Three weeks ago it was a long weekend in the UK, and on Monday afternoon I therefore somehow found myself wandering fairly aimlessly around the centre of Szczecin in Poland. After contemplating for a little while that one of the major differences between communism in Poland and East Germany was that in Poland churches were rebuilt lovingly, whereas in East Germany they were dynamited for ideological reasons, and just thinking about how many ghosts there are in sites of ferocious battles between the Wehrmacht and the Red army, I found myself staring at these advertisements on a wall.
Not speaking Polish myself, I was entirely baffled by what this was saying or why, other than whatever it was having a certain amount of latent Anglophilia in it. Therefore I just took the photo and walked on.
Last night, while having a few beers in a pleasant London bar with a fellow Samizdatista, I took the opportunity of asking a Polish waitress what it meant. She looked at it for a moment, paused, and said “That is very weird…… They sell vintage clothing….weird”, poured my beer into my glass, and walked off.
In truth that only enhanced the mystery. Further questions arise. What exactly does it say on the front of the bus? Do the proprieters of this business use mod fashion to express the essense of London’s street fraternity culture? I need to know Perhaps the readership can help?.
odziez is clothes or clothing.
on the front of the bus
“clothes from London”
i can’t quite read the top of the bus.
centrum is center
uzywanej is used
They sell used clothes… from London. weird. 😉
The caption at the bottom reads (roughly) “Center of used clothing”, while the sign on the bus reads “clothing from London”
As to why images of London would give the impression of vintage clothing, I have no idea. Maybe it’s an Austin Powers thing….
As advertising then it clearly succeeded: not only did you remember it, but you took note of it.
As one does …
I swear Mr Jennings that if the Idiotarian Green Party (motto: ‘If you like it then it must be bad for you’) does ever achieve government then you must be so high on their carbon hit list as to make even Tony Blair seem like an occasional traveller.
A Polish colleague tells me that they literally buy clothes from charity shops and sell them at a profit in Poland. This works because many Poles are indeed anglophilic. He also remembers reading about a survey that found 70% of Polish people between about 25-35 years old want to move or are in the process of moving to England.
As anyone who has shopped at the Salvation Army knows, you can get some good deals at the second-hand shop. Sometimes in the Czech Republic they get shipments of second-hand stuff from various countries; sometimes they have a regular source from a certain country. Second-hand furniture sometimes, too. If it comes from a reputable country in Western Europe, it can be used as a selling point. Nothing difficult to understand, for old Who fans anyway.
A few years ago i cam to appreciate the value of second hand clothing exported to Japan from the US.
I guess the chic of second hand clothing is higher when it is imported.
A few years ago i cam to appreciate the value of second hand clothing exported to Japan from the US.
I guess the chic of second hand clothing is higher when it is imported.