BEEN A BIT OF AN ODD MONTH REALLY:
Clearly the summer has just about gone, although to be fair to Warsaw, it has given us some pretty fine, last minute dot com summer sunshine lately. Some days however and there’s been a distinctive sniff in the air of something I can't quite recognize, or vaguely recollect from childhood, and that's the whiff of a true Siberian winter on the way. Daniel tells me that the worst winter here since 1938 or 9 is predicted, with regular temperatures dropping to below -30. Jesus, can you imagine. The warmest winter-coat I own couldn't even withstand the horrors of +3 in Cambridgeshire – oh my god – clothing parcels will be well appreciated.
I believe I've resolved my food problem however. To the delight of those of you who have tried to make me cook real food for years, well, I've no choice here. I've finally given up on my search for TV Dinners, because there simply isn't any! All we have in Poland is good old, fresh organic food – can you imagine? Paradise I'm sure for some, but starvation for me until, biting the bullet, I’ve unfortunately had to begin bloody cooking… Oh how I dream of baked beans on toast! The local Sklep sometimes stock Heinz, (usually 4 tins), and although they cost an arm and a leg at around 80p each and even as much as a pound in English money – about 5 Zloty here, I usually buy all four; just in case I never see any again!
Paid work has been intermittent over the last few weeks or so however, so must start watching the pennies again – some days the works nonexistent actually, but you can guarantee that it all arrives at once. I'm currently getting documents to work through from two different sources, and dunno.., they both must have some telepathic contract going on or something, as they both always send me stuff at the very same moment..! (Andrzej and Daniel, you know I really don't mind, so keep lashing me with the work)! To be honest, long may it continue, as I'm really starting to need the cash!
Other news..? Well, my social life continues to improve day on day, and while I had a great time, meeting some fantastic people at the place up at the lakes the other week, you can’t beat Warsaw right now for ‘excitement’… Forget the many fantastic parks, galleries, museums and theatres – and there's also this perfectly lovely (idyllic really) little Bistro too on the corner of our street, (Wyzwolenia's no shit-hole – I promise you), but forget the lot of it. I’m not sure whether I've mentioned it before, but yours truly has chosen as his local, just 5 minutes away, the only thing to be found so far to resemble a true pub. The place, believe it or not, lies at the bottom of a public subway, and [the] Przejscie (The Passageway) café/bar is, I swear to God, the bar entrance to hell. If you think being a true metal freak in England is heavy, forget it, this place makes having a conversation with the devil along with his entourage seem like a cosy little chat over tea with the local clergy. Of course, I exaggerate a little, and the impression of terror is short-lived. The place, after the initial shock, and when you get used to the fact that most Polish guys regard a good scrap as nothing more than saying 'Czesc – how you doing me old mate,' then the bar is sweet home from home! In fact it's a strange place all round! Open 24-7, it swings from Death-Metal come Punk evenings all the way through to Karaoke on other nights, where the same regulars, alternate from debauchery one evening of the week to singing 'I did it my way,' in the way it's meant to be sung and only Frank and East Europeans can, on another. Actually most of the songs they choose to sing on karaoke nights are, I believe, for me anyway; obscure Polish folk songs that everyone joins in with. Strange, but Karaoke here hardly ever involves the Prima-Donna hogging of the microphone!
Anyway, I'm beginning to make friends down at The Passageway where the barman Michał shakes my hand vigorously every time I arrive, and quickly replaces whatever is playing on the Jukebox with what he believes to be my favourite musical preference - T-Love, and I sit and mull over with Marchin, a relatively good English speaker, the benefits and the disadvantages of the Polish accession to the Union; until that is, he runs out of English phrases, gets bored and buggers off to play chess with Michal.
Aha, at last, another document from Andrzej to assess... For now then, na razie!
I believe I've resolved my food problem however. To the delight of those of you who have tried to make me cook real food for years, well, I've no choice here. I've finally given up on my search for TV Dinners, because there simply isn't any! All we have in Poland is good old, fresh organic food – can you imagine? Paradise I'm sure for some, but starvation for me until, biting the bullet, I’ve unfortunately had to begin bloody cooking… Oh how I dream of baked beans on toast! The local Sklep sometimes stock Heinz, (usually 4 tins), and although they cost an arm and a leg at around 80p each and even as much as a pound in English money – about 5 Zloty here, I usually buy all four; just in case I never see any again!
Paid work has been intermittent over the last few weeks or so however, so must start watching the pennies again – some days the works nonexistent actually, but you can guarantee that it all arrives at once. I'm currently getting documents to work through from two different sources, and dunno.., they both must have some telepathic contract going on or something, as they both always send me stuff at the very same moment..! (Andrzej and Daniel, you know I really don't mind, so keep lashing me with the work)! To be honest, long may it continue, as I'm really starting to need the cash!
Other news..? Well, my social life continues to improve day on day, and while I had a great time, meeting some fantastic people at the place up at the lakes the other week, you can’t beat Warsaw right now for ‘excitement’… Forget the many fantastic parks, galleries, museums and theatres – and there's also this perfectly lovely (idyllic really) little Bistro too on the corner of our street, (Wyzwolenia's no shit-hole – I promise you), but forget the lot of it. I’m not sure whether I've mentioned it before, but yours truly has chosen as his local, just 5 minutes away, the only thing to be found so far to resemble a true pub. The place, believe it or not, lies at the bottom of a public subway, and [the] Przejscie (The Passageway) café/bar is, I swear to God, the bar entrance to hell. If you think being a true metal freak in England is heavy, forget it, this place makes having a conversation with the devil along with his entourage seem like a cosy little chat over tea with the local clergy. Of course, I exaggerate a little, and the impression of terror is short-lived. The place, after the initial shock, and when you get used to the fact that most Polish guys regard a good scrap as nothing more than saying 'Czesc – how you doing me old mate,' then the bar is sweet home from home! In fact it's a strange place all round! Open 24-7, it swings from Death-Metal come Punk evenings all the way through to Karaoke on other nights, where the same regulars, alternate from debauchery one evening of the week to singing 'I did it my way,' in the way it's meant to be sung and only Frank and East Europeans can, on another. Actually most of the songs they choose to sing on karaoke nights are, I believe, for me anyway; obscure Polish folk songs that everyone joins in with. Strange, but Karaoke here hardly ever involves the Prima-Donna hogging of the microphone!
Anyway, I'm beginning to make friends down at The Passageway where the barman Michał shakes my hand vigorously every time I arrive, and quickly replaces whatever is playing on the Jukebox with what he believes to be my favourite musical preference - T-Love, and I sit and mull over with Marchin, a relatively good English speaker, the benefits and the disadvantages of the Polish accession to the Union; until that is, he runs out of English phrases, gets bored and buggers off to play chess with Michal.
Aha, at last, another document from Andrzej to assess... For now then, na razie!
posted by The Slide at 4:50 am
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