Leftovers

Like a lot of people, we also tend to fall into the trap of buying too much food for Christmas. You need to plan ahead and stock up a bit, because you know the shops are going to be closed for a couple of days, but it's all too easy to go over the top. So we're also gradually eating leftovers now.

I think there are lots of similarities between Spain and Poland. Poland is still intensely Catholic. The country was subject to a repressive regime for half a century, but in Poland's case the Catholic church was a focus for opposition, and was only tolerated by the Communist government. Poland's now also benefiting greatly from EU funds. For example the road network is being modernised and extended, and - of greater interest to me - there are lots of long-overdue improvements being made to the railway infrastructure, and more and more new and rebuilt trains running on some lines at least.

Ernesto asked whether anything of Poland's communist past is still visible. Well, it depends very much where you go and what you're looking for. The statues and other monuments to communist heroes have gone. Street names commemorating outstanding (= notorious!) communist personalities and events have been changed. City centres look increasingly like city centres everywhere in Europe - the same flashy-looking buildings with glass and steel facades, the same shops, the same advertising, the same bright lights, the same cars. But if you wander off round the suburbs, or through parts of the countryside, you soon find a different picture, the results of decades of neglect and lack of investment: dilapidated, crumbling buildings, roads and pavements full of holes, and real poverty.

Monika from Warsaw wrote about the historical difference between towns with a large town square, such as Kraków, and those with a long, broad main street, like Gdańsk.

Gdańsk (also known in English by its German name, Danzig) was one of the members of the group of northern European trading ports known as the Hanseatic League, and the style of the buildings in the old town is very reminiscent of cities in the Netherlands, north Germany and Denmark, with characteristic tall narrow houses with elaborate roofs. The panorama of the town is dominated by the church of St. Mary, which is reputedly the largest brick building in the world.

Like Warsaw, Gdańsk was destroyed in the second world war, and the old town was meticulously reconstructed on the basis of old plans, drawings and photographs. Nowadays Gdańsk is known as the birthplace of the Solidarity movement and the 1980 shipyard strikes, which eventually led to the collapse of communism.

Now for a few language points:

1 "We wait for till a few days before Christmas Eve to do all the Christmas shopping"

Of course 'wait for a few days' is fine, but 'a few days before Christmas Eve' is a point in time, just like 'tomorrow', so in the same way that you say 'wait till tomorrow', you should say 'wait till a few days before Christmas Eve.'

2 "It wasn’t after his [Franco's] death that Church and State were separated."

This is similar. It should be 'It wasn’t until after his death that Church and State were separated' - in other words, it was only after his death that Church and State were separated.

3 "It wasn’t till 1928 when an association was created to promote the city tourism."

Similar again - use 'It wasn't until ..... that .....': 'It wasn’t till 1928 that an association was created to promote city tourism.'

In nos. 1 to 3, you could use either 'till' or 'until' interchangeably.

4 "As most of you, I spent all day long with my family."

Here, the use of 'as' and 'like' is causing confusion again. In a clause, i.e. if there's a verb included, you could use either 'as' or 'like':
'I spent all day with my family, as most of you did.'
'I spent all day with my family, like most of you did.'
'As most of you did, I spent all day with my family.'
'Like most of you did, I spent all day with my family.'

But if there's only a pronoun or noun phrase with no verb, use 'like', not 'as':
'I spent all day with my family, like most of you.'
'Like most of you, I spent all day with my family.'

5 "There have been accidents caused by the bonfires, but any too serious."

Here, 'any' needs a verb in the negative:
'There haven't been any very serious accidents.'
Otherwise, use 'none', which has an intrinsically negative meaning:
'..... but none of them have been very serious.'

6 "The bonfires are constantly controlled by firemen."

This could be either:
'The bonfires are constantly monitored by firemen' (i.e. The firemen keep an eye on the bonfires) or:
'The bonfires are kept under control by firemen' (i.e. The firemen continuously intervene to stop the bonfires spreading and becoming dangerous, to stop them getting out of control.) To control something, such as a machine, generally means to make it behave in the way you want it to behave.

7 "The bonfires, despite their big dimensions ....."

The word 'dimensions' is most often used with things that have been designed and constructed: ships, bridges and so on. Here it would be better to say something like:
'..... despite their huge size .....'

7 "write a desire in a piece of paper"

Here we use the word 'wish':
'Write a wish on a piece of paper'
(And, for example: 'Make a wish as you throw a coin in the fountain.')

8 "taking a night bath"

People 'take a bath' or 'have a bath', normally in the bathroom, in order to get clean. What they do in the sea, or in a lake or river, is 'swimming' or 'bathing'.

9 "a competition in which takes part the best pyrotechnics companies"

This should be:

'a competition in which the best firework companies take part'

Here are a couple of sentence transformations for practice:

1 The rescue operation lasted until 4.30 a.m.
> It wasn't until .....

2 Lots of other people bought too much food, and so did we.
> Like .....

3 Representatives from every region take part in the meeting.
> It's a meeting in which .....

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