and now I've digressed all the way to Poland!

I live in Warsaw, which is the city in the background on the front page of this site. It's a fascinating place, in many respects quite unlike any capital city I have ever been to. I'm working for a firm called Iron Mountain on the outskirts of the other side of the city, so I get to drive across Warsaw several times a week, very early in the morning. If you want to get your system kickstarted, this works better than four espressos in sixty seconds.

Driving anywhere in Poland is an experience I would recommend, even if it's just to say that you've done it. At least in Italy, everyone drives with approximately the same determination to disprove the laws of physics, so you know where you stand. In Poland, there appear to be completely sensible drivers and utterly mad drivers in equal measure, and nothing in between! As a consequence of this I pass (on average) about 2 collisions a day. The first time we had ice, I counted 7. I kid you not.

Speaking of ice..

It gets very cold here in the winter, so far it's been down to about -15, which takes a little getting used to. Of course, there are certain advantages to this if you can skate.

I have to say, I was promised bears. I have been in the forest and the mountains, I have seen NO BEARS!! I confess to being very disappointed, but there are plenty of compensations :@ )

Polish beer is tremendous, and ludicrously cheap, but the drinking culture in Poland is nothing like the UK. Poles have a bit of a rep for being drinkers, but I'm afraid that the UK is still way ahead of every country I have ever visited or lived in.