I wanted to be in Warsaw today because today is the 60th anniversary of the beginning of the Warsaw Uprising. What should have lasted two weeks, lasted 63 days and Warsaw fought bravely to try and defeat the Germans. In the end, the Russian army sat on the other side of the Vistula river, the Brits couldn’t help (their planes were being shot down in large numbers) and the Americans couldn’t secure the permission to land from the Russians on the Russian bases and Warsaw perished to the Germans. Instead of being the first city to be liberated, a definite possibility if the Russians were to co-operate, Warsaw was levelled by the Germans after the surrender of the uprising.
The 60th anniversary, much like the one of the D-Day landings, is an important one. It will probably be the last anniversary, big anniversary, which the survivors and the men and women who fought in the battles will be able to attend. Many have already passed away, how many more will in the next 5 or 10 years? There is a lot going on in Warsaw today to commemorate this anniversary and I really wanted to be there to witness it all. A new museum of the Warsaw Uprising opens today, as well. I’ll make sure to visit it within the first few weeks of our time in Warsaw.
- 1st of August, 2004 ⁄ ⁄ Comments (1)
What have we been doing? We’ve been busy, so it’s been extra quiet here. How have we been keeping busy? We’ve been packing! (sort of)
Officially, I am in charge of packing. After all, I’ve done more of it (but only just marginally) and I enjoy it. The unpacking is N’s thing, he likes that and I hate it so (yet again) we balance each other out beautifully. With the packing, comes the sorting out and, boy, have we been sorting! Considering that we’d only just moved into this house at the end of October (after more packing and sorting), we still managed to find two large black bin liner bags (read: garbage bags) to fill with clothes and books and cd’s to give to our local charity shop.
A lot of our time is spent sorting (mentally) things into piles: this is going up in our attic, this is going in my in-law’s attic, this is going to a charity shop, this is going in the suitcases, this is going in the boxes. We are using an international shipping company to ship our stuff to Poland and the boxes are getting picked up on the 13th of August (according to the website, they should arrive in Poland on the 18th or 19th of August…we don’t get to Warsaw until the 20th, we don’t move into our flat until the 25th…where the hell do we ship them? Fortunately, we’ve got friends and may be asking them for a favour). On the 16th of August, we are out of here and on the way to Bristol with the stuff that’s going in N’s parents’ attic. So, the next two weeks will be spent wrapping the delicates in bubble wrap and towels (like the computer and the monitor and the food processor that my Mother gave us and I’m determined to take with me as it’s the greatest ever), splitting the books into several boxes, sorting through the cd’s to decided which are coming, packing the duvet, the sheet music, the winter jackets and boots, and all other things deemed necessary to survive the first year in Poland.
We are hoping (fingers crossed) that the tennants will not mind having our sofa because that’s just one thing less we’ve got to take with us to my in-laws’ (who’ve bravely and kindly offered to keep the sofa in their house for as long as is necessary). N’s piano (let’s not kid ourselves, it was never my piano) is getting moved on Thursday to a friend’s for “piano sitting", a fact that really saddens N (who loves that piano muchly) and he’s spent the last 4 days playing at it for hours (I’d be heart-broken, too, if I had to give somebody the computer so I understand his pain).
There are also people to phone up, accounts to cancel, airline to be phoned (to tell them that we’re bringing a ‘cello with us and probably some excess baggage), the question of the teacher’s pension to be considered (do we continue with it knowing very well that we can only contribute to it for a max of 6 years whilst abroad, or do we take out private cover?*), and (I’m sure) lots of other things which are slipping my mind at the moment. I know that this is, by far, harder for N: it’s his first time living abroad, away from friends he’s known since he was a little boy and away from his family, with whom he’s very close. Culture shock, not speaking the language, missing his friends and family, unfamiliar places, pushy Poles, etc await and I want to make sure that he’s not feeling overwhelmed by this move. I hope he will be happy over there. Me? I’ll be fine: back at home with the other opinionated people and the land of great bread.
If only I can get through the next few weeks with my sanity intact, we’ll be alright!
- 31st of July, 2004 ⁄ ⁄ Comments (7)
As promised, here are some photographs of our trip to the coast (now complete with thumbnails! Click on the thumbnail to see a bigger version).
Aldeburgh high street, whilst in a queue for some fish and chips. 
- 29th of July, 2004 ⁄ ⁄ Comments (2)
A nice, young couple came this morning to look at the house. They’re both geography teachers who’ve just come back from two years in an international school in Kenya. He’ll be teaching at a local school, she’ll be at one about 20 miles from here. We had a nice chat, talked about teaching and living abroad and, it appears that, they went straight to the estate agents and said that they want to live in our house.
They seemed very nice and we hope that they’ll take good care of our lovely home. As of the 16th of August, it’s their new home. And it’s one thing we no longer need to worry about!
- 28th of July, 2004 ⁄ ⁄ Comments (2)
As one of my leaving presents, my colleagues (very generously) gave me £30 in book tokens and a further £15 in WHSmith vouchers (all gone now). That’s a lot of books! I may get some of these before we leave (although I’ve got plenty on the bookshelf at the moment) and some when we return back here for a holiday.
Can you recommend any books that you’ve read recently that blew you away and think that I should have? I like fiction (but nice, quirky fiction) and I love reading about the war (World War I and World War II) in either fiction or non. I am not keen on poetry too much and I try to avoid mystery or crime books. So far, these are the books I’m thinking of buying:
- Oryx and Crake Margaret Atwood
The Blind Assassin Margaret Atwood(bought this afternoon)The Da Vinci Code Dan Brown(bought this afternoon)The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time Mark Haddon(bought this afternoon)- something by Carol Shields (but am not sure what yet).
- 28th of July, 2004 ⁄ ⁄ Comments (13)
The Orange Prize for Fiction (since when does a mobile telephone company advocate reading?) has made a list of 50 most essential books by contemporary fiction authors. The list can be found here and I’ve put in bold the ones I’ve read (and there haven’t been that many…again…). This was spotted somewhere on the Internet a few days ago, but I can’t remember where.
(more…)
- 27th of July, 2004 ⁄ ⁄ Comments (2)
We’re leaving this little house for good on the 15th or 16th of August. We’ve got two people coming to look at the house tomorrow and hope that they will want to rent it. Yesterday, we ordered boxes so that the packing can well and truly begin. We’re both dreading it to some extent, but it’s gotta be done.
Today was a nice day (read: non-rain), so N and I decided to visit (for the last time in a long time) Aldeburgh, on the coast. We had tasty fish and chips, walked around town and drove 10 miles to Leiston, where we visisted the Long Shop Museum. The museum was small, but interesting and the whole day was very pleasant. Photos to follow, promise.
- 27th of July, 2004 ⁄ ⁄ Comments (2)
A loud noise snaps me out of my restless sleep. I grab the mobile phone and run into the bathroom to turn off the alarm. Fumbling with the phone, I press every button imaginable, but the dreadful noise continues. I stumble out of the bathroom, to the bedroom and realise that it’s the fire alarm. The noise is annoying and very loud and I say to N that we should probably go outside. Neither of us can smell any smoke, nor can we see any from our window. Half-asleep, pajama-clad we walk out of the front door of our hotel room and meet up with some friends (already dressed) who giggle at our pajamas. The bride and groom of yesterday greet us with a cheerful good morning!. N and I look at each other, we might as well go and get dressed and have some breakfast, I guess.
- 26th of July, 2004 ⁄ ⁄ Comments (3)
I don’t feel ready to talk about yesterday and the whirlpool of emotions. There were tears: mine and colleagues’ and students’. There were good-byes, and I’llseeyousoons, and we’llkeepintouchs and hugs. Lots of hugs. Then, last night, there was alcohol (too much) and running into friends we’ve not seen in months and running into some of my (now) former colleagues and more alcohol. This morning there is pain. And I’m just not ready.
- 22nd of July, 2004 ⁄ ⁄ Comments (7)
I’m not a Ronstadt fan, but she should still be allowed to say what she wants.
- 21st of July, 2004 ⁄ ⁄ Comments (2)