20 east

WARSAW, POLAND…..AND A LOT OF OTHER STUFF I NEEDED TO WRITE ABOUT.

Who me?

with 39 comments

Ian Scattergood

My proper name is Ian but I’ve been ‘Scatts’ ever since my school-mates grew out of calling me ‘Scatterbrain’, about 40 years ago now. When you’re a kid, having a name that is not Smith, Jones or Brown can be a bit of a pain in the neck but it makes up for it later on in life. You can call me whatever you like.

I’m British, more or less half a century old and live with my Polish wife and Ponglish daughter in Warsaw, Poland. This isn’t an assignment, visit, accident or adventure, this is home.

The title of the blog comes from the fact that Warsaw is the same latitude but 20 degrees of longitude east of where I was born. Boring, but true.

I also contribute to another blog, POLANDIAN, where I am more focussed than I am here on Polish matters of general rather than personal interest.

If you need to contact me you can mail: scattsATpostDOTpl.

I hope you enjoy your visit.

Written by scatts

Saturday, 20 October, 2007 at 6:06 am

39 Responses

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  1. Many thanks for the link to my blog (Dat Blog) – I’ve added yours to my site…

    Colin

    DatBlog

    Tuesday, 20 November, 2007 at 12:24 pm

  2. Hello Ian,
    How are you my Dear? Lovely pictures, lovely Zosia and wife :)
    Please write me back when you can.
    Kind Regards,
    Agnieszka

    Agnieszka

    Tuesday, 25 March, 2008 at 9:17 pm

  3. Agnieszka, hi! Good to hear from you and thanks for finding the blog.

    scatts

    Friday, 28 March, 2008 at 12:48 pm

  4. dzieki za zdjecia wykonane aparatem G9, pomogles mi dokonac wyboru odnosnie jego zakupu, pozdrawiam.

    Pionier

    Sunday, 1 June, 2008 at 8:24 pm

  5. Glad they helped, Peter. Love that “Pontiac” picture of yours, must take AGES to do!

    scatts

    Sunday, 1 June, 2008 at 9:10 pm

  6. Hey I was thinking a helpful post and one you would be good at is comparing cost of living in P-land to say UK or US prices. Is it a deal to live there vs home is always a question. Does it cost more of less… besides the beautiful girls what are the pluses?

    mochafueled

    Thursday, 26 June, 2008 at 8:40 am

  7. Not sure I have the stamina for the price research comparisons but there’s the grain of an idea there. Thanks!

    scatts

    Thursday, 26 June, 2008 at 9:55 pm

  8. Was really just thinking of simple comparisons of things like beer, good meat, internet, gas, cup of coffee, rent… just common items not a IMF study. I bet the blog would get lots of hits from people who are looking to know such things. Enough said will await a post or such.

    mochafueled

    Friday, 27 June, 2008 at 1:05 pm

  9. I just compared sat-nav prices, does that count? :-)

    scatts

    Sunday, 29 June, 2008 at 6:40 pm

  10. I read your review on LOTR and I hated it. I think you would like the story more if u read it not heard it >:(

    lotrbooks

    Thursday, 10 July, 2008 at 1:57 am

  11. lotrbooks, thanks but I already tried that. Short attention span, that must be my problem!

    scatts

    Thursday, 10 July, 2008 at 8:32 am

  12. Hey, you changed your makeup! I like it! :) (Except for the no, I cannot revise what am writing cause the green type is too light.)

    darthsida

    Wednesday, 16 July, 2008 at 4:10 pm

  13. “Some people can’t be happy” Edit:
    My, you’ve changed again! I can see what am writing now (but can’t see my av).

    darthsida

    Thursday, 17 July, 2008 at 6:42 pm

  14. Tiny avs are very fashionable!

    scatts

    Thursday, 17 July, 2008 at 7:16 pm

  15. Hi scatts, how long have you been living in Poland for?

    pp

    Tuesday, 2 September, 2008 at 11:10 pm

  16. pp – can I just say “long enough”? Why do you want to know?

    scatts

    Thursday, 4 September, 2008 at 4:17 pm

  17. Just wondering cause you seem to know and ‘feel’ Poland and the Polish quite well, that’s why I’m asking.
    Another thing which would be interesting to know is how good or bad your Polish is :)

    pp

    Sunday, 28 September, 2008 at 9:40 pm

  18. Thanks for the compliment! I would say it takes at least 5 years and the right attitude to even think you can ‘feel’ the place and the people.

    My Polish is best described as ‘mixed up’. My knowledge is all over the place from basic to super advanced and so are the gaps in my knowledge. It therefore makes it hard to know how to fill those gaps. I’d say my understanding is at around 75% but my ability to speak is lower, perhaps 40%. The difference being that when listening I can recognize a word even if it is being given a funny ending. I can also use some educated guess work to fill in gaps based on context or body language, whereas when speaking I have to be able to apply the right ending to the right words myself. Not so easy!

    scatts

    Tuesday, 30 September, 2008 at 9:48 am

  19. hey Scatts
    Quick question I am tentatively booking a trip to visit my friends in Southern Poland Christmas week. Just checking hotels on Priceline and wondering you can give me an opinion on a hotel in Warsaw for my first night. For price, comfort and location would you choose; Hilton (90$), Le Royal Meridian (108$) or Holiday Inn (87$) or the biggie Intercont (163$)… all these seam in same area and I can cancell without penalty if I book now. for good advice I will by you a beer if you interested in Warsaw on the 20th.

    thanks
    Lon

    mochafueled

    Friday, 7 November, 2008 at 10:36 am

  20. mocha,

    Interesting list!

    Le Royal Meridian – is what most people call The Bristol. Great location on Krak Przed next to Kaczynski’s place but I think it is very dry, stuffy, snobbish and boring. No doubt good quality but in a Gentleman’s Club kind of way.

    Holiday Inn – I’ll be able to wave to you from my office window. This place is getting very tired now and always full of cheap tourist trips. Not my choice.

    Intercon – good but very clearly overpriced.

    Hilton – arguably the worst location but by no means a bad location. A fairly recently built, quality hotel for what looks like a good price. Easy to get a cab anywhere. About 10-15 minutes walk from the Pałac K.

    So. If walking to the old town or down Nowy Swiat are important then I’d reluctantly go to The Bristol. Otherwise I’d stay at the Hilton.

    I’ll put you down for a drink on the 20th, if you’re serious?!

    scatts

    Friday, 7 November, 2008 at 2:53 pm

  21. Thanks the hotel tips! Good bed and nice shower with reasonable distance to sites is what Im looking for. I will let you know by mid december about my final dates when ticket is paid for (silently crossing my fingers I can get sent to the Congo- DRC before then). At the moment just trying to decide if as I arrive mid morning of the 20th if I want to catch a flight to Krakow (Islands territory) or stay for a night and go down the next day. I will definitely be staying on the 28th in Warasw for return flight late on the 29th. (I just found out a girl I met on the last trip is living in Krakow and may be around)

    Glad you found our US election entertaining… I was so far out in the African bush I have no tv, radio or anything for 3 days before the elections… was nice. I voted 6 weeks ago by mail so was out of it all ready.

    cheers

    mochafueled

    Friday, 7 November, 2008 at 7:30 pm

  22. We’re here for the whole Christmas New Year period so just let me know when you decide.

    scatts

    Friday, 7 November, 2008 at 8:55 pm

  23. [...] same in your parent’s home? Let me know, send pictures if you want to the mail address on the “Who me?” page and I’ll post them up here. We can vote for the most disgusting item (although the spoon [...]

    Things your parents have had for a thousand years! « 20 east

    Monday, 1 December, 2008 at 10:50 pm

  24. Scatts
    hey I bought the Poland ticket. Drop me an email and I will exchanged contact details. thanks “mocha”

    Lon

    Thursday, 4 December, 2008 at 1:00 pm

  25. You sem to life a really exciting live…Thanks for the reference…
    Hope all is is well, and look forward to seing you again SOON, hopefully not in ZT…
    B

    Brian

    Thursday, 11 December, 2008 at 10:26 pm

  26. Hi Brian! Amazed you found the place but thanks for popping by. Hope to see you soon also, ZT or elsewhere.

    scatts

    Friday, 12 December, 2008 at 11:52 pm

  27. Enjoy very much your wit and style. Please check in on my work in progress at http://stefonic.expat-blog.net. and comment.
    Do not be polite or coy. Your brutal honesty is above all most appreciated as I do not yet know in what direction I really want to go with it.

    Steven Woodruff

    Friday, 16 January, 2009 at 11:26 pm

  28. ♫•:*¨`*:•♫♫♫ ღ Happy Birthday To U ღ ♫♫•:*¨`*:•♫

    Ian …hope you have a great day today. All the best and Sto Lat.

    Chris

    Wednesday, 28 January, 2009 at 2:37 pm

  29. 20 degrees west makes you born somewhere near Old Newton village in England, county Suffolk (+52° 13′ 48.00″, +1° 0′ 39.00″). Very boring :)

    Mike

    Saturday, 7 February, 2009 at 11:46 am

  30. Michał, I’m a bit further up and left from there but I’m sure your measurements are more accurate than mine!

    scatts

    Saturday, 7 February, 2009 at 2:45 pm

  31. Hey last we met we talked about interesting places. Well in less than two weeks I move from Ethiopia to South Africa for a new job. Door is open… World Cup 2010. Cheers!!

    Lon

    Tuesday, 10 February, 2009 at 2:40 pm

  32. Hello Scatts, I took up your advise to switch to word press, many thanks. If you would care to correct/comment at http://stefonic.wordpress.com; The new and improved blog with pictures from Norway awaits your valued opinion. (be brutally honest)

    Thanks in advance
    Steven

    stefonic

    Saturday, 7 March, 2009 at 7:40 pm

  33. Hi Scatts,
    You wouldn’t believe, I’m having a meeting tomorrow with a person named your first and second name:) And it turns out we have much in common. Details tomorrow at 11:00. If you’re him, of course…
    Alexander.

    palabrador

    Wednesday, 8 April, 2009 at 10:31 pm

  34. Hi Alexander, looks like we are going to meet each other this morning. See you in 90 minutes!

    Ian

    scatts

    Thursday, 9 April, 2009 at 8:31 am

  35. Hello!
    I was curious to know about the polar bear in Warsaw Zoo… what happened to him? I saw several videos on YouTube of him and there was a feeling that he might be sick (no clean water to play in or enough space for him). I hope that he is all right.
    Thanks,
    Christian

    Christian

    Saturday, 11 July, 2009 at 5:20 pm

  36. Christian, I don’t know for sure what happened but I think he must have either died or been sent somewhere else because he’s for sure not in Warsaw zoo any more. Probably a good thing because he did look very miserable there.

    Last time I was there, there were some brown bears using his old pen.

    scatts

    Sunday, 12 July, 2009 at 9:45 am

  37. Awesome blog…
    Nothing more, nothing else. While browsing in searching for information about Special Economic Zones in poland I stopped over… and I think I will be stopping every now and then.

    Thank you.
    Personal experience is a diplomacy in practice.

    Agnieszka

    Thursday, 5 November, 2009 at 7:42 am

  38. Thanks, Agnieszka. I’ve been browsing yours as well, very interesting!

    scatts

    Thursday, 5 November, 2009 at 9:49 am

  39. Scatts… I sent you an email… quite urgent. Please give me your feedback :) Will really appreciate it.

    Agnieszka

    Friday, 6 November, 2009 at 7:33 am


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