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"Kurwa, z babami. Baby to są chuje!"

Lange See

 

There is a lake not far from Bytów which is known by many locals by its German name ‘Lange See’ (Long lake) and whose Polish name is Jezioro Długie. Cycling there is very easy as the path leads, throughout almost its entire distance, along a now defunct railway line Bytów – Miastko. My little sister wanted to go there with me because she’d never been there before. So we took our bikes and set off on a trip (19th). Of course, we took the opportunity and swam in the lake too.

Footpath along the tracks (which are now invisible under the vegetation)

  Bridge under the railway embankment

 Lange See

 On the embankment

 

European Peacock butterfly

Rusałka Pawik (Inachis io)

 

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Gdańsk

 

Last week on Thursday (15th), my cousin and I went to Gdańsk and Sopot (which together with Gdynia they form an area called 'Tricity'). The beginning didn't look too promising: we travelled on a bus which quite probably remembers Communism so it looked old and was, because of the synthetic throws on the seats, very uncomfortable in the heat. The rest of our trip (with the exception of the return journey) was very successful though. I don't think my cousin had ever been to Gdańsk and she didn't really know Poland outside my town and some villages so I thought it was a good opportunity for her to maybe change her perception of the country and realise that it's not all that boring.

We mostly limited ourselves to touring around the Old Town, along Długa Street which is a very picturesque but also very touristic so it was crowded with visitors from all over Poland and visitors from other countries (from what we heard these were mostly Germany and Scandinavia). We had lovely but a bit overpriced coffee and then I drank an even more overpriced beer.

Artus' Court

  Neptune’s Fountain

      Motława River

Ferry to Sopot

Sopot Pier

 

The rest of this entry was deleted by fucking Live Writer.

Full gallery here

Journey to Poland

I arrived on Monday night, just a few minutes before midnight. Back in Scotland the weather wasn’t too great so I was wearing a t-shirt, a shirt and my spring-summer-autumn jacket. Even though the plane was taking off in the evening, I waited until the last minute to pack, prepare food for the journey and, what was most important, to print out my check-in pass. So I went to the library near the place where I live but all the computers were being used and despite my waiting, I didn’t get to use a computer as they soon all switched off because they were about to close the library. I decided I’d go back home, get my luggage (one rucksack in total) and go to the uni to print it there. My card didn’t work (it had expired some days earlier) but I managed to convince the security guy to let me in anyway. Once at the computer, it turned out I couldn’t even log on into the system anymore so I had to ask the guy who was sitting next to me to print the thing. He agreed and I quickly ran to the underground station and then met Paulina there for a quick fag and a chat. We said goodbye and I took the train to the airport.

The journey went smoothly except for those few Polish women who spoke loudly and swore a lot, I think they not only annoyed me (who could understand what they were saying) but also other passengers. I managed to have another cigarette outside the airport and then rushed through the security and what have you to finally reach the waiting lounge. That place is quite disorganised and until I noticed that that the part of the gate which was for passengers flying to Gdańsk was already empty, I stood in the queue for Lanzarote. I was told to hurry so I ran along the long corridors thinking that I was going to miss the plane or, at best, that I won’t find a good seat on the plane. Neither of them happened. The plane was still on the tarmac and plenty of places were free so I sat (as always) by the window. The only annoyance during the flight were the crying children (honestly, it was like a choir from hell). I’m not sure if the girl sitting next to me (she was 4) and who was asking me lots of questions and calling me uncle was sweet or irritating. I think both.

After landing and getting off the plane, when I was still on the steps, I experienced something I hadn’t felt in all too long a time. The air was warm, it felt nice (don’t know how to explain this) and it smelt of grass, trees or something like that. It was just perfect and a pleasure to breath. My mum and a neighbour who was our driver were already waiting for me and, because I didn’t have luggage, I was the first person to leave the so called airside of the airport. While driving home, I noticed a much bigger presence of the Kashubian language and identity in the public sphere than before: there were bilingual place-name signs, Kashubian flags and even a company with a Kashubian name!

I don't know how long I'm going to stay here. It could be weeks or even months but I will have to go back to Glasgow at some point, even if it's just to collect my stuff.

Justin Bieber’s fan?

 

You’ve got to love the BBC, at least for their legendary (and sometimes funny) impartiality.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/10506482.stm

 

 

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