The train back to Lodz took a while longer than the usual 2 hours as most of the line is being taken up and replaced. Much to my disappointment the old 'cold war' trains are being superseded by new stock. On leaving the train station I strolled the 15 minutes back to my flat on the main street. The whole country is being dug up and Lodz is in the middle of it. Great holes in the road cause generally angry drivers to become even angrier, although anything that slows these lunatics can only be a good thing. The death rate on Polish roads is 250% higher than in the UK. It came as no surprise to me that the Grand Prix last Sunday was won by a Pole.
No diversion signs are set up and the streets are filled with motorists searching for a clue as to where they are, if you do not know the concrete jungle you are lost. Another thing which I have always found infuriating is that there are no signs to the City Centre, so consequently you can drive around the suburbs for hours before finding your way into town. The only reason for this that I can think of is that, up until recently, most Poles just did not travel, even to other cities. And yet there must have been trade surely? Long stretches of pavement are closed off with no consideration for how pedestrians are to continue their journey. Traffic lights at major intersections do not work and warring drivers fight their way forward inch by inch with much honking and swearing, police do not bother to manage the traffic and it's every man for himself. This is how Lodz looks and has done for sometime.
Billions of Euros from the EU which is going towards 'revitalising' the country also seems to be providing big expensive cars for anyone with even a distant cousin working in the government. I can understand that a lot of road needs widening and clear markings have to be put down (a rarity!), but miles of perfectly good pavement elsewhere in the city is being needessly destroyed. Charming old trams are disappearing and new and characterless state-of-the-art vehicles now wait for the new rails being laid (no extra buses were laid on for commuters who for months have had a hellish journey to work). So much money wasted. And it's all taking forever as there is a chronic shortage of workers, all of them having emigrated to Great Britain. Even the President of Poland Lech Kaczynski recently joked that he could not find a plumber. There is much talk in the press of Poles returning home but I don't see any evidence of it, no-one I know has come back - they are all settling in the UK and having children. Ryanair and Easyjet etc make it easy for them to visit family in Poland regularly, booking their tickets way in advance for 3 quid.
The 2012 European Football Championships will take place in Poland and Ukraine. There is much doubt that the necessary infrastructure will be put in place in order to host the event and the hundreds of thousands of fans that are expected. As yet no world class stadium exists in Poland and extensive recruitment of labour from Russia and China is a strong possibility. Lodz, mercifully, is not one of the cities that will be hosting the tournament.
