Alison Stenning

When I used to live here, this was (I think) just a freight station but seems to have been upgraded as part of a track upgrade through Krakow (eimrail.org/2021/06/21/c...).

Just checking Google street view for access to a small Kraków station and found not only a brand new (and quite funky) station building (and upgraded line) but also a quality cycle path.

Also impressed by the density and frequency of local and regional lines, connecting lots of suburbs, villages, towns and regional cities to Kraków. Lots of this network is longstanding but it’s clear there’s a lot of investment in new platforms and trains.

A teenage boy cycling a bike away from a train at a suburban Polish station

Lots of bikes parked up at a small town station in Poland

An older woman pushing a bike on to a Polish regional train.

A day on local and regional Polish trains, and impressed by the number of bikes I’ve seen at stations and on trains. All trains we’ve travelled on have had bike carriages and people of all ages seem to be using them.

Couldn’t possibly think who that might be…

Krakow drivers are much more considerate at zebras than I ever remember them being!

A red painted cycle lane along Dietla in Kraków.

There are an awful lot more cyclists in Kraków than there were the last time I was here; bikes parked all over the place, young people and families cycling through the city, delivery riders, and developing infrastructure, thought quite a lot of paint and sharrows in the city centre.

A PKP Intercity seat cover

Wrocław Główny

A shiny new train at Kędzierzyn Koźle

A shiny new train at Kraków Główny, with a sigh to the fast tram.

Second interrail leg - Berlin to Krakow - on a packed PKP train, through Lower and Upper Silesia and lots of nostalgia for me. A lot of signs of investment en route (platforms, roads, bridges under construction). Feels great, but odd, to be back in Poland.

And I think there’s a lot more potential around organising with play at the centre.

Trying to play out reveals an awful lot about the places children might want to play, in terms of care & maintenance, disinvestment, traffic, pollution, ASB, etc.

My research definitely suggests that when children and families think about playing out, and then start to, whether on play streets or more generally, they think and talk more about their neighbourhoods and about what they can do (doing, demanding, organising) to make things better and safer.

_one_ more way

‘Cat-sized’ rat found in Teesside town puts focus on pest control cuts Rodent said to be 22in (56cm) long from nose to tail found in Normanby, where rat problem is said to be worsening

Apart from anything else, how are kids supposed to play out when there are rats the size of cats in their neighbourhoods?Just more way austerity undermines children’s right to play.

www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

A signal box in western Poland with rails in the foreground and pylons in the distance.

Polish railways 😍

Neighbourhood play is, in my opinion, a profoundly Green issue. @edwardlamb.bsky.social is doing some great work on the Wirral.

bsky.app/profile/edwa...

Amendment 179 to Planning and Infrastructure Bill to Planning and Infrastructure Bill - Parliamentary Bills - UK Parliament Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle's amendment After Clause 52 (179) to Planning and Infrastructure Bill, proposed during Committee stage

Thank you @nataliegreenpeer.bsky.social ‪and @playengland.bsky.social for reintroducing this play sufficiency amendment. This is much more than (important) designated play provision, it's about making neighbourhoods and town centres play friendly
bills.parliament.uk/bills/3946/s...

Indeed. And also often those in post-92 universities too. And we also know that grants aren’t the measure of quality research. Sigh.

Yes, the playing field is very far from level.

As others have noted, promotion often depends on getting grants, but so does permanency and the transition from precarity and, increasingly, surviving compulsory redundancy.

Now the cycle path runs in front of the bus stop, and the bushes still aren’t cleared for those on foot 🤷🏻‍♀️

Ha! I took a photo of exactly this the other week!

Where is that!? I don’t think that existed (at least in that form) when I was last there.

Living, working and researching (in) Poland and post-socialism defined the first half of my academic career and my early academic identity (my PhD was on Russia/Siberia). My swerve to geographies of play (via austerity/families) was relatively recent, shaped in many ways by motherhood.

(Will also find out how rusty my Polish is…)

A Polish (PKP) train to Kraków

Off to Kraków today on our next interrail leg. I haven’t been for 15 years, after spending weeks or months there every year for about 15. Intrigued to find out what’s changed and what hasn’t, and already pleased to see lots of my old haunts still open (at least according to Google).

*currywurst!

Ketchup, sweet potato fries, curryworst on a metal plate

Pomegranate ice cream and pistachio & raspberry ice cream

Berlin food recommendations of the day:

Very good curryworst and sweet potato fries at a slightly random street food stall, Two Hungry Bears, behind Ostbahnhof (maps.app.goo.gl/TNjoTxZy4YrL...)

Amazing ice cream at Holzmarkt 25 by the Spree (maps.app.goo.gl/hKjX5vtrmHpV...)

A s-bahn passing across a bridge with a building site and cranes in the background.

One of the things that makes Berlin feel like a public transport city is the way there are often trains passing overhead.

Journey of a bike advocate. Goes on bike ride - smile emoji Experiences the danger - shocked emoji Approaches city council - straight face emoji nothing changes angry enoji person throwing a molotov cocktail Dreams of ending car culture

the journey.

creative developed with @thebikinglawyer.bsky.social

Thanks! Actually had spotted that on our wanderings, so good to get a recommendation.