THE URAINIAN CONNECTION

MONDAY 26th SEPTEMBER

  Peter was up early as he had to go for a blood test.  I get up after he returned just before 9.00am, and I then took Truffles for a walk in the park.  It was another truly gorgeous day weatherwise, and all was well with the world.

Even Truffles agrees!
  After returning home I left the dog behind and ventured out to the photographic shop and got new passport and ID card photos taken, at least here they know exactly how you need to pose for them.  Upon my return I was informed that Peter had arranged to meet his Ukrainian friend Ostap Stachiv at Blikle's in Nowy Swiat for lunch. He had driven up from Lwow, along with a Polish lady (whose name neither of us caught) from the States, whom Peter had put in contact with the lawyer Forystek regarding a claim for property she is making in Poland. All three of us (including Truffs) caught a cab and arrived at the rendezvous first.  I had cream of pea soup, a plate of assorted cheeses and meats with bread and butter culminating with a walnut torte and coffee, oh and I forgot, two large Tyskie! 

Our Polish lady wanted to visit her father's grave in Warsaw which was in the general direction of Peter's house, so he wangled us a lift home on the pretext that it was easier to give directions from his house than from the town centre.  On the way we learnt that the lady had lost her 22 year-old son in a car accident, and that Forystek had told her that her case would take 3 -5 years to resolve, which seemed to her inordinately long.  I cheered her up by telling her that our cases were ongoing for 7 years and still not resolved, next year being the earliest possible that something might come of them.  She asked Peter if he could keep the pressure up on the lawyer - a somewhat optimistic request.  The pair popped  into the house to look at the pictures of Swirz in Peter's possession, as they had both visited the place.  However time was pressing as the cemetry closes at sundown and it was approaching 5.00pm by this time.

BLUE SKIES SHINNING ON ME

SUNDAY 25th SEPTEMBER

  An absolutely fabulous day weather-wise.  Not a cloud to be seen all day and the temperature in the 20s.  So much so we decided to have lunch in the garden, and indeed sat out there for some time, a part of it with Agnieszka who called round for a while.
  When the sun was partially obscured by the trees, we entertained ourselves by throwning the rubber axe for Truffles, who happily bounded after it.  We sampled some of the Kasztelan upasteurised beer Peter had found in one of the nearby shops.  It had a shelf life of up to the end of the year, but there was no danger of it remaining undrunk until then!

  Our meeting at the Warsaw Uprising Museum has been changed to 3.30pm, so I rang the Cybulski's to let them know.  It shouldn't really affect my appointment at Rytm which is set for 2.00pm and isn't far away from the museum.
  In the afternoon we took another stroll to Plac Wilsona and adjourned to Blikle's for a beer, sitting outside with the weather being so good.  Peter cooked a couple of tasty omlettes for supper and we subsequently watched another episode from the Blues, this one featuring Marshall Chess and the Chicago scene.

85 YEARS OF WOODROW WILSON

SATURDAY 24th SEPTEMBER

  It was apparently the 85th anniversary of the creation of "Plac Wilsona" or Wilson Place in Zoliborz, so named after President Woodrow Wilson who was president of the USA up until 1924.  Peter and I along with Truffles strolled down to see what was happening.  We walked around the various stalls on the pavement and observed the world from the external seating at Blikle's whilst indulging in a coffee and doughnuts.  There was a lorry driving around with a load of dolly birds, and a chap named to Thomas Wilson who spoke Polish with an American accent and encouraged people to come and take part in the festivities and ended each round of speeches with "I love you all".

 Peter then got a call from Agnieszka and went off to meet her in town whilst Truffs and I caught the Metro back to Marymont.  I did a bit of work on Charly stuff, and spoke to Robert on Skype.  Peter returned about 1.45pm just before Mr Bydon was due round.  He is a historian who has produced an exhibition of photographic plates about my father (he brought round A3 photocopies) for the Army, and is also engaged in working on my my mother's memoirs for the Museum that is going to publish them next year.  He hopes they will be out by next summer.  He eventually departed and Peter got ready for the neighbours he had invited round for a drink.  It was in fact the notary whom we had visited in town yesterday, a Mr Marmaj - a name that sounds so much like Marmite that I christened him Mr Bovril.
  Peter had phoned him up and asked if he and his wife would like to come round for a glass of wine at 6.30pm, to which he replied, "why only a glass?"  Peter had no answer to this, and the wily lawyer further outmanouevered him by saying, "Well, we'll come round at 6.00pm then".  Peter got some Polish sausage meat in, and cut up a few tomatoes as well as getting a cherry pie in from Blikle's.  Mr Marmaj has a very dry sense of humour and a not unattractive younger wife.  She came round with a delicious home baked cake, and he brought road a bottle of Croatian herb flavoured drink.  The talk reovlved around the forthcoming elections, Croatia - where the Marmajs have purchased a plot of land for a holiday home, and world travel - they had been to South America, and numerous countries in Europe.  Peter had said, "Let's try and get rid off them by 8.00pm".  No such chance, three empty bottles of wine later - Mrs Marmaj only had one glass as she was on antibiotics, they eventually left about 10.30pm.  However it was nothing if not an entertaining evening, and her cake certainly went down a treat!

A PRIEST, A NOTARY & AN IRISH PUB

FRIDAY 23rd SEPTEMBER

  A bit of a duller and cooler day today.  Went for a long walk with Truffles after breakfast, and Agnieszka came round with of a bottle of Pigwowka (a flavoured nalewka) for me as a thank you for buying the sushi yesterday.  Very kind of her, but really totally unnecessary. She and Peter then went off for a while.  I worked on some stuff for Charly for a few hours. We then went off to get some xerox copies of the photo of Miko in Polish Army uniform with a view to taking them down to the Notary's Office in town.  We set off on the expedition with Truffles, and hadn't reached the photocopy shop when Peter's phone rang.  It was the parish priest from Babice (the parish near Krasiczyn) who was up in Warsaw for a few hours and wondered if he could meet with Peter.  My erstwhile cousin explained that he was on the way to the notary, but hoped to be done in about an hour, and made a rendezvous with the cleric at Blikle in Nowy Swiat.  After getting the copies done we walked down to Zoliburz station and caught the Metro to Centrum and thence walked down to the notary near Nowy Swiat.  This notary happens to also be Peter's neighbour, so is well acquainted with him.  We were ushered into a room where we waited for the notary to appear.  He eventually materialised and Peter explained what was wanted, giving a copy of the statement that was required to accompany the photo. A lady assistant then took over. We signed copies of the photo and then we entered a phase where the wording of the statement was analysed in detail.  A time consuming process as the lady kept disappearing for some time with a re-typed copy, only to raise a new query regarding the wording.  When this was resolved she would disappear again.  Peter phone the priest to discover that he was already in situ at Blikle's.  When the assistant returned Peter asked if he could leave the statements with them to resolve the wording whilst we disappeared to meet the priest.  The ploy worked.
  At Blikle's Peter ordered wild Scottish salmon filets and pierogi with the request that they serve the dishes quickly.  I had a large Tyskie beer along with mine, and after finishing our meal we parted company with the priest and returned to the notary's office arriving just at the right time.  The statements signed, and the bill paid we set off for the lawyer's office.  I suggested to Peter he head there on his own, whilst I slowly walked to the station with Truffles, for at his brisk pace we would probably both arrive there at the same time.  Truffles disgraced herself enroute, peeing in the ntrance to a shop, with an irrate shop keeper berating me as I tried to beat a hasty retreat!  My estimate was not far out for I did not have to wait long to spy Peter striding purposefully towards us.
  Upon our return home, I reminded Peter of the Chinese roast duck syndrome.  He had indeed suggested previously that we would have to go to his favourite Chinese restaurant to yet again sample their duck.  He agreed that today was a good day to put this idea into practise, and we set off by cab to the vicinity of the Royal Castle where the establishment was to be found.  The owner greeted Peter like a long lost brother, and after consultation with the waiter we decided to go for a whole duck and two large beers.  It was almost something of a struggle to finish it all, but we just managed it.  After a short rest we set off in search of an establishment that sold beer.  As it so happened the Irish Pub came into our purview, and was also featuring live music.  We ordered two large beers, which turned out to be very large served in 1 litre mugs.  I was most impressed to see a waitress carry three such mugs in one hand - I had difficulty in lifting just one!  The music was loud of the blues/rock variety - sadly Peter had come out without a harmonica and so was unable to offer his undoubted talents in this field.  We were seated right in front of the musicians and between us and the bar, the floor periodically became a dance floor.  A particularly energetic couple came crashing down on our table sending an initial wave of beer all over my trousers and then sending the mug flying off the table.  I'm glad to say bthe reactions were still there and I managed to catch it in mid flight without any further loss of beer!  Another couple, this time both girls - one in trousers and another in a fairly short mini skirt - performed a fairly wild dance in front of us, but by this time we had astutely withdrawn our glasses from the table.  Just as well as the table was hit several times!
  We eventually took a cab home, and I had a coffee as a nightcap.

FORTYSEK

  After breakfast, usual walk with Truffles, and we then set off on bus around lunchtime that went all round the houses to Arkadia to meet Agnieska at the Sushi Bar. There we indulged in the three dishes (I chose chicken and veg tempura), with Peter and Agnieszka indulging additionally in green tea, a beverage that I however declined.  For once I paid for the meal. From there Peter and I moved on to M & S and purchased four more bottles of their extremely cheap white wine, this time sampling two bottles of Pino Grigot which also proved to be more than patable.  After buying, some parmezan and yoghurt for tonight's dinner we set off to Fortysek & Partners, the lawyers handling our claims for recompensation. 

   We met with Mr Fortysek, who said he hoped to have a favourable decision by the end of the year in my case, and that could mean a pay out by the summer or certainly by the end of the year.  The payouts occur every three months. Brilliant if it comes to fruitition, but no point in counting chickens too soon.  Peter's case appears to have foundered at present on the problem of proving his father's Polish nationality, there being no actual document that states this, other then his registration in Italy where he is down as a Polish citizen.  However as he travelled on what was probably a forged Home Army passport, his date of birth is wrong (it is his brother's), and therefore not recognised as a valid document relating to Peter's grandfather by the authorities.  However Peter has a photo of Miko (his grandfather - see on the left) in Polish uniform from around 1919 - the time of the Polish-Russian war, when he was a volunteer in the Army.  However no records have been preserved of this service, which would automatically have proved his nationality.  However Forystek thought it would help to submit a copy of this photo as evidence together with a notarial statement by both Peter and I that we know this photo to be one of Peter's grandfather. A trip to the notary (commisioner of oaths) is indicated tomorrow.
  We walked to Santokrzyska Metro station and caught the tube back to Marymont.  Peter then set about cooking dinner for three - he had invited Elzbieta (Elizabeth) the lady who had made all his curtains, and who had relatively recently lost her husband.  Their business had gone belly up and she was now working for another interior decor company.  She arrived at the appointed hour of 7.30pm with two bags of truffles (white and plain chocolate - not of course to be confused with Truffles the dog who is sandy coloured).  A very pleasant and not unattractive lady, she made good company for the evening. We sat around supping our white wine discussing the forthcoming elections.  She shared Peter's distrust, nay loathing of PiS and expressed concern that a lot of the young generation were being hoodwinked by Jaroslaw Kaczorowski.
We adjourned for dinner to the kitchen, where Peter had prepared potato pancakes (purchased in Arkadia - mot homemade as he was the first to admit), followed by spaghetti and chicken in a very tasty sauce in turn followed by raspberries and ice cream.  During the meal we had a lengthy answer from Peter to a question regarding the European economic crisis, and what the implications of Greece going bust would be - a good light hearted dinner conversational piece!  More light hearted conversation ensued when Elzbieta confided in us that her daughter-in-law had recently admitted to being an alcoholic, and went on to tell us that her elder sister was one as well.  Their late mother was apparently a difficult person and Elzbieta was lucky enough to get married at the age of 19 - her sister never got married and stayed at home.  Lest I make the evening sound a bit serious, let me say that it was good fun despite the occasional lapse into serious matters. We adjourned to the sitting room to sample the truffles and more wine.  Both Peter and I were slightly queasy when our companion started telling us about her days as a dental student, and the cutting up of cadarvers and disecting human bodies, all in far too great a detail!  I escorted our guest to Marymont station in company with Truffles who enjoyed the stroll about 11.30pm, and then went to bed and watched an episode of Last Of the Summer Wine.

NARTOLIN

WEDNESDAY 21st SEPTEMBER

  Breakfast, walking the dog whilst Peter went off with Agnieszka to an appointment.  He returned just before I set off on my journey to nthe other end of the Metro line, one station from the end of the line, Natolin.  There I went to the Cybulskis appartment where I was invited for lunch.  I had missed their 50th Wedding anniversary celebrations - I was in Brazil at the time - and was told all about the event.  Another couple of friends were invited to lunch who apparently knew my aunt Jadzia very well in Krakow.
  We started off with flavoured vodka and bits of French cheese, and then it was soup, main course (with red wine) and then raspberries and ice cream followed by coffee and apple pie (charlotka) and a version of Baileys. I was pretty bloated by the end of it all!  Andrew gave me the mobile phone number of Bronek's wife as well as that of her Press Officer, so there should be no problem getting a copy of my father's book to Bronek.  He apparently flew off to the States today.  The election is in full swing and the Prime Minister Donald Tusk is touring the country in the Tuskmobile, taking a leaf out of President Obama's book.
  I returned home about 6.00pm where I learnt that Strzalkowski had phoned Peter - he had been away at a Sanatorium - and would be joining us at the Warsaw Uprising Museum next Tuesday.  After supper Peter and I adjourned to watch another episode of the Blues, this one about pianists, made by Clint Eastwood.

WARSAW UPRISING MUSEUM

TUESDAY 20th SEPTEMBER

  It was an early breakfast as we had a cab ordered for 8.30am to take us to the Warsaw Uprising Museum.  We got there just on time for 9.00am and went up to the Director - Mr Oldakowski - office on the third floor.  There we were joined by an attractive young lady who was from the conservation dept and the Director's deputy.  My father's wartime armband was currently being cleaned and conservation liquids were being applied.  However I was shown photos of the projected display and the letters of authentication signed by my father. 
  The Director raised the problems that the museum had with the Sikorski Institute in London.  They have somewhere around 20 tons of unique film material (on deposit in refridgerated bunkers at the Imperial War Museum), which are gradually deteriorating until the reach the point where they are totally useless.  The Warsaw Museum offered to ship half of these over to Poland, transfer the films to a digital format and then ship the films back to London, all at their own cost.  The Sikorski Museum doesn't apparently have the funds for these transfers.  Whilst initial agreement was reached on the transfer to Poland, the deal was vetoed by a supervisory board who claimed the the Sikorski Institute would get the transfers done.  This seems very unlikely as I do not believe they have the funds.  So instead these irreplaceable films - which in theory are the property of the Polish Government - are being left to rot away. Peter and I both promised to do what we could to exert influence on the Institute to ship the films to Poland.  Sadly Mr Dembinski whom I've known since I was a small boy and who was the Director of the Institute and a member of the 9th Uhlan Regiment (my father's pre-war regiment), has passed away.  Anyway I shall have to see what I can do.
  I was presented with a weighty tome, a book of previously unseen and unpublished photos of Warsaw under German occupation.  The official announcement about the acquisition will be made next Tuesday and I was asked if I wanted to invited anybody to it.  The Press and some Home Army soldiers will be invited,  I named Jerzy Wolanski and the Cybulskis.
  We caught a tram to Arkadia where we met Agnieszka and after a coffee and cake at Blikle, we went went to Marks & Sparks where we purchased some curry sauces and a white wine that was reduced by 20% to £2.10.  We drank it that night, and it was so good we're thinking of going back and buying every bottle on the shelves!