Mechanical Poland

[charleskwinter]

i have been in poland for over a month with my girlfriend, and because of a work injury i am getting paid to enjoy the view.

they have a very healthy mentality towards cars here.... old cars are kept in good condition, and each person i've met has a personal mechanic that takes care of their car. i was walking through a small town one day (20,000 people) and in the matter of an hour i passed at least 5 mechanic shops... most of which were merely garages attached to someone's house.

point being, things here are staying simple, old cars are kept in great shape, the mechanics charge very little for what they do, and these people love working on cars.

i am a person who is constantly evaluating society and how destructive it is towards materials, and i love seeing a society that, through various influences, is doing something the way i would do it.



now if the government can readjust its attitude...

 

[Celerity]

Hahah... Having fun with the results of the government ?

Yeah, I have a chance to go to Poland late next year. I'm getting ready for the trip. Hope it's all it's been made out to be.

Now I gotta learn the language and find a bike to rent or buy out there (And try to get it back to the US)

 

[MadMaXXX]

the difference between over there (and many eastern european and other countries) is that they do not live in a disposable society. getting the most use of something is a necessity. this works out especially because the price of labor is relatively cheap when compared to that of goods.

 

[Citizen_Insane]

That reminds me of when I was in India. I asked my buddy's cousin (who lives in Jaipur) where a junk yard was so I could try and get one of those crazy car horns they have over there. His reply?
"What junkyards? There's nothing like that here in India, everything that can be fixed is fixed, everything that can be reused is reused, and everything else is sold as scrap."

 

[charleskwinter]

Yeah, I have a chance to go to Poland late next year. I'm getting ready for the trip. Hope it's all it's been made out to be.

I think it is best to come to Poland with no expectations... it's a different place for sure. For someone coming over here for sight seeing it might look grey and dull, however the mentality of the people and the way they live has given me an idea of how, in some ways, more people should be living.

as for the cost of labor it is unreal. i had a person tell me recently that you just cannot compare the dollar to the currency here (zlotych) because there are so many other factors, like cost of living and rate of pay, which make up for the illusion that things are cheap here. a friend of mine just bought a beautiful e30 320i but it is an automatic... her mechanic here told her it would cost roughly the equivalent of $600 to install it... parts included. crazy...

i like what you were saying about india as well. it is nice to see older things valued and taken care of. i can't imagine the opposite that you might see in japan where they junk cars after they are several years old?? but seeing that we are on a primarily U.S. based Honda site i remind myself how good that is for us... millions of perfectly good honda power plants open for bid.