Dr. Cooley buys me coffee

After the first transition team meeting at City Hall, I met two gentlemen (about my age) who had an enticing proposition. They figured me the type who would enjoy attending another public forum, one with a little more discussion. There was a regular public forum, they told me, held at Koinonia Coffee House. I did not really get how to spell this when he said it, and i did not get how to pronounce it when i saw it. But that is not important, as it is big, yellow, and from Jackson Metro Parkway, it looks like this:

Every friday morning at Koinonia Coffee House there is a public forum. Dr. Cooley, the facilitator of the transition team public meeting appears to be behind this somewhat, as rumor had it that he was picking up our coffee tab. While I am on the topic, I will give a word about Koinonia Coffee House. It is big, it is yellow, it is a house, they sell coffee. Those are the important details. It is just off the Metro Parkway, details on website. I had a reasonably priced double Espresso, $1.50. The beans were not the freshest, and were midway between being sweet and bitter. The flavor was rich and refreshing. I couldn’t complain as they didn’t ask me for money. This is not the usual case, or else they would not really do well as a business; Dr. Cooley was paying for everyone at the forum. Considering that it is not easy to get truly fresh coffee, I wouldn’t have complained even if they charged a bit more and I paid for it (I ended up tipping $2, about 133%). It looks like they have a fairly comprehensive coffee place menu, pretty much covering expected coffee based drinks. They had a slightly sad batch of muffins out, but some deliciously huge cookies as well. As I stood listening to the speaker, I saw a number of people enjoying excellent looking toasted croissants with ham and melted cheese. The sitting area itself was lovely. Freshly done, in a colorful yet minimal style. High ceilings and bright windows lent a pleasant open ambiance to the room, even the burglar bars were a bit artsy and nice. Thats just the front room, i didn’t even explore! Its not the type of place to go for a questionable coffee, but a nice light meal and smoothie would fit well. If they expand the breakfast selection (add some fruit or granola or yogurts) it would be absolutely delightful on a sunny morning. Unfortunately, their food menu is limited to bread based foods that are traditionally found alongside coffee.

Now, seriously. The forum. I arrived a few minutes late and was pleased to see Mr. Anderson leaning against the back wall. I sidled up to the till and got myself some coffee before settling in leant against the back wall. George Flaggs Jr., state representative from Warren county, was speaking at the front. As I did not have any note taking utensils with me at the time, what follows is a rough sketch of the flow of conversation.

Representative Flaggs was talking about a recent Medicaid bill In the Mississippi State House of Representatives. He had the bill read out, because people were complaining that it was a long bill, over 80 pages, and they did not have enough time to read it. He said to us that the length of bills was just because the issues were complex. People complaining about the length needed to appreciate the complexity of the issue at hand. This reminded me of a similar note in a recent post on the economist dot com which I mysteriously cannot find again! It is important that bills be understandable, easy to read. They do not have to be short to be readable; they do not have to be difficult to read when covering a complex issue. At least provide some complete, accurate simple english summary of the bill.

Education, Rep. Flaggs believed, was key to economic growth. Take care of people and educate them, and htey will prosper. Education should provide people with the tools to make it on their own. I have to agree with Flaggs on this one. Education is one of the most important aspects of economic development that the government can work on. Noting the large amount of predatory lending in the area, he mentioned that he hoped to integrate more financial education into our school system. Giving children the financial (and other!) skills to succeed in life is important. Right now, people don’t understand the uses of debt, how to use credit wisely or what all of the consequences of various financial dealings are until they are trapped in a paycheck to paycheck debt repayment cycle.

I had a few ideas on this topic, and many ideas were bounced around at the forum. People addressed the extortionate rates of paycheck loans, and the lack of availability of other financial instruments in many communities. Providing more data on such lending, not only terms of the loans themselves, but where this lending is taking place, would be important in getting people out of crippling debt. Financial education in schools could include providing children with savings accounts, and help taking a role in family budgeting. The City could encourage small affordable loans, and guarantee some of the capital based upon the borrowers completion of City sponsored financial education classes.

A local restauranteur encouraged people to support local businesses, emphasizing that local businesses can invest more in local communities than out of town operations. Pastors were urged to get more involved in the community. Energizing congregations and leading them in revitalizing their communities. Churches could provide education, financial and otherwise, helping people get out of debt or providing mentors for local schools.

A Dr. Perkins ended the discussion with a well thought out statement about how some senators support businesses in their districts, while some only support social programs. He lamented the fact that some people are only taught to act as victims, while some people are encouraged and supported in entrepreneurial endeavors. People should be taught and encouraged to stand on their on feet instead of leaning on state support. Certainly this is an area which can be helped by education as well…

In all, the forum at Koinonia Coffee House was excellent. Representative Flaggs was clearly a passionate man who truly cared about health care, education and the Capitol city. The discussion was informed and informative. I did not try to contribute anything to the discussion, but i will certainly be in attendance in the future. So remember, 9 am, every friday at Koinonia Coffee House off Metro Parkway. Be there.

the second picture is sideways

(for a summary of the transition team meeting which inspired this post, see this previous post)

At the public forum for Public Works, I asked the transition team how radical the new Public Works Department would be when looking for solutions to the increasingly powerful problems that we will face. This question was met with the unmoving gaze of the committee, it was not their job to talk. The problem is twofold: Jackson’s infamously crumbling infrastructure coupled with stagnating budgets. I believe that, like most problems, more ideas are the start of the solution. It appears that desperate times may call for desperate measures. Working at the same “good enough for government work” pace that typifies most city departments is simply not good enough. Better ideas are needed, radical ideas may be best.

Yes, I may mean untested ideas. Bold ideas are needed. Harvey Johnson, the steady planner and plodder, may not be the first to sign up to this, but certainly he is still willing to consider alternatives to the status quo.

Case Study: Roads.
Jackson is well known for its crumbling and potholed roads. We like to look at the roads and blame their state on our ‘unique problem’ of Yazoo Clay but mineralogy is not the only fault. The roads in Jackson are generally crumbly. Heavy traffic on main corridors wears the roads down quickly, yazoo clay and time turn residential streets into pitted stretches of asphalt. Jackson’s Public Works Department has a lot on their plate, patching holes and resurfacing large stretches of road. The problem is that they simply cannot work fast enough. There is not enough money in their 62 million dollar budget to fill all the holes and resurface all of the streets.

So the general idea that has been governing the department as far as I can tell is that they will patch major/problematic holes as they can get to them, and do major resurfacing as needed/as major outside funds come in for them. So far, this has pretty much been good enough for government work. I think that there should be more radical solutions put on the table for consideration. This is what I enquired about at the meeting. Here is one such idea:

Incorporate traffic control with road maintenance to an extreme: Close off streets within neighborhoods to force more traffic onto major roads. This will of course cause more wear on the major roads. So, on those major corridors which will be picking up most traffic, make the investment in longer lasting, maybe, concrete, roads which may last upwards of 50 years before needing maintenance. Roads within neighborhoods would carry less traffic, and slower traffic, making them more appealing and safe for pedestrians, children and cyclists. Closed off roads could be practically ignored. Even as the street surface deteriorated, there would be no urgent need to repair them, as the traffic would be slow and familiar to the street. These streets could even be replaced with gravel or other low cost surfaces.

Here is an example of a street already gone field (as far as I can tell). This is a dead end across from a park in Jackson. The street is split by a drainage creek. Artificial dividing lines would be similar to this. The road has clearly not been maintained too well as of late, and is only used by a few homes anyway. With a road like this, the city has a number of options to make maintenance cheaper:
1) Just ignore it. Doesn’t cost anything until somebody decides to sue the city for some damage they suffered by driving recklessly on it. This problem leads to…
2) Grind it down as needs be, eventually replacing it with a cheaper surface such as gravel. Costs a bit of money, but less than actually maintaining it. Long term thinking ability needed here.
3) Sell the street. Sell it to the homeowners, make a shared right of way for all the residents. It would effectively become a shared driveway, responsibility would go to the new owners. The city makes a bit of cash, and moves on.
4) Even if they didn’t sell off the whole street, they only really need to keep up a small lane of it. Is there any reason that three cars abreast could fit down this road which leads to three houses?

Obviously, I am not an engineer. I am prepared to be heckled by engineers for my generally unsubstantiated ideas. I hope that people will at least realize that there should be more open discussion of ideas to make the department more effective. There are new ideas, and different ideas which may be better for the city.

This is not the only ‘radical’ solution that I have cracked up. Having control of utility lines and mains offers great possibilities. Maybe Jackson could lay a robust, upgradable fiber optic network to rent back to content distributers. Perhaps we could lure more companies here with a promise of low cost of living and an absolutely cracking fiber optic network. (Yes, we already have a good network leftover from WorldCom’s heyday, but lets make a better, more upgradable one.

The city spends plenty of money sending its waste to the dump. Reducing this amount saves money for the city. Promoting recycling and possibly composting by offering incentives to recycle more and throw away less would go a long way towards saving money and making Jackson more livable.

So, what I mean by this post, is this: Is the new administration willing to consider different, possibly more radical solutions to the problems that it will face (which we have faced for a long time)?

Recommended reading:
Concrete v. Asphalt
Closing roads to cut congestion

Inauguration tonight. Don’t forget about the public forums!

here i publish a press release

Since there is not much visibility of the public forums, I will repeat the press release here. Here is my own mirror/archive of the release:
Harvey Johnson Mayoral Transition Team. This was only released on his website on the 24th.

Here is the important bit about public forums:
They all begin at 6:00 p.m. in the City Council chambers, City Hall.

The schedule is as follows:
Tuesday, June 30: Public Works
Thursday, July 9: Public Safety
Monday, July 13: Planning and Development
Thursday, July 16: Parks and Recreation
Monday, July 20: Human and Cultural Services

sharing ideas with the public works transition team

What happened: Mayor Harvey Johnson’s transition team for public works is preparing a report for him, this was the public’s chance to give input. Our words would be recorded and the team plans to use our input and data to form their report. They will need more data than they got today. The meeting took place in city hall. The transition team was introduced, with Mr. Matt Thomas at the helm. Other team members flanked him, including the Reverend Damuel Boyd, Tommy Darnell, Calvin Dean, Ruthania Hudson and Waddell Nejam. The event was facilitated by Dr. Bill Cooley. Mr. Thomas opened thanking people for showing, and saying how important it was that people give their input. The public works department operates on a 62 million dollar budget and consists of the road and infrastructure maintenance side as well as the water billing department.

I saw the notification of this series of forums by chance on the Jackson Free Press website. Granted, it was a very high chance that I would have seen it, as I have their RSS feed in my browser, but a chance nonetheless. It did not seem well advertised, as this was only announced sometime the morning of the 29th, with the meeting on the 30th. When I arrived at the meeting, my suspicions were confirmed. There was one news van outside, and the room was sparsely populated.

Originally I thought that there would be more discussion with the transition team. I also thought that the Mr. Johnson would be there, to share ideas and take criticism. This was not the case. Dr. Cooley stood at front with the microphone and invited audience members to the front to pitch their ideas at how to improve public works in Jackson. This felt a bit awkward at first, as I had no idea what sort of thing to say to a transition team, not knowing their background, expertise, or authority on implementing these ideas.

The first speaker was a city worker who bemoaned the shape of the roads where she lived. No sidewalks and terrible condition of streets coupled with irregular, and unreliable garbage pick up made the area a horrible place to live. The transition team looked on in somber silence. This was a good point about garbage collection which was reflected later in comments by an out of towner who commented on the large amounts of sometimes unnecessary waste which the city is paying to have dumped. Perhaps we should deal with our waste more efficiently. Although it was not mentioned explicitly in the meeting, recycling, lawn/tree waste and possibly compost material could be removed from our waste system more effectively, saving, and possibly generating money for the City of Jackson.

A young Mr. Upkins praised the Jackson Metro Parkway as an excellent roadway which was well maintained. He then turned to voice concerns over the long term prospects, wanting to know if regular maintenance, mowing, street sweeping would be taken care of. He felt that the area could do with more beautification, moving utilities underground and adding public green space. Improvements such as these would promote the social improvement and economic growth of the area, he hinted.

Another gentleman stood up to speak. Instead of bringing the hopeful tones of the previous speaker, he came down to criticize the department for their inaction. He brought up past arguments with the department including a burst water main that took three months to be completely resolved, an overflowing creek flooding his and neighborhood properties that took over a year to be seen to. He noted that foreclosures in the area meant that yards were left strewn with the insides of homes and only attention from the news brought any action. He recalled an episode in which “the worst road crew in the world” was brought in to re-pave a road, when they had finished, the road looked “about the same” as when they had started. It was his luck to live in Ward 1, where things actually did get done, he said. He later lamented that he had been told that homeowners were responsible for maintaining their own gutters, but could not believe that he was the person to fix all 35 feet of his crumbling gutter. He highlighted communication and inactivity problems which have characterized the department of Public Works in the past.

Mr. Anderson (von Anderson?) took the floor with three key points. While he was appreciative of the pothole reporting hotline (601-960-POTH) he said more use of online reporting could be made. I would like to point out that there is an awkward comments form that can be used for just that but his idea can be taken further with mapping and response capabilities. Perhaps the online form could map complaints as well as be updated whenever crews fill potholes in. Noting that Jackson was the capital of a rural state, and we have a lot of old trees, he introduced his idea that the Public Works department invest in wood-chipping machines. This goes back to what appears to be a theme of the night on dealing with waste effectively and efficiently. The department could certainly use some new methods, systems and ideas in that area. Finally he proposed rolling dumpster days. Making more regularly scheduled days for a dumpster to be placed in an area for the residents to use. It used to be the case that people could dump off extra waste and recycling at fire stations, but as far as I know, that was discontinued long ago. Rolling dumpsters allow residents to dispose of extra large items more conveniently, as well as promote general cleanliness of neighborhoods. If these were organized more regularly, people could participate more effectively. He also noted that communication problems between citizens, the government and fellow citizens should be addressed in order to make these solutions more viable.

It was here (at 18:18) that we were pleasantly interrupted by Mr. Harvey Johnson himself. In between meetings, the incoming executive stopped by to thank everyone for attending. He promised a more transparent supportive government which would not be a “black box”, opaque to its citizens.

After yielding the floor to Mr. Johnson, I appealed to the committee to work to ensure that this citizen input would continue throughout the administration. Citizen input as well as feedback from all sides of the issue is important to ensure effective operation of the Public Works department. I asked how far the new department would go to solve problems of an increasingly dilapidated infrastructure and possibly shrinking budgets. I would like to see radical steps taken, thinking out of the box and trying solutions which may not have been tried before. It is not easy to tell a crowd of older Mississippians that we must try new solutions, but I tried to go delicately.

There were further ideas thrown about, including a desire to have online water bills. One man called for more transparency and review to contract bids. One suggestion was that department heads piggyback on the COPS community meetings and engage with the citizenry on a monthly basis alongside the police force. The facilitator, Dr. Cooley, amusingly announced that he “Just recieved a tweet! Well, actually it was a handwritten sheet.” Someone wanted discussion on whether or not there should be a rating system on which streets should be attended to first. A slight discussion ensued. Two people speaking expressed partial support for a rating system, but that it should have factors other than citizen voting. I agree, some objective importance of roads should be assessed, in terms of use, economic development, and emergency situation use. There should be more science of traffic control employed.

I again returned to the floor to address the need for proper investment in out infrastructure. I proposed a somewhat modular system for infrastructure, an “infrastructure for infrastructure.” The idea I had was that while water and sewer mains were upgraded, space could be left for fiber optic lines, traffic control devices and the like. Upgrading the infrastructure in such a way as to expand its capability would make Jackson a more appealing location for businesses (especially with improved fiber optic networks). Proper investment is needed to provide quality roads and infrastructure which will not need to be replaced often and will be easily upgradable and pay off in the long run – a time span difficult for the average politician to comprehend.

Mr. Matt Thomas ended with a promise that our input would not fall on deaf ears. The meeting was recorded and notes were taken. The information that we provided would be reviewed as the committee crafted its report for Mr. Johnson. He said that he was “in the book” and we should look him up and get in touch. He would be pleased to meet with anyone. Unfortunately, I was unable to decide who he was in “the book” there being a Mat, Matt and Matthew Thomas, of Jackson, Clinton and Madison, respectively. If anyone does manage to get in touch with him, please, don’t ask him for a job, there are vacancies which you may apply for, but don’t ask him for a job. Also, do not ask who he is hiring or firing, as that is not his remit.

In all, it was a decent public forum. I would have appreciated more input from the transition team, and maybe some substantiation of the idea that citizen input would be appreciated throughout the administration. I didn’t propose any specific ideas in the meeting, but may in a later post.

good Polish Portions at good Polish Prices

Sometime over easter holiday, there appeared a new restaurant around the corner on Gloucester Road. EasyJet orange chairs, paintings of the Beatles on the wall, and a sign that beckons you to come in and enjoy “Delicions Fresh Polish Food.” The delightful misspellings and half-translations don’t stop there. Really, it is part of the appeal that not everything has been translated properly into english. It adds a new dimension of authenticity of the experience. As I have learned, it is fun to go into a restaurant in a foreign country where you don’t know anything on the menu. In your home country (or at least one which shares its language with you) you would expect to be able to read menus clearly. Chopin provides the perfect balance of the experiences.

This is, by the way, a review. As far as I can tell, this is the second review of Chopin to hit the interwebs. A not so thorough search on the googles indicates that a Mark Taylor beat me to it.

So. My first experience was probably within a few weeks of the restaurant being opened. M and I headed there for a cheeky “Beef Stroganow” before dinner. We got it takeaway and it took about 10 minutes, what one might expect for a takeaway. Nothing to be surprised about here. We got home and opened the box, delighted to find a massive load of meat and gravy. This was definitely the hearty fare that we expected. The two of us split the tab, which was £4. Very cheap for a large main course, even if it didn’t have any vegetables with it – though, if we had sat down to eat it, it would have come with bread.

The next visit had ulterior motives. We had just booked tickets to Poland and needed a hostel to stay in. The only hostel in Rzeszow required phone booking. M, A and I headed to Chopin for lunch. We dined on massive baked potatoes and hearty soups before lectures. The waitress/hostess/lady who works there, was very sweet and tended to the table probably the perfect amount – she made sure that we had everything we needed without being pesky. This is when we learned that she doesn’t speak much english. Generally fine as the menu is numbered, but when we asked if she could make a phone call for us, she stalled. She got the chef out to handle us. Very nice chap as far as we can tell, was amused to fine we were going to Rzeszow, and said we should go to Warsaw instead.

I came to frequent the restaurant more, hitting it three days in a row at one point. The food is hearty, fresh and served in large portions. The prices are pretty much as low as possible. Side dishes are all 99p, but these can easily be a starter for their size. I personally love the fried beetroot and the cabbage. Every day has a special deal on, which I have taken advantage of twice. Once was a free starter of bread, pate and lard, which is surprisingly nice. Not a big fan of pate, but this one was nice, and the lard mixed in was an interesting substitute to butter on bread. Sunday is pork chop schabowy day, and their fried pork chop (comes with cabbage and chips) is only £5.20, a decent discount from the usual. At one point, there were six of us having dinner there. each of us had two or three courses and a pint. The total was less than £60. At least two of us eked out three courses on a tenner.

This is my review of the pork chop. One review (yes, that only other review), doesn’t rate it highly, claiming that the flattened pork chop schabowy could have been anything, chicken, veal, pork, cork or a shoe insole. The author is certainly right, it could have been anything, but for those who would prefer to ignore skepticism, this is not a relevant point. I would like to add that while it could have been anything, it tasted like a fried pork chop. People are less likely to confuse tastes, such as pork, chicken, and insoles, if they know how to tell the difference between the items. So, if one thinks that the pork chop schabowy it could have been chicken or veal, it is probably an indication that all of the chicken, veal and insoles they have had actually taste of pork. I have been fortunate to have good quality and diverse foods in my life, and I am inclined to say that it tasted of pork. I am not an authority on how insoles taste, so I do not speak with the authority Mr. Taylor has. One housemate even gave a good rating to their burger, not what I would have thought to have at a Polish restaurant, but well done nonetheless. Bigos, which is described on the menu simply as “Bigos” is delicious, various smoked meats in cabbage. Potato thug pie was enthusiastically recommended by the waitress, and it turned out to be some sort of large potato pancake folded over a meaty gravy-y filling. For £7.20, this is a cracking deal for hungry people who don’t want to be hungry anymore. Or even for those who just like the rich taste of good meat in a tasty gravy. You cannot lose.

I have eaten many other things there, and sampled off other peoples plates as well. These things I found to be good. My main complaint was that the chicken soup with noodles was very hot, and the layer of oil on top (its the same in Poland, I found) keeps the soup from cooling off. So, it was a bit hot. There are times (about half the time I have been) when they run out of things in the kitchen. They always come up with an acceptable substitute, as far as I can tell.

So, to summarize:
Large portions.
Hearty food.
Meat.
Very cheap.
Really, really cheap – £10 for three courses and a pint.
They find it jokes when you tip in Zloty.
Excellent rail links: walking distance of Redland station and Montpelier station.

This is where it is.

Really, cracking resteraunt. I don’t think they know anything about profit margins, and seem to be having a hard time drawing in customers. It is very nice inside and the staff are about as lovely as they come. The ad hoc substitutions and minimal english make the experience exciting and authentic in a whole new way. Go there. Its delicions.

This is the part where I load the post with keywords in the hopes that it will be picked up by the great algorithm by which we search the interweaves: Chopin Bristol Gloucester road arches fresh Polish food takeaway take away eat cheap good Chopin restaurant.

Ah, and here is the address/phone number:
217 Cheltenham Road
Bristol BS6 5QP
0117 904 3573

Accommodation in Ukraine

“I’ve had many a good blanket on this trip.” -Ste

And so I present a review of the accommodation encountered on our trip to Ukraine. Disclaimer: There is one hostel in Poland, and one hostel we didn’t actually stay in.

PTSM Hostel, Rzeszow

Our first night was spend in Rzeszow, Poland (pronounced shay-shouf). There is one hostel in town, cracking location right on the main square. We went to our excellent local Polish restaurant, Chopin, to book the hostel – they have no online booking, so we needed someone who spoke Polish to do the calling for us. They found this fairly amusing, and were perplexed at why we would want to go to Rzeszow, but excited we were going anyway.

We arrived in town late. It was about 22.30 before we got to the hostel. At 32zl each for a night, it was a bit more expensive than we expected. Bit of confusion paying, somehow ste lost about 20zl. We dropped our stuff off in the two private rooms and headed out for food. The lady at the reception, who spoke very very little english let us have an hour to get food – there was a 22.00 curfew! That was lovely of her. The rooms were very basic. Basically a standard Soviet style concrete building. A bit old and maybe crumbling in the corners. The eight of us shared two rooms of four. Bedding was included, but the mattresses were poor, one bed looked like a cannonball storage shelf. The rooms were plain, other than a negligible attempt at putting artwork on the wall. Nothing special, nothing besides the bare minimum for furnishings. Comfortably empty.

Location: 5/5 Excellent, on the main square!

Price: 2/5 cost 32zl for a night, but it is the only place in town.

Staff: 3/5 well, there was only one person there, very nice, but not much English.

Owner: n/a we never saw the owner.

Beds: 2/5 a bit better than sleeping on a stoop in the Netherlands, but bedding included.

Quality/Cleanliness: 3/5 Was pretty much like a worn down hotel.

Amenities: n/a there aren’t really any.

Retro Hostel Shevchenko

Our local questionable cafe across the street from the hostel.
Our bus dropped us off at the train station where we emptied the cash machines of their cash. We caught a cab to the hostel (40 hiryvna per car) Retro Hostel Shevchenko. Again, it was getting late so we dropped our stuff off and wend out to get food. Marushka (sp?) gave us advice on where to eat and pointed to a few things around town before we headed off. Her advice for food was spot on. It was a chain buffet restaurant, but served legit Ukranian food, cooked right in front of you. Returning to the hostel later we found that the toilets were still under construction. It was quite tricky to flush, having to fill the tank manually and then pull up the seal on the bottom of the tank, also by hand. Replacing it was a delicate act, and refilling it meant it would leak out before the next usage.

The dorm we stayed in was at the top of the building, a bit if a trek, but pretty much fine. There were bunk beds packed in, with perfectly acceptable beds. Nothing really of note here. There was rumored to be free wifi throughout the building, though we could not test this. There were two old computers in the lobby which provided internet for us. During our stay Marushka worked and worked and worked. She seemed to be the only person employed there. She was constantly cleaning or doing some admin work for the hostel. Even though she was constantly busy, she was always willing to have a chat or give advice to us about our trip. It is difficult to describe how lovely she was to us. She always offered help and chat when we were around. On the last day we stored our bags behind the reception desk, and she didn’t mind us hanging around in the evening. There was a ping pong table that we played on a bit. They only had one ball left though; we would have bought more but it was a sunday, and the sports shop was closed. Besides the remodeling in progress (apparently it has been in an unfinished state over a year now), the only downside was a strict closure of the hostel from 12-14:00. Apparently this is a throwback to the origins of hostels when they would be closed for cleaning and to force the young’ns out. This is the only hostel I have ever encountered to keep this rule up.

Location: 4/5 Minutes away from the old centre.

Price: 5/5 dirt cheap as far as I know.

Staff: 5/5 Marushka will probably do anything in the world for you.

Owner: n/a never encountered owner, rumored to be a vicious Siberian.

Beds: 3/5 they were fine.

Quality/Cleanliness: 4/5 toilets under construction.

Amenities: 3/5 cheap drinks/free juice when you leave and partial ping pong.

Hostel Kosmonaut
Whilst chatting with M, Ste and R(1) one night the owner of another hostel in L’viv came and joined our table. He was an Australian who ran Hostel Kosmonaut. He had a bit of a rant about the treatment of the workers at the hostel that we were staying at. He had a massive go at us when we let slip that we came because it was cheap to come here – “you come here because it is cheap? … you dont even know man …” He also got angry when I asked the difference between two pronunciations of the currency, I said that I noticed more Russian and older people said Gryvnia, while younger and more English speakers said Hryvnia. He responded by yelling that I shouldn’t even think about saying Gryvnia and “these people have been oppressed for a thousand years … and you say Gryvnia?!” Obviously there was some deeper meaning, but he didn’t seem to have any intention of actually answering my question. His passionate, close-minded anger was not restricted to just talking about Ukrainians he even got angry when i mentioned that I was heading back to the hostel to use the toilet – he angrily directed me to nearby toilet facilities (”don’t pee in the hostel man! Just go over there!”). On the bright side, he turned absolutely timid and sneaked away when a few young Ukrainian chaps showed up to join the chat.

Location: 3/5, not as near centre, but closer to a tram line.

Price: 3/5 more expensive than our hostel.

Staff: n/a they work 8 hours a day and are probably lovely.

Owner: 1/5 angry man.

Beds: n/a

Quality/Cleanliness: n/a never saw it.

Amenities: n/a.

Overnight train to Kiev


It was easy enough to get to our overnight train to Kiev. Just a little walk to a tram stop, then a 1 hiryvna ticket on the number 2 to the station. Last stop. Wonderful station, beautiful at night, and possibly the nicest waiting area in the world. Men’s toilets are free, women’s are 1 hiryvna.

The train was new and pretty much the nicest train ever. Second class, two compartments with four beds each. Everything we needed was in there. Sheets, blankets, pillows, towels, mattress covers, secure storage under the bottom beds and storage over the corridor for the top beds. A light to indicate which toilets were occupied and personal lights over each bed, as well as dim settings on the main lights and a volume control for the radio. There was a bit of a problem of no A/C for a while, though it cycled on a times during the night. It wasn’t too hot on the top bunk, but we certainly didn’t need the wool blankets we were provided with. It was quite a noisy night, and the train rocks a lot as it is fairly fast on poor tracks. This oddly didn’t provide any barrier to me getting to sleep easily and having a long sleep all night. It was a bit of a short trip (about 8 hours), so I didn’t really have enough time for a full nights sleep. All in all though, it was wonderful.

Location: 5/5 Its a train! L’viv AND Kiev!

Price: 4/5 good value at 164.05 hiryvna, transportation and accommodation.

Staff: 4/5 they offer tea and coffee in the morning.

Owner: 3/5 Ukranian state trains, seems fine.

Beds: 4/5 nice bed, mattress cover, and you wake up in a different city!

Quality/Cleanliness: 5/5 perfect, new!

Amenities: 4/5 hot drinks and a light in the compartment to tell you which toilet is free!

Kiev Lodging Hostel
We arrived in Kiev and got a taxi to drop us off at the hostel. We were taken exactly to the address and found the number. We could not find any sign indicating that there was a hostel. We looked up and down the street thinking that maybe were were dropped off at the wrong place, no luck. Plenty of restaurants and a couple of travel agencies, no hostel sign. It has been my experience that hostels do not always advertise their presence more than a small sign, but there was nothing to be seen, not even on the names by door bells. Finally, with the help of a man in a five star hotel down the road, we were able to find the door code and details of how to get in. We went through an anonymous door and up some stairs, to find a tiny piece of paper that said only “Backpackers” next to a door, so we rang the bell.

Shoes are not allowed past the entrance corridor, as the hostel is kept very very clean. Possibly clean to an obsessive point, but this should not be a problem for the short term visitor. There are showers and bathrooms near the entrance, and you may be able to get away with shoes in there. There are a couple of large dorms, and a staff closet to stash bags before checking in and after checking out. The staff are fine people to get along, but do not make the effort to talk to you. This is in contrast to many other hostels with bubbly, extroverted staff who immediately offer help with your stuff, advice and sneaky hints for the city and ask about your travels. Some people may like this more reserved breed of staff; but I find having a good bit of chat with people who know the area is much appreciated on any trip. There is a full kitchen where slices of ham disappear one at a time, but this is to be expected in any hostel really.

The owner of the hostel may offer a free drink around every now and then, but don’t get too excited. After following some of his strongest recommendations we were massively disappointed with the results. A local place to eat (with a large spoon out front) turned out to be a buffet with dismal food which was probably days or weeks old, and microwaved as you watched. The food was some of the lowest quality I have ever eaten, and was not even fully heated. Probably the least safe food I ate on the holiday (less safe than uncooked sausages, moldy bread and that strange beverage from the large metal tank on the side of the road). A market he recommended turned out to be a tourist tat market. A book he had prepared on the city mentioned wells found around the city as excellent places to drink. I had not seen any of these and asked about them, where I might find them. He only said something to the effect that I would not find them, and could not go to them. So I asked if the book was wrong, to which he looked blank. I asked “was it a lie?” that the book said they were everywhere (a more universal word?). He said there were none (for me at least?) and I said off hand that my hopes and dreams of drinking from the wells were smashed. Bad call. He kicked off on me immediately. He got very angry and assumed that I thought myself a university educated “big man” (a term that makes me shudder because of the connotations with warlords) and that he was stupid because he was a hostel owner at the age of 40. I will spare the details, but the idea here is he completely kicked off on me in a fairly unrelated manner. He later told the others in the group that the water would not be any good for us for biological reasons, as we were not used to the organisms in the local water. When I returned moments later to give an apology for any misunderstanding, he responded with a fairly blank look.

On the basis of the poor quality of the hostel owners recommendations, I drank some water from a fountain I found in a cemetery. It pretty much tasted like the tap water, which I read is fine biologically, but may have high levels of lead in it. We visited hidropark later as he had told us that it was disgusting. The water was somewhat clear and cold (sure, Chernobyl drains there, but thats less of an immediate threat than the agricultural waste in the Mississippi River that may have exacerbated a staph infection I once had). Hidropark was lovely, and had free beaches, so was again, the exact opposite of what the owner said.

Back to the accommodation review, the hostel was pristine. The dorm we slept in was fairly nice. It was a bit easy to tip the bunk beds over when climbing to the top, if nobody was weighing down the bottom. The mattresses were fairly poor, and rested on s hard but thin slab of masonite, or something similar. There was air conditioning, which was pretty lovely after a hot day out in kiev. No food allowed in rooms, but drinks are.

Hard to find hostel, but really nice, just keep a low profile around the owner and staff.

Location: 5/5 cant argue with dead central, even if it is hard to find.

Price: 3/5 more expensive than most, but cheapest in kiev.

Staff: 3/5 seemed fine, nothing special.

Owner: 1/5 makes horrible recommendations, thinks everyone is calling him stupid.

Beds: 2/5 completely shot mattresses on top of Masonite.

Quality/Cleanliness: 5/5 pristine.

Amenities: 5/5 ticks all the boxes, +free drinks, big telly and air conditioning.

Overnight PKP train from Kiev to Rzeszow

We exchanged our last hiryvna for dollars and euros and spend our change on food. Our train from Kiev to Rzeszow was our most expensive bit. Around 762 hiryvna, it was a 17 hour train ride which involved an international crossing, two customs inspections and a gauge change. There may be cheaper options, such as only taking the train to Przemysl but changing there before the gauge change. Also, stopping short of the border, taking a different train or a bus across the border may end up much cheaper (after all, it only took us roughly £20 to make it to Kiev). Taking a bus or walking across the border would be much more hassle (it was trouble free on the train) but much much cheaper. Also, it would be possible to take a lower class carriage if not going beyond Przemysl.

The carriage conductor was a lovely man. He escorted us to our compartments and provided us with a washcloth and soap. The compartments had a bottle of water and a sink. Three beds stacked on one wall, the middle one folded down to make the back seat of the bench when not sleeping. When we found a problem with keeping one of our beds stable, the conductor solved the problem – by swapping our compartments. At night when people wanted to have a drink before bed, we just had to ask the conductor, and he directed us to someone on the train who was willing to share their smuggled drinks for a cheap. The train was quite hot. It didn’t take long before all the guys had their shirts off leaning out of the windows as we went along. Thankfully we were able to lower our windows in the compartment, but you have to hold them down for some time to make sure they don’t spring back up. We were able to keep ham cool by dangling it out of the window as we went. The carriage was nearly empty besides us, or at least nobody hung out in the corridor or with their doors open as much as us.

The train was excellent. Being a bit sweaty just added to the ambiance, but it cooled down well as the sun went down. It was a great train. Excellent trip, plus pretty much the nicest sleep all holiday. Surprisingly, even with the window open, I think it was quieter than the other night train… not sure how that happened. It may be the case that our previous train was multiple units, while this one was locomotive driven. That is just pure speculation, though we definitely had a locomotive the second time around.

Location: 5/5 exactly where we wanted to be. Its a train!

Price: 0/5 pretty much the most expensive thing on the trip, next time take a lower class and get off before border crossing.

Staff: 5/5 lovely guys, free tea or coffee, sorts out problems in rooms happily, shares stash of smuggled goods if you ask.

Owner: 4/5 I generally rate PKP trains highly.

Beds: 5/5 quite possibly the best sleep I got all trip.

Quality/Cleanliness: 4/5 tidy, clean compartments, thoughtful interior with everything we needed, plus a few nice surprises.

Amenities: 5/5 had pretty much everything we could (and did) ask for. Ensuite sink, washing kit included.

Captains Log

Arrival. 4 June 2009.

Arrived in Poland. Ryanair flight from Bristol to Rzeszow (pronounced shay-shouf): £10 return, no pesky card fees thanks to M having a visa electron. Eight of us found our way to the hostel in the centre of town at about 22.30. Set our stuff down in the room and headed out to eat. Apparently there was a curfew of 22.00 but the lady at reception indicated that she would give us an hour to go eat. Ste appears to have lost £20 in a kerfuffle over paying for our rooms. We head to a kebab shop across the rynek and get some food. After staying up late talking R(1) finds a massive hold in his sheets, Ste decides to eschew the bedding and curl under his leopard print blanket. Sheets are tiny.

5 June 2009. Day one.

I was very perplexed this morning when my phone alarm went off, only once, at 8.00. This perplexed me as the phone was turned off. Apparently it is meant to do that.

On the way to the station we stopped by a supermarket for some food. Two sausages, bread, yogurt and water came to about 7zl. The lady selling the tickets was lovely, working out the best price for us, a single for 14zl, and the next three for 10zl each. Better price than we expected. It was a slow stopping train to Przemysl (pronounced pshi-mish) which meant that there were loads of tiny stops in the middle of the countryside where maybe one or two people would get on or off. The conductor didn’t wait around though, giving as little as 8 seconds from stop to go. The countryside was generally unruly and unpopulated. There were long strips of farmland instead of more regularly shaped fields. Small patches of land near the tracks and stations were converted to allotments. There looked to be a rather large market in Przemysl when we arrived. Didn’t go there, tried to find some lunch. I stuck with bread and some surprisingly nice peaches from a little vegetable stand near the bus station.

We bought bus tickets to L’viv, Ukraine, and waited in the station. We saw our bus pull in, and almost immediately people started loading it down with goods. Some cars and vans pulled up to the bus and carried things in out of view. This was all very suspicious, not made any less so by the amount of American Dollars exchanging hands. By the time we got into the bus, there were boxes of strawberries filling half of the seats that we had to move out of the way. The rear of the bus was stacked high with spools of nylon string. There were bags of walnuts under seats and mysterious boxes in a secret compartment behind the front bumper.

I sat down next to J in the back and soon got to chatting to a Polish lad about our age whose name may have been Bartlett. He and his friends were traveling to Ukraine as it was cheap. He advised against taking the Ukrainian mini-buses (which apparently are dirt cheap and go just about everywhere). We should stick to the main coaches and trains. Walking across the border is possible, but sometimes gets busy and you may end up standing in a crowd in the rain for hours before being let across. Our border crossing did not go quickly though. At the first stop, before the Polish passport control, we were stuck waiting at the border while lots of money changed hands at the front of the bus. After about half an hour, we made it to passport control to leave Poland. Didn’t take too long and we crept towards the Ukrainian control. This took much longer. Passports were collected, and we were given travel documents to fill out and keep with on us throughout our travels. The older Ukrainian ladies next to us advised we write down that we were visiting for tourism, but laughed when I asked if ‘revenge’ or ‘espionage’ would be acceptable.

That turned out to be the quick and easy part of the journey. M had a closer inspection because his passport photo didn’t look like him. Border guards lead out bus to a garage where they started pulling out and inspecting items from the bus, discovering the illicit packages of meat hidden in the front. They pulled the smuggled goods out and took loads of pictures before making us wait for quite some time, inches from the road to freedom. It was maybe over three hours for the whole ordeal. This didn’t set good precedent because apparently it is more common to be held up for a long time when trying to get back into the EU, when cigarette smuggling is rampant. This is when we decided that we would have to take a train the entire way back.

Once we were finally released (in a bizarre rush back to the bus) we sped across the border. Finally in Ukraine, I looked out to find simple suburb-spaced houses with front yards converted into miniature farms. No wasted space. Every now and then a shrine, a cross, or a statue of the Virgin Mary would appear on the side of the road, evidence of a strong Orthodox church.

Once in L’viv train station, we emptied a few of the cash machines of all their hryvnia (which has been massively devalued in the recent economic excitement). Bartlett recommended we get a 40 hryvnia taxi to the hostel and went off with his group. We quickly left to go to “Fat House” (translated) before it closed. This was a chain buffet restaurant which is cheap, filling and Ukrainian. On the way back to the hostel, we found a questionable cafe which had coffee, food and a broad selection of drinks. Ste and I ended up talking to an old Russian man who claimed to have fought in Afganistan – somehow, Ste ended up giving the man some money to buy some chicken from the cafe and never got his change back.

6 June. First full day in L’viv.

J and I got up around 9 and headed to the cafe for a questionable coffee. Went back to the hostel to find everyone getting ready to go out for the day. Went to Double Coffee, a posh sit down coffee and food chain which was actually more expensive than eating in Britain! After breakfast, we checked the time of the England v. Kazakhstan match and looked up trains to Kiev. Walking around J, S, Big L, R(2) and I found a book market, where I bought a cheap pin to put on my camera strap. We found an art and junk market later which was an excellent find. Most stalls were set up with artwork and textiles, but some were just tables laden with old stuff. Silverware, cameras, cutthroat razors and cigarette cases in abundance. I bought a necklace and looked at a number of cameras (”good soviet quality!”). There was a wicked large format camera with a fogged glass viewer, broken shutter cable, for only 200 hryvnia. I also saw a number of old leather suitcases. These are some of the things that i somewhat regret not buying.

Got some pizza for lunch. Went back to Fat House for dinner. Tried in vain to find a place to watch the England Kazakhstan match.

7 June.

Nice and Sunny day. Bought sausage, yogurt and two litres of multivitamin juice for breakfast. We all went walking together, up a large forested hill, didn’t find anything interesting except a man who had apparently fallen asleep there the night before lying on a log. Lay around in a park near the university for some time. Lunch was a bit of a mix up when the waitress didn’t remember who ordered what, and didn’t know any english. As we didn’t know what exactly we had ordered (things with english translations like “Combined Team of Meat”) it was difficult for us to sort out what was whose.

It poured down rain all afternoon so we stayed in the hostel playing Ping-Pong. We headed to the train station around 9 to catch our overnight to Kiev. Guy in station saw my camera and wanted his picture taken.

8 June. Arrival in Kiev.
Our train got in at about 7.40. Pulled in next to the Kiev-Vladivostock train, one of the longest scheduled trains in the world. We immediately went to book our tickets back to Rzeszow. We were given two options, not cheap. 761 hyrvnia for one train the whole way. We didn’t really discuss our options and just went ahead and bought the tickets.

R(2) noted that people were very trusting in Kiev. He said, about the taxi driver “There were 8 of us, we could have taken his car.” But… he was a taxi driver. This was delirious early morning talking. At any rate, it took us a while to find the hostel, having not written down the door code and there being no signs on the door. Finally found it and dropped our stuff off. It was a bank holiday of sorts so the main street near Independence Square was blocked off to traffic. Grabbed a Mr. Snack (translated) for breakfast before exploring further.

J pointed us to a food market that was excellent. One large covered market with tables piled high with vegetables, spices, sweets, nuts, fruit, raw meat, fish, and sausages. The sellers would vie loudly for your attention, and money. The ladies selling cooked meats would offer random samples from their tables to entice a sale. I ended up getting a chunk of ham and some bread.

We regrouped at the hostel and planned a short sightseeing tour. M and I attracted some local who kept yelling excitedly about something in Ukranian, the only things we could make out was “fascist” and “hitler kaput.” Moved on to Dynamo Kiev stadium, which we could not get in. This is where Soviet POWs who had formerly been Dynamo Kiev players regularly thrashed Nazi military teams.

9 June.

We started out with some more sightseeing, going back to the St. Sophia national preserve, which we visited the day before. We went in today, 2 hryvnia to get in, 3 more to climb the bell tower. This was well worth it for the view, it was much higher than it looked from the outside. We walked down a street towards St. Andrews cathedral where there was a market recommended by the hostel owner. Turned out to be tourist tat. Not quality junk. Shame. Went to Chernobyl Museum and Botanical Gardens. Had a disgusting dinner at a place recommended by the hostel owner. Looked up some markets to visit the next day.

10 June.

Struck out early to go to some markets. Traveled far and wide in Kiev, but only found food markets and new goods markets. Nothing really good and classic like L’viv. Headed to Hidropark to meet up with the others. Walked around on the beaches of the Dnipro river until they spotted me, as i didn’t have enough credit to text to meet them. The beaches were packed with people. It was a nice sunny day, and the water was freezing cold. Swam around a bit and let the current move me slowly down the beach before swimming back in. Headed back to the hostel, grabbed some dinner and headed to the station.

We had to change money out of hryvnia before leaving. With no pounds available, I got 50 dollars for my 350 hryvnia. Purchased some last minute food and drink for the upcoming 17 hour train journey and climbed aboard. It was an immensely sweaty train and it didn’t take long for the boys to strip down to trousers only.

11 June. Final day.

Morning was passport control in the Ukrainian station at Mostiska. The carriage conductor came by and offered tea and coffee. We picked up some Polish passport inspectors and customs agents in the middle of nowhere on the way to Przemysl where we would change gauge. My previous post has the details on that change.

Finally we arrived in Rzeszow. We left our bags at the station and walked out. It was oddly quiet as we walked back to the main square. We found the tourist information centre was closed, and learned it was a public holiday. There were restaurants open, but not much else. People were out drinking and having ice cream in the beautiful weather. We had a good walk around, discovering that Rzeszow is actually really nice! There were lovely buildings and interesting places all over. We ended up settling down for a meal around 14:00 and staying there for quite some time. We headed to the main square for a sit down just before massive rain clouds moved in. A downpour ensued and we were forced into a heavy metal bar where we waited out the weather before returning to the station in time to catch a bus to the airport.

Changing Gauge

I’m going to kick this off with a video I have compiled of the train changing gauge from Ukrainian wide gauge to Polish standard gauge. This is also my first experiment with Vimeo, a high quality video sharing site. So let me know how the quality of the video looks on this host.

The gauge change took a couple of hours total, and we were in the train the whole time. The first couple of seconds show us going by the machines which do the lifting, and you can see that the track in the middle is actually two tracks, the outer being wide gauge, with standard gauge in the middle. So in our case, the train rolled in on the wide gauge, the bogies were unbolted from the carriage, these machines lifted the carriage straight up, new, standard gauge bogies were slid in, pushing the others out of the way, and we were set back down, ready to roll. I think they just replace the locomotives with the proper one.

So, without further ado, the video:

Oh, beware watching Vimeo videos on non-Intel macs, apparently it will always be choppy sound and video. Not sure why.

More to come on the post exam trip. Captains log is being typed up now. Travel info for Kiev and people to avoid in L’viv, as well as a review of several accommodations along the way. Stay tuned!

out

clipped out of my bike. shaved my revision beard. first shower in a week.
lunch.
film.
off to poland. ukraine.
back in a week.

cafe part two: someone else agrees with me

It is with pleasure that i direct your attention to the Christian Science Monitor. They have recently put out an article also questioning the rumored vehicle size/safety link. The bit that says a major news network commentator would actually push the line that higher fuel economy standards are more dangerous than war was particularly shocking. That is incredibly irresponsible. It is also pretty much wrong.

Also, an article livening the debate on this ‘rebound effect‘ that says that efficiency gains will be negated by more driving. They show that the figures (amount of increased driving) people come up with vary widely. The debate is clearly not over. Driving isn’t just something people do because they can afford it: people still have to get to work and deliver goods even if it costs money, just because it is cheap, people won’t just get in the car and run their engines. Besides, to suggest that getting people to drive/travel less is how to help the environment is missing the point. People need to travel, our economy and lifestyles depend on that; people need to travel more efficiently. More people moving around the country is a good thing, so long as they do it efficiently.

Thank you, Christian Science Monitor, for the perspective. Now please can you fix my trackbacks?