Eastern Poland: A Small-Town Restaurant

A shot of a restaurant with a wooden building from a small town in Eastern Poland.

Eastern Poland: Village Shot

A scene from a quiet village in Eastern Poland.

Eastern Poland: The Spiral Staircase

The spiral staircase leading up to what I guess is (or once was) the choir position in a small-town church in Eastern Poland.

Eastern Poland: The Crucifix

This crucifix, from inside a small-town church in Eastern Poland, gave me a timely reminder of what Corpus Christi (last Thursday) is all about.

Suzanne Vega Live at Warsaw Palladium 16th June 2017

Had been almost two whole months without a concert, so I was always going to enjoy Suzanne Vega at Warsaw Palladium last night.

Was also nice to go to a gig were I knew almost every tune in the set, especially the older stuff ('Marlene on the Wall'; 'Small Blue Thing'; 'Solitude Standing'; 'Left of Centre'; 'Luka'; 'Tom's Diner'; 'The Queen and the Soldier' etc.).

Hats off to great guitarist Gerry Leonard, of course.

Below, there is the Deutsche bank emblem leaving nobody in any doubt as to who was promoting/sponsoring the gig last night:

First saw Suzanne Vega at Glastonbury in 1989; then at Manchester Apollo in the early 1990s.  Also saw her at Warsaw Stodola in 2014.

Really enjoyed the 90-100 minute set last night, was just what I needed.  My favourite tune of the night?  Had to be the last encore, 'Rosemary', it was beautiful. 

So glad I've caught up with Suzanne Vega's music again over the last few years.

Warsaw: Gluten-Free Beer

Not bad at all, to be honest, gluten-free beer from a vegan restaurant in Warsaw.  Was nice to drink something that tasted like a wheat beer without getting an itchy scalp.

Warsaw: A Pumpkin Seed Drink

A very tasty pumpkin seed drink that my wife had at a vegan restaurant in Warsaw.  It was very rich so it was difficult to drink quickly.

Thomas Hardy's 'Life's Little Ironies'

Such is the crazy pace of my life that I read this collection of Thomas Hardy short stories over the course of a couple of months while travelling to and from work on a tram in Warsaw.

For me, there are two stand out tales in this collection of short stories.  First, there is 'To Please his Wife' which is the usual but still deeply moving tale about the cruelty of fate.  To try to go up in the world, Joanna sends her sailor husband and two sons out to seek their fortune on a ship, and the rest is Hardy-type history, very predictable but still moving.

Second, there is 'The Winters and the Palmleys' from the 'A Few Crusted Characters' sequence of tales within 'Life's Little Ironies'.  This is like a less dramatic and less Gothic version of 'The Withered Arm' from Hardy's 'Wessex Tales' collection.  And yet the predictable 'tragedy of human fate' theme is still deeply moving.

In the Wordsworth Classics version, there's a wonderful 'lit-crit' introduction to 'Life's Little Ironies' written by Dr. Claire Seymour.  Here, the latter praises Hardy's 3rd person narrative voice for its "poignant estimate of human nature, the brooding sense of wonder at the essential mystery of life".  She also explains that the tales which make up 'Life's Little Ironies' were written between 1890 and 1893 when Hardy was writing 'Tess' and 'Jude' so it's little surprise that he was pre-occupied with such themes as:  "the pain caused by loveless marriage   . . .   the connection between education, the Church and upward social mobility  . . .  the failure of modern marriage as an institution for formalising and stabilising sexual relationships, and the insidious effects of social ambition on the family and community life".  Needless to say, the rest of this Introduction to 'Life's Little Ironies' is well worth a read.

Warsaw: Wonderful Lamp

Always like passing this wonderful lamp near Metro Ratusz Arsenal in Warsaw, it just offers some kind of enchantment.

Warsaw: Entering the Old Town

Couple of nice shots of the big church near the Barbican in Warsaw Old Town here.  Walked up this way after waving off some friends from Britain who had stayed in the Old Town for a few days.

Warsaw: The Library in Spring

Spring was fully in the air and I really enjoyed passing Warsaw Library on the edge of the Old Town today:

Have always found this place to be photogenic: