2006 - Warsaw - day 1

It was a long flight. One hour stop in Vienna added to the tiredness. Finally Warsaw. Beautiful weather. I expected a family friend to pick me up from the airport, but he seemed to be late. I felt so impatient, that decided to take taxi to his place, from there we will call him to come back.

Ooops. There was nobody in his flat. What to do? I had no means to contact him, nor to call taxi and return to the airport.

But we lived in this house many, many years ago. There had still to live here some of our old neighbours. But where? There was no list of inhabitants. I sat on the bench and waited patiently until some familiar face showed up. Here he was, on the balcony on the third floor.

- Hello neighbour! Do you remember me?

- To be honest, I do not remember.

- Oh, we lived here 24 years ago. On the ground floor. You must remember my wife.

- Aha, now I recognise you. Come in.

After half an hour all confusion has been sorted out and I was delivered to my destination. I got new shot of energy. Quickly, shower, change dress, go to the City. Around me everything so well known and so new. I landed at the square in front of The Royal Castle where I met some friends. We went together to a restaurant serving traditional Polish dumplings. Tiredness returned. I was driven home during a violent storm and beautiful lightnings. What a good start!

2006 - Singapore - Day 2

Saturday. I had good sleep. Near my hotel, there were many churches, four in our street, all Christian, two of them Catholic. I went for a morning mass. In the church some 40 people. After the mass, I returned to hotel to have breakfast. Choice of food - hard boiled eggs, rice with vegetables, cooked beans, something between a pancake and bread, some white jelly. I ate a bit of everything and walked to the city.

First stop - Raffles Hotel. There is a small museum where I could read how Mr Gavin shot a tiger which hid under the billiard table. There were also comments of famous guests who stayed in the hotel - Rudyard Kipling, Somerset Maugham. Joseph Conrad said: Raffles is airy like a birdcage. Typical Conrad - always a bit ambiguous.

Then a boat ride on the river. Rain forced us few times to hide in the cabin. When there was no rain we could see Singapore landmark - Merlion, and also many bridges and interesting buildings.

Rain stopped just in time for a visit to Little India. Well, that's how I imagined India. Later I walked through old China - it was more interesting for me.

I extended my room till 7 pm to have a place to rest before my departure. After all these walks I decided to have some rest. I woke up in total darkness. Panic! Panic! I missed my plane!

False alarm. I forgot that there were no windows in my room. Still lots of time for evening meal and friendly talk with hotel manager. Then to the airport, Austrian Airlines took off to Vienna.

2006 - Singapore - Day 1

I stayed in Hotel Oxford. Good location, nice service, some surprize was that my room had no windows. I got up early and went for a morning walk. I feel good! It was warm and humid. Body covered with a thin layer of sweat. I felt well oiled, breathing was so easy, It felt like my lungs gained some capacity.

The ground was elastic, green, green, green around me.

Started from Orchard Road. Thousands of shops as promised. Well, I did not need anything but according to the advice, I had some tiffin here and there.

I tried underground. Clean, safe, well organised. This what you expect here.

Lunch time I spent on Sentosa Island. Nice tropical surrounding.

In the evening, I visited the Arts Centre...

... there was a concert - The Spirit of the Romantics.

- You are embarrassing us, Sir - it was a waiter in cafeteria. I had my business suit on. He was probably right, there were only 7 people in suits in the concert hall. I felt in right place.

In the program: Slavonic Dances by Dvorak, Tchaikovsky's 4th Symphony - how proper, the music of Poland's neighbour countries. And Saint Saens' piano concerto in the middle. The soloist was Ms Di Wu. What a physical performance! She played with the whole body. Triple S - Saint Saens Sensualised!

Enough for the first day. On my return to the hotel, I felt the heat. The sun has gone, it looked dark and cool, but concrete buildings radiated with heat accumulated during the day. Bad, senseless heat.

2006 - departure

Mid August 2006. Plane's name was Mozart. This is what Austrians sell best.

Next to me sits a young lady, very talkative. No wonder, she is an editor in a company publishing school textbooks.

She studied creative writing, so the conversations moves to literature. She knows Australian writers:

- Peter Carey. Oooo, I have to read some of his books!

- Tim Winton! I started reading his Dirt music...

What about Joseph Conrad?

- I read The heart of Darkness.. I mean, I almost finished.

Her knowledge of Singapore is better.

It is a great place for shopping. And for eating. Have a walk in Orchard Road, see the shops and have a bite of something here and there. Oh, and do not miss Little India!

Interesting. In many cities, Chinatown is the attraction. But in Singapore it is Little India. So what is an attraction in New Delhi?

Prehistory

I started blogging in 2006, before this, there was CHAOS.

When there is a Family

 Well, the Family is the beginning.
My parents met in a ski resort...

Their fortune melted like a snow.

Married in 1938, 1939 - a war broke out, 1944 - my father died.

Next 20 years was a hard struggle for my mother, to keep me fed and educated, to survive in very hard conditions.

My turn came in 1965...

We both already worked, but had no accommodation.

Help came from Sylwia's parents.
They lived in a single bedroom flat in Warsaw. 
Four people - parents with 2 daughters.
What could be simpler than to put a bed in a dining room... and a curtain which isolated it for a night.

2 years after the wedding we got a flat in a cooperative block.
It was classified as M3 - family of three. Theoretically it was a one bedroom flat, but the bedroom was too small for a bed.

Maybe it was a reason that we stayed childless for some time.
We led comfortable but a bit aimless life.

Few years later we moved to a better planned flat, it was still M3, one bedroom - but the bedroom could fit a bed.
At the same time my work turned into quite interesting and challenging.

Family grew up...

 3 years later we moved to a larger flat - M6 - 2 bedrooms.
And there was a new arrival...

Sylwia worked in a physiotherapy clinic of a major Warsaw hospital. 
It paid poorly, but provided a decent canteen, shortened working hours, access to a kindergarten..

When there was holidays time we tried to take children to some holiday places.
Lech, in winter, to ski resorts, Sylwia, in summer, to the seacoast.

When Lech took kids in summer to the seacoast, it still looked like a winter...

To rectify these climate anomalies, in 1981 we moved to Kuwait, where Lech got a job with Kuwait University...

2 years later, we changed place again - Australia.

After few months we moved to our own house...

When I was... at school

 Few years after death of my father, mother stayed at home with me relying financially on some money reserves.

2 years after the war they were running out, luckily this was time I could start school and mother could return to work.

I was enrolled to a private, Catholic school, run by Nazarethan Sisters.

First memorable event was of course the First Communion.

One of important attributes were flowers, lilies. It was a cold Spring and no lilies in local gardens. Parents committee organized a purchase from some gardening centre, but these flowers were too expensive for my mother. She bought me paper lilies instead.
The moment of the truth came during a regular fight in which lilies were used as swords. My lilies with a metal wire inside were most reliable weapon.

School - it was run in a traditional way and was quite demanding.
I estimate that 80% of my current knowledge comes from the primary school.

Still more memorable are holidays.
Summer after year 5 and 6 I spent with my schoolmates in a holiday centre in the country.
We fished in a nearby river, spent lots of time in the forest, fought regular battles with various Red Indian tribes. Moment of truce below...

Then a high school came.
It was a state school, but still with teachers grown in pre II World War Poland, so it was traditional and demanding.

Two important points were - we learned 3 languages - Russian, German and English and the last happened to be quite useful.
The other point was - our German teacher introduced us to classical music. It stayed with me for the rest of my life.

Below is my class photo during school excursion to Warsaw. In front - our Russian language teacher. Behind us - The Palace of Culture and Science, which at this time still bore the name of Joseph Stalin.

Communism in Poland is too complex issue to describe it here. 
I found some positives in it - dislike for consumerism.

Poland is known as a Catholic country and I experienced it in a quite positive way. So to keep a balance - a photo from school excursion to Marian shrine in Częstochowa.

And a memory with religious background...

Corpus Christi - a religious ceremony held some 9 weeks after the Last Supper.
As the Last Supper took place on Thursday so does the Corpus Christi. Practical country as Australia shifted it to the nearest Sunday, but not catholic Poland, even in hardest communist time it was on Thursday and it was a public holiday.
The ceremony itself is a major event. Four altars are erected in the streets and a massive procession visits all of them. 

Once upon the time...

Corpus Christi was coming and we were told at school that there will be no lessons, there will be a mandatory excursion to some attractive location. Food and entertainment provided.

I announced it to my mother, she looked at me - but you will not go because tomorrow is Corpus Christi.

But, it is mandatory, they will request clear explanation.

So you will tell them, that your mother ordered you to go.

And we went.

At the procession I noticed one of my school colleagues with his mother.

She approached us and whispered to my mother:

- Do you want a medical certificate for your son? My husband is a doctor, he can provide you with one.

- But THEY see us here - replied my mother - you husband takes unnecessary risk. Thank you very much.

My mother shook her head - what a nonsense, to cheat about your religion. THEY probably would be satisfied - it would mean we practice our faith in fear.

Next day, just when I entered school, there was an young activist waiting for me.

- Why you did not join us at the excursion?

- Because my mother ordered me to go to procession.

The activist almost choked on such an answer.

- So tell your mother, to shift you to some school teaching practical trade because we will take care that you will not be accepted to any university.

I was devastated, I wandered till evening around the city being afraid to bring this news to my mother.

Eventually I came home and told her.

I could see that she was shaken, but she said.

- We did not deny our God, our God will not deny us. Even without university degree you may have a decent life.

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Holidays - my uncles (father brothers) were concerned that my mother is protecting me too much from realities of life and organized summer holidays for me.
They found me a very simple and inexpensive accommodation in a sea resort (Sopot) and a job in an agricultural centre. The job was from 6 am till 1 pm, so I managed to get some sun at the beach, on the other hand it allowed me to spend holidays in nice place.
What exactly I was doing?
The main task was - pollenating potato flowers to breed various types of potatoes. 
So I was a potato bee.