Everybody needs somebody to love

Each January 1st, I almost always watch ‘The Blues Brothers’. And when there are no guests and time allows, I follow it up by watching the sequel, ‘The Blues Brothers 2000’. For reasons that I cannot quite fathom, my children have also adopted this custom – and it’s only from this film, which is over 40 years old, that they now know about the existence of Ray Charles, James Brown and Aretha Franklin. And, indeed, not only did they discover who they were, but they also began to put faces and names to the rhythm and blues that blares out from our home stereo. The story of Jake and Elwood really fits into the New Year spirit, because in its own unique way it makes you appreciate the passing of time, but it’s the comedy and excellent music that makes the passing of each year seem not quite so terrible. Maybe my recommendation should appear in the January/February issue of ‘Eurobuild’, but that will come out well after New Year, so you would have to wait yet another twelve months – and at least now I get the chance to encourage you to watch it. Why not give it a go?

In this December issue of ‘Eurobuild’, we have prepared for you some huge helpings of Christmas spirit. To say that Putin is the Christmas Grinch would be a massive understatement, so the first of these courses is a report on our pierogi-making event, when a number of Santa’s helpers gathered in a certain Ukrainian restaurant in Warsaw’s Praga Północ district to make a mountain of these delicious dumplings to raise money for our Ukrainian friends. You can find out how successful we were, who were the beneficiaries, and who turned out to be the master pierogi-maker in the Polish section of the issue. We also have a summary of the situation on the flex office market from one of the most important (and definitely most forthright) pioneers of this sector in Poland and the CEE region, in our interview with Hubert Abt of New Work. We take a look at building sites, which for some time have seemed winter-proof, since low temperatures and snowfall these days are not so disruptive for construction work. War and recession, however, are another matter entirely… We also check out what’s playing in the multiplexes – have cinemas won their audiences back after the pandemic? And what chance do they have in the cut-throat world of having to compete with streaming platforms? In addition to all this, we examine the environmental credentials of residential developments and, in particular, which developers have climbed up onto the highest level (or branch) in terms of mastering sustainability. We also review our ‘Łódź Rediscover’ conference, which after a break of a few years has now made an impressive return to the calendar of the premier real estate events in this city. The conference was also crowned by a trip round the exotic Orientarium zoo in Łódź.

Wishing you all peace and joy for the coming holiday season is perhaps not very original, but it seems that both will be particularly valuable and desirable over this festive season and the months ahead. The Polish tradition of setting an extra place for an unexpected guest at the Christmas Eve table will take on more meaning this year, so it would be good if this time around it was something more than just a ritual. So, we wish you all a merry Christmas, lots of joy, the support and company of your loved ones, and only good news in the New Year ahead of us.