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).

To the Polish seaside, 2024

Last minute booking proves a cost-effective travel strategy (unless in high season) if you want to grasp a decent, yet cheaply-priced accommodation. We did it the previous Friday and thus found a three-night stay for mere PLN 400 for the two of us (the dog free of charge).

For the sake of convenience, we chose Sztutowo by Zatoka Gdańska bay, which is one of the nearest seaside spots from Warsaw - mere 325 kilometres from Ursynów, door to door.

Sztutowo is a nefarious example of public transport deprivation, with a journey to Gdańsk Główny train station by two buses lasting at best 4 hours and 33 minutes, longer than a door-to-door journey by car. Driving-wise the S7 section between Czosnów and Płońsk under reconstruction is awfully unfriendly even for a seasoned driver. I somewhat feared my quarter-a-year old car (a review next week) would get a first damage from one of fellow insane drivers (had one near miss), but fortunately it returned home in one piece.

Given the timing of our foray a week before the onset of school holidays and non-resort character of Sztutowo, we stayed far from the groan and enjoyed charms of nearly empty beaches.

In the nearby Krynica Morska to which we travelled by bikes on Monday, precincts and beaches were already full of people on a working week day still before the high season. While Krynica Morska is not a recommendable destination to find a place, the R10 cycling path running to it is utterly breathtaking.

Sztutowo is known for being a location of a nazi concentration camp between 1939 and 1945. On the somewhat rainy Sunday I cycled to the local museum to have an encounter with the traces of one of lousiest atrocities in the history of the mankind. Realising what happened there is not equivalent to being confronted with the testimony thereof.

Albeit the very journey there and the accommodation were cheap, eating out involved forking out loads of money for the horrific restaurant receipts (paragony grozy) a lunch for two (a sizeable portion of fish, French fries, a set of rawness, beverage) was the expense between PLN 120 (pricey, yet still reasonable) and PLN 160 (too pricey for non-resort location and pre-high season). With most tables occupied, I presume with eating out not particularly affordable for an average Pole, the local market remains in a balance, especially since holidaymakers tend to be less thrifty.

Check out also the coverages of previous trips to the seaside in May 2022 and June 2021.

Decluttering

The post is inspired by a press article on the new profession in Poland (not only), which by all accounts is a response to growing demand for such services - to solve the chicken and egg dilemma.

In late 2023, when my girlfriend was moving in to my place, I had to rationalise the content of my flat. I rearranged the space, got rid of some stuff, bought boxes and racks to fit the remaining items into smaller space. Recently, after her flat has been sublet, the second stage of the process came up and some or our stuff had to end up in my basement, assorted into cardboard boxes.

The exercise prompted me to rethink if I really need the things I possess, especially how often I use them. I am a minimalist and I think twice before purchasing an item, hence the room for improvement was limited.

Now a quick guide what to do with stuff useless for you. Get rid of it by:
1. Selling it for a tiny fraction of a new item's market value (a buyer will also benefit it), or
2. Donating it (at best via śmieciarka facebook groups, eschew the OLX oddam za darmo classifieds) or to an organisation which collect specific sort of stuff, or
3. Just throw away, ensuring it will be recycled.

If you don't feel up to the above or have no idea how to get about it, professionals dealing with decluttering are there to step in. As these experts claim, people get too attached to their belongings, usually acquired on the spur of the moment. Useless stuff is frequently bought to relieve sadness or spontaneously, because one spotted an item which took their fancy. Frequently humans believe having something at hand will prompt them to use it, but time proves them wrong. According to statistics, young mothers are the group in most need of decluttering, however theories why hoard stuff vary. The most commonplace one is that given their overload with duties and scarcity of time, they are most prone to impulse shopping.

Experts in decluttering warn what I have done, i.e. sorting stuff, packing them into boxes or organisers, does not solve the problem. It definitely facilitates finding an item somebody is looking for, but the excess stuff still occupies space in their place. Beware then!

The last valid remark is you need to want to get decluttered. Buying decluttering services as a gift to somebody whose place is cluttered is a waste of money. A person afflicted should really want to tackle the problem of superfluous belongings and take the primary responsibility in solving it. A professional will only wisely assist in it, hence at the end I would dare to doubt if rates with lower range of PLN 200 per hour of such assistance are worth that much.

Off to the seaside next weekend. A follow-up in two weeks.