Of martens and mechanics

During one of my last forays to this region, I had a particularly memorable encounter with a sweet little creature known as a pine marten, which the locals fondly refer to as a ‘taśka’. One day, when I was starting up my car outside my boarding house, the engine made a strange gurgling noise before the light lit up on my dashboard to tell me that it had broken down. I opened up the bonnet and pulled out the broken belt that had connected the engine to the alternator. The owner of the B&B suddenly appeared as if out of nowhere (good hoteliers are gifted with this ability) and showed me an indentation on its surface. “A taśka’s gone and bitten through it, sir,” he informed me with some satisfaction. And so, I was forced to set out on a quest to find the nearest mechanic. As it turned out, most of the establishments that I found online only existed in Google’s imagination, so with a growing sense of panic I was forced to take even more mountainous roads while the electronics in my car simply packed in. The winding roads of Bieszczady lose all their romance when you don’t have power steering or brakes. At last, I found a mechanic’s workshop in a corrugated iron building in somebody’s yard. The two oil-stained mechanics who greeted me were in fact most professional. They charged up my battery and told me to take a walk as they drove out to the nearest town to buy a new belt. As a result, my car was fixed in less than an hour and I could drive off after having paid what I considered a perfectly reasonable price – one that would’ve been unimaginable in any large city. I’m sorry, I was meant to be discouraging you from going there. But don’t worry – this particular mechanics in Komańcza has also now closed down.

In Eurobuild’s summer issue, there’s also a lot to see and read. We open with an interview about the struggles faced by general contractors, and then take in the view of the city from the top floors of the tallest office buildings, before we investigate how hotels are (just like other segments) introducing ESG standards. Staying in the summer spirit, we head for the coast to find out what the situation is for Polish seaports as well as to take a look at what’s probably the largest coastal construction site in Europe – a huge new waterfront district on a former industrial site in Stockholm that’s been redefining the term ‘sustainable construction’. We also include a report on our eighth Suits on Bikes ride, which is attracting yet more cyclists each year.

And since this will be my final edition as the editor-in-chief of Eurobuild, I want to thank you all for the fantastic and generally harmonious years I have had working with you – and I hope to see you soon out there in the real estate world in some other capacity.

Au revoir!