There are hardly any pubs here; there are bars in the city, and the occasional bar dotted about the countryside, but they aren't the centre of social life that they are in the UK, in other words people usually go to a bar as a meeting place, or because something happens at that particular bar - not because it's where they usually go to get pissed. As far as I can tell, most Poles are 'celebration drinkers' - if they have more than a couple of drinks, it's because they have a specific reason to.

Of course there are drunks about the place, particularly out in the sticks - it's illegal to drink on the street in Poland, so this cuts down the number of visible city drunks, but you will see the occasional weaver and stumbler redefining the straight line if you are in the countryside.

Drinks in bars in the capital are often near to English prices, everywhere else beer is about 80p a half-litre. Some small village shops have a shed out the back where you can drink your tinnies with your mates at shop prices (60p a tin) - very civilised. Serious drinkers of course go for vodka (pronounced voodka here). There are lots of different types, most are good-quality, cheap, and are drunk neat or with fruit juice (often separately as a chaser).

There is NO legal limit for drink-driving in Poland. It's an absolute no-no which I have to say simplifies things. If you're driving, you just don't touch a drop. EDIT I've just been told this is not the case, so after a bit of research I have found from multiple sources that the limit is 20mg per 100ml, which is very strict compared to the UK's 80mg, but at least you wouldn't necessarily get the level of bullshit convictions you might get from 0mg (which would be almost impossible to achieve at any time of the day for many adults). For an adult male at a party lasting 3hrs, that means you make your pint last all night. I'd rather drink milkshakes, frankly :@ )

You can easily see where the kids drink. If you walk through the forest you will occasionally come across small camp-fires ringed with beer cans and vodka bottles. You won't see litter in built up areas. As far as I can see, Poles don't really do litter, not even cigarette ends. Incidentally, cigarettes are very VERY cheap (£1.25 ish a pack) and are called 'papierosy' pronounced pappy-eh-rosseh.

:@ )