Pole position

Visiting Warsaw with a colleague, where we're attending a funding and networking conference. I've only been to Poland once before, in 2012, so this trip is very welcome both to explore a new city and to have productive discussions.

I'm not one for glossing over reality with pleasantries but it's always a puzzle why pilots so jovially inform passengers when there are dodgy-sounding technical difficulties that delay take-off. This happened today at Stansted when the plane apparently had problems both at the front and the rear. When we started taxiing it's no wonder some people gripped tightly to the armrests.

I think over time my body is rejecting gluten more and more, yet Polish bagels are so appetising that I'll be forced to devour them and screw the consequences. Although a five-year old blip reminds me that even then I wasn't exactly scoffing them with gay abandon. And nowadays I would willingly select a peach iced tea. How times change.

Warsaw Old Town is delightful and atmospheric. With lots of pork knuckle and beef cheek on offer, it's not a vegetarian's paradise. But it is heaven for a fan of Nutella flavoured ice cream, available from hatches every fifty metres.