In lwowek slaski for Kate Ryan concert

A group of us travelled about an hour out of Szklarka to go to Iwowek slaski for a concert. I had not heard of Kate Ryan but wrongly jumped to the conclusion that she is of Irish descent and famous in Europe because she failed to break into British culture. I found out however, that she was born in Belgium to Dutch parents but some of her songs are still OK, quite catchy but her false American accent became quite annoying after a while.

I got quite near to her though as you can see on the left. No kate is not the mature women in the polka dot dress but the tiny image on the screen behind the umbrella. Anyway a lot of people did not come here to see her. I think it's more of a drinking in public thing. That is illegal in Poland apart from at events like this where a blind eye is shown but I still found myself hiding a can as some coppers walked by. I have heard many stories of people being fined for this and consequently old men find hiding places in bushes or hay wagons (today while driving we were stuck behind a hay wagon in which there were multiple old men drinking in the hay! Is that classed as a public place?).

For most of the time I was sitting beside a huge transformer or some electrical appliance which supplied power for all the lights around me. The thing that worried me was the large amount of wires scattered all over the place with drunk people stumbling all over them while

balanced on one of those cheap barbecue stands from argos. If that guy on the right had let one off then.....well this picture would have been much brighter. I have noticed that I am used to the English 'nanny state' effect where anything slightly dangerous would be sealed off behind an impenetrable cage by Health and Safety. I often hear myself saying 'but how is that allowed, isn't it dangerous' about a mountain tourist pass that has no fence or this situation here. Now I have realised the extent to which paranoia about being sued has influenced British culture because I am always surprised and scared because the state is not protecting me with a fence! But I am happy to report everything was fine, that guy carried on along his merry way.

Here are some general photos of the night. I'm rarely in my photos since I take them all but I am there!! I particularly like the young boy in the England kit who was running around with a sword, he reminded me of St. George but he was a nightmare to get a photo of.