I wonder whether it is the system or the people (the ever-lasting question) that should be blamed for the failures of many of the youngsters…

Next weekend I’m off, next post in two weeks.

Company cars

My job, though my position should be categorised as middle-office rather that front-office, involves more or less frequent meetings with clients and site visits at clients’ premises. Also not all clients have their offices / facilities in major cities which can boast about decent rail links with Warsaw. The less convenient to reach a client’s location is and the more numerous a group of the New Factory’s representatives is, the more reasonable and economical it is to travel by (company) car.

In my position I am not and will never be eligible to have a company car at my own disposal, but I am entitled to drive any company car while taking a business trip. I also don’t have access to corporate mailbox in my company smartphone, hence my front-office colleagues happen to ask to drive if they are busy responding to e-mails or need to be in touch with clients, or simply if the trip is so tiresome that it is wise someone else takes over the steering wheel. For this reasons over the recent weeks I had a chance to compare some vehicles against one another and to my 12-year-old, yet still holding up well, Megane.

So far I have counted five cars I had had the opportunity to try out.

1. Open Corsa D, 1.0 litre. The general impression is that what proves sufficient in city driving does not have to be up to the mark for longer trips and especially in motorway driving. The tiny engine allows the car to reach the speed of 100 kmph in 18 seconds if only the driver seat is occupied. If three of four people are on board (don’t even try squeezing five adults into this vehicle!), it takes a lot of time and revving up the engine to 5-6k to reach the target speed of let’s say 120 kmph at which you don’t feel safe anyway.

2. Volkswagen Passat B7, 1.4 litre, 150 hp. Actually a very decent car, offering respectable combination of dynamics, fuel efficiency and comfort for the driver and passengers. Turbo-charged engine is more than enough to speed up the car perkily and offers decent elasticity (from the passenger seat I observed another person pushing the accelerator pedal to the floor at the speed of 45 kmph and on fifth gear and the car obediently picked up speed without lurching or whining, yet I felt sorry for the engine being a victim of such horrific driving technique). Maybe the only drawback is not a very intuitive dashboard, but there’s no accounting for taste, as the saying goes. A nice car, but why the hell should one fork out some 100,000 PLN to get a brand-new one (currently it’s impossible, since VW has rolled out Passat B8), for a private purchase, a waste of money.

3. Opel Insignia (before 2013 face-lift), 1.6 litre, 182 hp. Since Renault Laguna is hardly ever purchased as fleet car, the notorious title of the queen of the trailers (królowa lawet) has been given over to Opel’s D segment car. Reliability of Opel cars produced over the recent decade has received a lot of bad publicity and opinions I heard from friends, parents’ friends and from Opel’s users from the Employer and the New Factory only confirm it. The one I drove did not break down on the road, but was so neglected that driving required a lot of caution. I drove it in June but the car was still on winter tyres. As it turned out, since the car was due for replacement in July (last Wednesday it indeed change hands, I feel sorry for the hapless new owner), the fleet manager decided it would have cost too much to buy a new set of summer tyres (old ones went astray). Condition of brakes also left a lot to be desired. Actually my key impression is that it’s not difficult to find a car with lower mileage than my Megane’s and much younger than my Megane, whose condition is inferior to my Megane. The new owner probably thought he had chased a bargain by buying a six-year old Insignia with mere 70,000 kilometres on the clock (odometer not rolled back). In fact the car had oil changed only twice and the first user drove mostly short distances and though the engine was not warmed up, her feet pressed the accelerator pedal heavily. I’m glad I won’t have to sit behind the wheel of that car any more, yet on the basis of it I can’t form an unbiased opinion on it.

4. Toyota Corolla, 1.6 litre, 132 hp. This car is used by a guy who drives very well and cares after the car a lot and has taken effort to run it in properly. Compared to turbocharged engines the impression should not be extraordinarily good, yet it is. The well-maintained vehicles runs smoothly, gearbox is precise, engine is nearly silent and dynamics between 2k and 3k revolutions is more than decent and better than in my Megane. Toyota, like many Japanese carmakers, holds back from embracing downsized, turbocharged petrol-fuelled engine and claims it will beat European competitors by offering superior reliability. I can say nothing of it, yet the engine has one drawback – fuel consumption is some 0.5 litre per 100 km higher than in my Megane (8.8 litres per 100 kilometres in trip consisting of 50% city, 50% motorway).

5. Mazda 6, 2.0 litre, 140 hp. Not a part of corporate fleet, yet given for a test drive for some reason by Mazda distributor in Poland. Mazda’s two-litre Skyactiv technology engine, a pride and joy of the carmaker and wonderful alternative to all-the-rage downsized engines, after a 200-kilometre trip turned out to be just a no-frill motor. The car looks well (albeit chunkily) and such limousine could make a good part of remuneration package for a senior manager in a pre-retirement age. When revolutions are low, the car runs smoothly and silently, yet to squeeze dynamics out of it, you need to rev it up above 4k and the engine is then unbearably loud. My impressions from driving can be distorted by the fact the car had tens of drivers before me and has not been run in properly. Key drawbacks I would list are: gear lever whose precision leaves a lot to be desired, low elasticity of the engine (if at the speed of 20 kmph you downshift to second gear, the engine chokes) and high fuel consumption, typical for old-times 2.0 litres engines (nearly 10 litres per 100 kilometres in motorway driving at steady speed of 140 – 150 kmph).

And recently I also took my father’s Megane III 1.4 litre, 130 hp for a longer run. The car is well-maintained, after 4 years of sparing usage has only 23,000 kilometres mileage (including five several-hundred-kilometre trips) and is well run-in and must say is no worse than any of the cars I reviewed above.

So what really matters?

Size? Compact car is more than enough for any purpose, yet for people travelling long distances and on motorway, B-segment cars are not the most recommendable.

Engine? Maybe you have noticed none of the cars had a diesel engine. I also prefer petrol-fuelled ones, especially those turbocharged which offer really decent dynamics and low fuel consumption. Diesels, although consume even less fuel, are more expensive to maintain (more defects possible and repairs are more costly), plus in winter they can be the pain in the arse.

But what really matters the most is how the car is driven and cared for. Most post-fleet cars are used by people who care little because it’s not their own vehicle and it will be replaced after a specified period or mileage. Buying such car, unless you know who and how used it, is a purchase of a pig in a poke. Usually buying a used car due to negative selection (why my Megane’s not for sale?) involves high risk of unpleasant surprises, therefore I keep my car going reliable and in two or three years, I will replace it with a brand-new one.