Ric Todd, British Ambassador to Poland

I have had the honour and pleasure to be British Ambassador in Poland for nearly 3 years.  Before that I worked in the British Embassies in Czechoslovakia, 1987-1989, and Slovakia, 2001-2004.  Over nearly a quarter of a century I have worked on and travelled extensively across Central Europe from Tallinn to Sofia and Pilsen to Kiev. This is a region I really enjoy and find fascinating. The extraordinary progress it has made since the end of Soviet occupation in 1989 never fails to astonish me. And Poland is the biggest and in many ways the most interesting of Central European countries.
Britain and Poland have over history been both known and unknown to each other. Stereotypes have perhaps grown. The idea that Britain is a land of tradition, cold people, fog and bad food is inaccurate.  As the many Poles who have lived in Britain can say, Britain is actually dynamic, innovative and very open. Equally, some of the stereotypes in Britain of Poland being a grey, concrete covered country with bad weather and intolerant people is also completely wrong.  It is said that Poland is a socially conservative country. I think there is a lot of truth in this. But I don’t think it is a bad thing. Many of the strengths of Polish society arise precisely from this traditional, and in some ways conservative, character. But this goes with another strong Polish characteristic. Poland is, and always has been when free to make its own choices, an open and tolerant country.
My first experience of Poland was meeting Polish boys at my Catholic junior school.  When I was 8 I knew what Poles did for Christmas. Since then I have learned about other Polish ways. One thing you are never short of in Poland is food. I remember once being invited with my Polish teacher to the weekend house of a Polish family. We arrived at 1200.  Breakfast was being eaten and I joined in.  After this tea and cakes were served. By this time it was about 1430.  “Right”, said the hostess, “let’s have lunch now”. This is undoubtedly one of the challenges of living in Poland. I would add, though, that the idea of Poles as heavy drinkers is something which neither statistics nor my personal experience bears out. My regret is that Poles, unlike Slovaks, do not make a habit of distilling fruit into delicious spirits.
I like the variety of landscapes and urban architecture in Poland. Everyone has favourite places here.  There is certainly strong competition but I particularly like Polish woods, Masuria and Gdansk. For me, someone who particularly likes walking in woods, history and looking at old buildings, Poland is a remarkably rich country. As a student of history, there is much of interest in Poland.  And the fact that history is alive and discussed is excellent - one of the best things about Poland. I have gladly joined in and enjoyed these historical debates.  Given what happened to Poland, the wonder is not how much but how little Poland "obsesses" about history.
I had 5 months to learn Polish before I came here. Learning Polish has been a struggle. It is a language which revels in complexity - harder than Czech or Slovak.  But it has been worthwhile, partly in terms of ability to communicate (eg live radio and TV programmes) and partly because in the event of disagreement any Pole can say that I am stupid or wrong but he/she cannot say “you know nothing about Poland”. My handicap is that because I came to Polish via Czech and Slovak I still have an accent.  Once just after I had made a speech in Polish I met a Polish Minister (whom discretion forbids me to name).  "How was my speech?", I asked.  "Very good", he replied, "but you still have a Czech accent". I once had a group of Poles in fits of laughter when I commented "Fanousky niemieli wystupenku" which is Slovak not Polish for "the visiting football fans had no tickets". On another occasion my accent became a source of amusement. I noticed several colleagues asking me if I knew the Polish for earth tremor. I would wonder why and reply 'wstraz'. Finally one smiled and said "how funny - and not even nearly right".
I think that Prime Minister Tusk has a nice (and quite British) sense of humour. I recall that in November 2008 he went to London and had lunch in 10 Downing Street with Gordon Brown. After lunch, it being a nice day, Mr Tusk and his team went for a walk in St. James's Park. I walked with them. Then I noticed the Prime Minister and one his Ministers (whom discretion forbids me to name) had paused and were looking intently at something on the grass. I went over. The object of their attention was a grey squirrel. Squirrels in Poland being red, they had not seen a grey one before. The Minister, perhaps used to friendly squirrels in Łazienki Park, put out a hand towards the squirrel. I urged him not to. Grey squirrels, I said, were unpleasant and vicious. They were not native to Britain but had been imported in the 19th Century and had driven the indigenous red squirrels out. "Well", replied Mr Tusk, "that is the first time that I have been sorry that the reds lost".