Śmieszne Historie o Piłce Nożnej w Polsce: Introducing Loughgall FC, Europe’s Smallest Ever Top Flight Football Club

Posted on June 9, 2023June 9, 2023 by Jonny Blair

“Something changed” – Pulp. This post rings some bells, doesn’t it? Well a few years ago, I backpacked all the way to Krakow, then Tarnow, then Zabno, then Zalipie then the tiny village of Nieciecza in Poland! Nieciecza was once the village that has hosted Europe’s smallest ever top flight football club. That post was Read more about Śmieszne Historie o Piłce Nożnej w Polsce: Introducing Loughgall FC, Europe’s Smallest Ever Top Flight Football Club[…]

Śmieszne Historie o Piłce Nożnej w Polsce: Watching Northern Ireland in Poland Again!! Republic of Ireland 1-0 Northern Ireland in Swarzędz!

Śmieszne Historie o Piłce Nożnej w Polsce: Republic of Ireland 1-0 Northern Ireland in Swarzędz! Women’s Under 19 Match!

Posted on October 18, 2022October 18, 2022 by Jonny Blair

“Holding back the years” – Simply Red. I rolled the back the years recently in the wake of deep depression. Down in the doldrums, going nowhere in Warszawa, I took a 4 hour train to Swarzędz, about 30 minutes by train from Poland’s perky Pozzie, Poznań. Northern Ireland women’s football team would be playing three Read more about Śmieszne Historie o Piłce Nożnej w Polsce: Republic of Ireland 1-0 Northern Ireland in Swarzędz! Women’s Under 19 Match![…]

Reminiscing: My First Ever Visit to Poland, 12 Years Ago

Reminiscing My Birthday: My First Ever Visit to Poland, 15 Years Ago Today

Posted on March 30, 2020March 30, 2020 by Jonny Blair

“Is this the way to Legia Warsaw? Every night I’ve been eating my coleslaw” – Northern Ireland fans (2005). First of all today is my birthday! Sto lat, happy birthday to me! Ask me fifteen years ago today as my train rolled into the Polish capital city of Warszawa if I expected to live here Read more about Reminiscing My Birthday: My First Ever Visit to Poland, 15 Years Ago Today[…]

10 Iconic Northern Irish Pop (ular) Songs You Need To Listen To

Posted on March 5, 2020March 5, 2020 by Jonny Blair

“Burn the bridges as you’ve gone, I’m too weak to fight ye. I got my personal hell to deal with” – Peter Cunnah. Northern Ireland still remains unknown to many people around the world and it constantly shocks me why more people didn’t read Atlases, study world history or look at a map when they Read more about 10 Iconic Northern Irish Pop (ular) Songs You Need To Listen To[…]

Mieszkam w Polsce: Differences Between Northern Irish and Polish culture

Mieszka w Polsce: Most Amusing Differences Between Polish and Northern Irish Culture

Posted on December 14, 2019October 17, 2021 by Jonny Blair

“Kocham cię jak Irlandię” – Kobranocka. (“I love you like Ireland”) In my series Mieszkam w Polsce, I try to write about situations that arise in my normal life as an immigrant living in Poland. I have a plethora of posts still unwritten in this series, as I will simply never get the time to Read more about Mieszka w Polsce: Most Amusing Differences Between Polish and Northern Irish Culture[…]

Piątkowe Picie: Top 5 Irish Pubs in Warsaw (Warszawa)

Posted on April 26, 2019March 16, 2023 by Jonny Blair

“In Dublin’s fair city where the girls are so pretty, I first set my eyes on Sweet Molly Malone” – Irish Folk Song. The British, Portuguese, French and Dutch all travelled the world invading other countries and cultures and trying to tell them how to run them, at times killing and enslaving locals. Truth hurts Read more about Piątkowe Picie: Top 5 Irish Pubs in Warsaw (Warszawa)[…]

10 Things in Poland That Are Actually Northern Irish

Posted on March 8, 2019June 26, 2022 by Jonny Blair

“All these places feel like home” – Snow Patrol (Northern Irish rock band). I recently wrote about things in Northern Ireland which are actually Polish, differences between Northern Ireland and Poland, and translating Northern Irish slang into Polish. But does it work the opposite? What is there here in Poland that is exclusively Northern Irish? Read more about 10 Things in Poland That Are Actually Northern Irish[…]

Northern Irishman in Poland / Połnocny Irlandczyk w Polsce

17 Things in Northern Ireland Which Are Actually Polish

Posted on February 16, 2019March 28, 2019 by Jonny Blair

As a child growing up in Northern Ireland in the 1980s, my exposure to the big world came via my 1986 Panini World Cup Sticker book. It was the first time I had heard of Poland, or Algeria, or Soviet Union, or Iraq. That book along with 2 Christmas presents from my parents inspired a Read more about 17 Things in Northern Ireland Which Are Actually Polish[…]

Northern Irishman on Tour: Poland to Frankfurt to Cheatzerland

Posted on August 3, 2018 by Jonny Blair

I write far too many words and articles to ever be published. So much so that I believe that anyone who claims to have “writer’s block” are either liars or never were writers in the first place. I am always brimming with ideas. This is s short report on my adventure out of Poland to Read more about Northern Irishman on Tour: Poland to Frankfurt to Cheatzerland[…]

Dziwaczne Odkrycia: Taking My Polish Friends on a Tour of Northern Ireland

Posted on November 21, 2017November 21, 2017 by Jonny Blair

I have had a connection with Poland since serving ice cream with Warszawian Piotr on a beach hut in the English seaside resort of Bournemouth in 2004. At the same time, I also worked with Aneta and Grzegorz and later Zuzanna (who I met again as recently as 2016). All four are pictured with me Read more about Dziwaczne Odkrycia: Taking My Polish Friends on a Tour of Northern Ireland[…]