Comments for British In Poland

Comment on UK TV via the Internet – Proxy Server by Ray

Ray — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 01:01:13 +0000

Hi Ben,
interesting site….In Poland for 2 years from UK….I would be interested in the proxy server.

Cheers.

Comment on Chris talks about 7 years in Poland by Mike

Mike — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 19:50:32 +0000

Haha! Everybody has a story as to why they’re in Poland and it’s never straightforward. I met my Polish wife in the States and now we’ve got 2 kids and live in Warsaw!

I always said it’s fate, but it seems to happen to a lot of people.

Good idea with the podcast!

Comment on English cars in Poland by Steve

Steve — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 15:34:54 +0000

RHD and English registration, yes it’s legal for 12 months and a good excuse for a visit back to Blighty once a year to get the MOT. There are a few other plus points though. Speed cameras which are very prevalent now are ineffective as the DVLA currently do not pass on details plus if they did it would be a UK address so would go knowhere. If stopped by the Police well you should have valid insurance and the MOT plus licence so no problem plus they do not have the power to put any points on a UK licence. I got a 100 zloty speeding on the spot fine recently and that was it. How long the situation will be the same I do not know but enjoy. The only problem with a RHD car is the toll booths on the motorway and pay booths in car parks and a little visibility problem which I solved with a camera mounted on the left side and a monitior on the dash. The big advantage is the cost of the car which is around 1/3rd of the cost of a Polish equivalent plus it has not been hammered to death by the crap state of the roads here. Every car I have had here starts to fall apart after 2 years, usually it’s electrical problems first then the suspension next. My Peugeot Boxer van though failed after just 3 months, the shock absorber magically appearing through the top of the dashboard after a bit of rough road.

Comment on Podcasts by Lukas

Lukas — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 22:02:10 +0000

Hello,

I’m forking for company organizing language camps in Poland and I look for native speakers for the camp? Would be possible to advertise my offer on your web-site? Maybe you are interested in participating in projecst. Here is facebook group about the project:
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/event.php?eid=10150096144415705

Comment on About Me by Steve Cooper

Steve Cooper — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 17:55:02 +0000

Hi, In about 4 weeks my Polish wife and I will be leaving England and moving to a smallholding that we have bought (in her name) In the Podkarpacie region. (yep we are retired 52 and 49) and want some peace and quiet in the country. We are both accomplished administrators and my wife has experience of the bureaucracy, so we have had everything translated in advance, have bought LHD vehicles (which are very capable off road – Unimog and Steyr Pinzgauer) I was a soldier for 15 years and have lived in Germany for 7 years in the past, have no reason to be homesick for this Decadent, ungoverned slime pit, (If you haven,t lived in suburban UK lately you won,t know that law and order is breaking down year by year and if we had stayed, 15 years down the line this house would have had to become a fortress) We are so grateful for this site, because it doesn,t matter how well sewn up you think you have everything, there is always something you missed. Thank you once again. Stephen and Dorota Cooper (we will bring an update to the site when we are settled in)

Comment on About Me by Hugo Costa

Hugo Costa — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 07:38:49 +0000

Hi,

I just came across your site because I was looking for some info on how to get a NIP (fortunatly I already got pesel which was a nightmare :)).

I would like to ask you if you had or have any kind of Polish lessons or know some good institute to teach Polish to foreigners.

Thank you for the cool blog you have with really useful stuff.

Regards from a Portuguese in Poland,

Hugo

Comment on Foreigner Friendly Banks by Piet Vlanders

Piet Vlanders — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 23:31:13 +0000

Hi, I strongly advice anyone who’s considering to go to Millenium Bank , not to do it. I opened a business account there and everything went smoothly in the beginning. Later all the problems started. I’m now in a situation where they refuse to accept my signature, so i can’t do any transaction anymnore in any outlet. Namely I found out that someone has linked a message to my name in their system to double-check my signature. So everytime i try to do a transaction, the employee sees the warning and gets confused with my signature, and refuses to do anything. I have emplyees knowing me for 3 years who suddenly refuse to deal with me. I can assure you it is a very surreal experience. Now my laywer has to send them a written order to close down my account because i can’t even to that anymore myself. I never found out what has caused them to do that, but I suspect it’s a few employees who did it and their motivation was racism. Don’t go to Millenium Bank.

Comment on About Me by Alex J. Nowacki

Alex J. Nowacki — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:10:00 +0000

Hi! Ben,
An English friend of mine living in Chelmno came across your web-site whilst looking for something else. He immediately telephoned me and gave me the site address. I spent a couple of hours last night reading your site and I can definately identify with the problems you have had, particularly in respect of bureaucracy. I came here with a Landrover Discovery from England, and guess what, that’s right, I could not register it because it was right hand drive. I therefore bought a vehicle here and returned to England to sell the Landrover. It took four visits to the registration office before I had everything I needed to get the new registration plates. Three of these occasions we had to wait between one hour and two hours. This was very frustrating.

I moved here three years last November although I had visited Poland quite a number of times before moving. I have (had) a Polish father and therefore did not have too much difficulty in obtaining my “Dowod Osobisty”. It took just two and a half months although I had been told by one bureaucrat that I would have to live here ten years before I could apply and even then it was unlikely that I would obtain Polish Nationality.
That showed him!!!
I am sixty one years old and am retired from my career in England. I live in a small village about forty kilometers north of Bydgoszcz and in August last year I married a Polish woman whom I first met 20 years ago. We have a 14 year old son and a 12 year old daughter. We are in the final stages of building a new house very close to Jezioro Koronowskie. It is in a beautiful area and yes like you I love being here in Poland. What do I miss? Meeting up with friends and going to the pub for a meal and two or three pints. There are no pubs or good bars anywhere around here. I also miss my family although my sister and her husband were here for the wedding last summer.

There are quite a few experiences I could talk about, some involving bureaucratic nonsence, others due to language difficulties, problems with building contractors and so on but maybe some other time. It would be nice to hear from you either by telephone or e mail.

Kindest regards,

Alex.

Comment on Welcome! by Mark

Mark — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 15:11:11 +0000

Hi Ben. Stumbled across this website today. Very helpful. I am Irish and my fiance is Polish. Recently I have been let go due to the recession and I am half thinking of moving to Poland. I have been there many times but just for holidays mainly. Trying to find a job in my field (jeweller) which is tough but fingers crossed. Your website is very helpful, very well done.

Comment on Welcome! by Ben

Ben — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 11:21:52 +0000

Hi Stephen – thanks for all of your recent comments on the various blog posts. I will drop you a separate email about the websites. Cheers. Ben