Bielany

 

Arrived in Poland

So many people have asked me to keep in touch and let them know what I am doing. In anticipation of being busy I thought the easiest way was to start a blog which if you are interested and wanted to read you could or likewise you can ignore! I can't guarantee how frequently they will be once I am up and running but I will do my best. I'm not good at this stuff either can't edit or anything I need my children for that so bear with me! 

So I left my beloved wife, children dogs and Cornwall to get the 2am coach from Plymouth to Bristol Airport to then catch 7am flight to Krakow. Surprised to find nightmare queues from 5am at Bristol with hen and stag groups – pent up demand following COVID restrictions I guess but in stark contrast to the misery a thousand or so miles away. Arrived in Krakow to even larger  queues to get through customs which took 2 hours not helped now that we can no longer use  EU booths (I still can’t believe we have ‘left’ Europe - even more so today as we witness another nation fighting for its very existence and desperately seeking EU membership). Having eventually been approved entry I  got stopped by the border police to be searched - I  guess the mix of me travelling alone and wearing a khaki coat and dodgy beard fuelled suspicion in the current security climate. A further 20 minutes and I was able to leave. I was being met by Tadeusz a former Polish Air Force General. He and I had been students together in London in 2000 at the Royal College of Defence Studies. He had insisted on meeting me and taking me to the central train station. 

 It was a joy to see him and I was reminded what a great 'club' the RCDS is. As I had been kept so long we only had time for a coffee but he helped me get my ticket to Warsaw and saw me on the train. Navigating so many displaced Ukrainians in the station was a challenge emotionally as much as anything but it was heartening to see such wonderful support being shown by the Polish teams. 

My ticket had me sat next to a tearful lady and her two small chidren. She was on her way to join friends in Warsaw. She had been travelling for 3 days after leaving her home which, along with the school she had taught at for 10 years, had been flattened by Russian missiles. Her husband had remained behind to fight. I could barely disguise my own emotion. Utter despair and human misery is gut wrenching. I bought her sandwiches and coffee, the kids Mars Bars and we did our best to speak to one another in broken English and curse Putin as a way of turning the grief into something we could aim at. We said our goodbyes at Warsaw station where I was met by Professor Nathalia Morgulec-Adamowicz of the University 'Akademia-Wychowania Fitycznego' who drove me to the hotel I am staying at whilst I get a better understanding of how I can help. My family is self funding this venture so I was humbled and  hugely grateful to the Polish Wheelchair Rugby Federation who insisted on paying my hotel accommodation whilst I settle in as a thank you for my help.  Another reminder of the incredible wheelchair rugby family who look after one another and where the best of humanity shines brightly. Tomorrow I meet the Mayor to start to see how I might be able to contribute.