The Polish

There has been a growing number of Polish people coming to the UK. Slough has a large number of them. They  are noted for their hardwork. In Windsor I used to know a Polish family in the 1970s. I knew their daughter quite well.


Dan Dolinsky the head of this family fought in World War II, and attacked Germans tanks on horseback! He was also awarded a medal for bravery for saving someone's life at the time. He was also being helped to integrate into British culture by my pater, and others.


Once I had an uncle but not a real one. He was called uncle Edmund another pole, and lived with his English wife Phyllis in Woodley in Reading. He was nice fellow, but suffered from certain psychological problems. Tragically, he died in 1972 in a car crash...with a milk float! I always remember for whatever reason my return from school, and discovered that my parents were not in, and thus, went next door to see Beryl..who broke the news.

There is an "odd" story which I might as well mention. Whilst in Spain one of the historic places I visited as child was the cathedral at Santiago de Compostela dedicated to St James. I was informed that if I put my fingers into the little "openings" of the stone pillars, and made a wish I would have it answered. In this case, I wished to have a human sized space rocket. As soon as I returned to Britain uncle Edmund made a visit to my home in Windsor. As a present he gave me a space rocket....but a toy one ofcourse!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santiago_de_Compostela


Once a charming Polish salesman once visited mater, pater, and myself in our Windsor home. He was trying to sell from door to door a course in touch typing. My parents thought this would be a good idea, and I did the Course, and got the Certificate!Touch typing has proved invaluable especially on the internet when many people still use one finger to type out a sentence, or comment on a normal keyboard...!!

PS. Apart from the Polish people above we knew a few people living Windsor. One of them was another Catholic family which was headed by someone who was a school headmaster of a school. I knew their daughter who was much older than I at the time and she was like me interested in art but seemed to be more concerned about the joining the Mission of Mother Theresa! I was friend of Ian Whiskers who was a school fellow at the time, and his family ran a well-known fish for many years in Windsor.