Playing the game

A cold, windy day. Noses going redder and redder and the only consolation is a hot drink or a beer at half time. Nowhere to shelter. An old fashioned grass-roots stadium where mud is the order of the day and the players are full of enthusiasm. No rich contracts here, just the joy of the game. Even the uniforms aren't! In fact one of our team has red shorts when the rest have blue!

The crowd is small - after all this game is not yet widely supported in Poland. Our team, Juvenia beat Lodz a couple of weeks ago and played Warsawa last week. Today it's against a team from ???? Why the puzzle? Because the publicity is so bad that the game isn't even publicised until about two days before it's played.

This is rugby - Poland's little known game!

The thing is - these guys aren't professional and yet the variety of the play is really good. It may be freezing cold but they can catch the ball. They aren't afraid to run it and their scrums are really good. The violence only surfaces late in the game; before that it's a clean game and very enjoyable to watch. The ref is totally up to speed and well in control and the linesmen race up and down as if they were on the field of a big international match. No one plays the prima donna. On this occasion one player is taken off and appears on the bleachers near the end with his leg freshly bandaged - and is happy to regale his mates with what happened!

Children tear up and down, or play on their bikes. Adults wander around or stand on the bleachers. there are ...oh about... 20 plastic seats! We stand or sit on those bleachers. There are no fancy pom pom girls, no big screens, no hyped up ads, no and no weird mascots. In short this is how it used to be - before the marketers and accountants got a hold of the game everywhere else!

It was great!

So where do we go from here? Well, we await with baited breath the announcement of the next home game. Only trouble is... we'll be in Belgium and France, doing World War 1 Battlefield tours with some very dear friends from olden days. Thus you can look forward to some interesting (I hope) photos and commentary.

The joys of public travel

Ah yes! Today's blog will feature the public transport system here in Krakow. In actual fact, it's pretty good and it's amazing how adept you can become at negotiating the city on buses, trams and on foot even when you don't have a car.

We live near a tram depot which is linked to several buses. This is terrific as we don't have to worry about getting to work or to town or even to the other side of the city - as I had to do a few weeks ago.

Let's talk about the 138. I walk about 6 minutes to the stop and along it comes. Now in the morning you have to very careful as the woolly hat brigade are out in force! These elderly women are on the prowl for food! By that I mean they are off to market. Old habits die hard and they do this every day it's open! Not for them the Tescos or Real supermarkets. Oh no! They elbow their way onto the bus and look for seats. And woe betide you if you are sitting where they want to sit!! They have two methods of moving you. Number 1. The pathetic look accompanied by heavy sighs and/or coughing fit. You feel obliged to move. Number 2. The LOOK. ..... You move! Not exactly subtle but there you are. Many a grown man has quaked in his boots and trembled with fear as these haridans of the potato queue descend in force!

Drivers of the 138 have been specially trained at the Schumacher School of bus driving! Hurtle along the straights, yank the bus on the bends - and the special of the day? Slam on those brakes as hard as possible and watch as passengers fly forwards tumbling over each other with much "Chory" ("Sh--") or Praszam -sorry.

And then there are those denizens of the Kontrole. These are innocuous looking individuals who board the bus or tram, and wait till it has started. Then with a mighty cry of "Kontrole!!" they rip open their jackets, show their official badges and brandishing their electronic scanners proceed to examine tickets! Many a tear has been shed as the ticket avoider is nabbed and fined on the spot! Not us I hasten to add -we have monthly tickets that we renew at the machine.

Trams are great fun. The old stock here is gradually being replaced but for ease of travel - that's the way to go. I can quite literally go from north to south or east to west. In winter they can be a bit chilly - specially the older ones, but now that Spring is here the windows are open and a trip in the tram is not to be missed. The city even has a special cafe tram -haven't tried it yet but we might later.

Instead of the bus grannies there are the tram drunks. These specialists have refined the moving pub. They stand at the back of the tram and suriptitiously sip their cans of 7% beer. This is highly naughty - just as on the buses, but they still do it. In extreme cases they can even be found slumped in a seat - nar the back of course. Funniest is when the tram reaches the depot and everyone gets off - except Mr Boozey. he stays asleep and can be seen going all the way round the track to start again! Presumably he wakes up somewhere on the way back wondering where the hell he is!

I haven't talked about trains although I will just mention that I can get home by train! It's a 4 minute ride and not worth sitting down. However, I am waiting as they are about to start the integrated ticket system so my monthly ticket will cover buses, trams and city limit trains... then I'll use them much more.

And there we have it for today. I will now go to work - on the 138! But as it's afternoon I won't get the woolly hat brigade -I'll get the granny brigade - complete with child from school in tow. But I'm not afraid - much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!