Bureau for Investments and Economic Cycles

I recently came across the website of BIEC, which publishes analyses of Polish economic trends. There are many companies that produce such information, but I particularly like the long term trends shown on the graphics. The latest release shows the Market Conditions Index, which seems to be based on leading cyclical economic indicators. This remained stable for October 2010, the third month in a row.

What I particularly like about the presentation is the long-term perspective, with the information for this index going back to 1994, as below. (The image is taken straight from the website without permission, but I hope they don't mind me using it to advertise them.)



The index information, covering roughly two economic cycles, is fascinating in itself, with the 2008/2009 downturn merely a return to long term (from 1994) trend growth levels. The current level seems to be on the 2001-2005 trend line, with 2005-2007 being an abnormal growth period away from longer term trend, with the subsequent correction being seen from the graph to as having been a stabilising, rather than negative phenomenon. It will, of course be interesting to see the extent to which that 'abnormality' might feed into a longer term pattern, but there is no hint of that at the moment. Even without this, consistent trend growth over the period is absolutely clear. So, given the severity of the world recession and its inevitable negative impact on Polish growth, the long-term pattern of continuous growth seems inevitable, with any variation likely to be on the upside.

The information on the site is in Polish, but Google Translate works well - I have the browser button set up on Firefox, which stops me even having to think about the Polish.

Payment Card Fraud

One of the other bloggers mentioned that card companies were making money on foreign credit/payment cards by debiting the account in the foreign currency rather than Polish złoties, charging highly for the service.

I recently got a receipt from a shop for such a payment through Polcard. This has the wording:
I accept that I have been offered a choice of currencies for payment & that this choice is final [.] I accept the conversion rate & final amount & the selected currency

I wasn't offered a choice and didn't know about it until I got the receipt. Obviously I therefore didn't accept any of the things mentioned. The statement on the receipt is claimed to be by me, but it is in fact by Polcard. As far as I am concerned, it is simply fraudulent. Since it was printed out after I had keyed in my PIN and the transaction was complete - it is at the bottom of the receipt, I could not have agreed to it if the cashier had wanted me to. I therefore feel greatly aggrieved at this lie about my views. Far more so than the fact that they are making money out of me: that's business.

They wrote more, however:
The guaranteed FX rate is based on Reuters rate of the previous banking day including a hedging margin not exceeding 3.5%

I like the 'hedging margin' description, since it nicely suggests that the 3.5% is not there to make them money. Currencies do fluctuate, so safeguarding themselves sounds reasonable. However, they fluctuate to both the company's advantage and disadvantage and the net result should be that they make a profit, more so if they have a sensible forward buying policy. Well done, for the commercially manipulated wording all the same.

However, the statement did allow me to check with my English bank, which charges 2.5%. Since my English bank makes money out of me in every way possible, the card company's 3.5% is not unreasonable in itself. I now know that I don't want them to do the currency exchange, but will I be able to stop it?

Soon after, I went into a petrol station. I was offered the choice of złoties or euros. Euros was odd, but I did have a choice here and I chose złoties. However, the receipt came out in pounds. I told the cashier about the mistake and she tried to cancel the sterling payment. She was obviously new and had difficulties, which her colleague was too busy to help with, rather impatiently suggesting she ring up the card company. Since there was a queue and I was late, I accepted the payment in pounds. I will try again next time.

Warsaw's Rural Agglomeration

The Warsaw Agglomeration was defined in 2004 in the Masovian Voivodeship's Spatial Plan. The area seems only to be used administratively by the Vovoideship police, but is the basis for Voivodeship (ie regional) level co-ordination of the various independent local authorities in areas such as air pollution.

From 2010 10

Młochów is included in the area as part of the Pruszków (Pru-shkoov) local authority area and is one of many where the terms 'agglomeration', 'conurbation' or 'metropolitan area' seem quite out of place. The picture below is part of what appears to be a theoretical lower level (gmina) local authority road.



This comes to an end amidst the fields, but the local authority property continues through the trees on the left half of the picture below, with another track starting at the other end.



Polish Wikipedia's entry on the Warsaw agglomeration gives various alternative definitions, but almost all include Młochów. The Masovian definition is probably most concentrated on the main urban areas, but even so, the Agglomeration has 10% of its population in rural areas, whilst this rises to 32% if Warsaw City itself is excluded. Given the low population density of rural areas, the proportion of rural land must be much higher. It therefore seems fair to say that the Agglomeration is quite rural.



Woods and forests included.



The pictures were taken walking down the road beside Młochów school earlier in October: I was looking for autumn colour. I've pretty much given up on that now, though. The country was still quite pretty anyway.



Speaking of pretty, this morning's sunrise was one I just had to snap. Spectacular morning colour is so common in and around Warsaw that I already have loads of such pictures. I don't know whether it's my London background that keeps me fascinated by them or whether it is something more primeval. They are beautiful, though.

Kielce Conquers Shanghai

Kielce (Key-el-tse) is pretty much a "Where?" place, for Poles as well as foreigners. A Polish person I knew laughed when I said I was going to work there. However, both the city itself and its region, Świętokrzyskie (Shvi-ento-Kshi-ski-eh - the Holy Cross Voivodeship), were a great place to live and work.

So, a Kielce Gazeta news item about the Kubuś Theatre immediately got my attention. I knew the place and some of the people who worked there. The photos here are from a 2003 regional conference, held in the theatre.

From 2003 06 Kielce Twinning Closing Conference

Kielce's Kubuś Theatre Conquers China

The Kubuś Puppet and Actor Theatre will perform at the International Theatrical Festival in China - the only participant from Poland. [Kubuś - Koo-boosh, is Pooh Bear, shortened to 'The Bear'.]

Li-Chao-Wei's 'The Daughter of the Dragon King', directed by Irena Dragan, is an old Chinese love story. The actors will first perform on October 11 (2010). The performance will be preceded by seven hours of rehearsal and a few minute's display, prepared especially for the opening entertainment. Theatres from Turkey, Russia, Great Britain, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia and Portugal will also perform during the festival. Kubuś is the only Polish representative. The performance will be seen by people attending the Expo 2010 world fair from 16 to 18 October. "We are going at the invitation of the Chinese, who were in Kielce in October last year and saw our performance. The Director of the Shanghai Puppet Theatre was among the visitors. Our play greatly appealed to them, especially by its combination of tradition and modern delivery forms. We will try not only to represent Kielce appropriately, but the whole country", promised Dragan, director of the theatre, just before departure.



12 people flew out to China - the director, actors and support staff. The scenery has been packed in special containers previously used for a performance at a festival in Iran. The performance will be in Polish, but spectators will have an English translation. "The language of the theatre is an international language. It is not necessary to understand the words. The energy of performance, the method of acting, these are what come across. It is by this that the performance is accepted by a foreign audience - through their senses", explained Dragan. The Theatre was also asked to provide one of the dolls for the museum organized in the foyer of the Shanghai Theatre. Dragan will additionally give a lecture during a symposium on 'Theatre and the Public'.



I heard of the theatre's international reputation back in 2002/2003, so this visit is not particularly surprising. The people in the theatre knew even then that they were amongst the best in the world. The man second from left below was one of the actors.



The conference was a Holy Cross region celebration of their work in preparing for the EU, giving due acknowledgement to the foreign support given to their work. I chose the theatre as providing a more relaxed communal atmosphere for participants compared to the normal formality of conference rooms (and it was cost-effective). It seemed to work - you can see that people enjoyed themselves. The pictures are not mine, but those of a photographer hired for the occasion.

The theatre also hosts concerts given by the Kielce Jazz Club, which organised an entertainment and regional promotion for conference participants, friends and passers-by.



The Deputy Major of Busko Zdrój on the right, with the Director of the business incubator at Starachowice next to her.



The band below played regularly in the Jazz Club bar, whilst the paintings on the right are by Antoszewski - one of Poland's greatest artists.



Jazz Club members and regular attendees of its bar.



Plus the barmaid.



Was there ever another EU sponsored business conference like this? Szczryk is a different story, which may never be told - "even Adam danced".

Positive Politics

A completely unspectacular news item provides, for me at least, a clear demonstration of the positive thinking of Polish politicians compared with those I remember from the UK. A www.thenews.pl item on 'candidates-line-up-for-warsaw-election-bid' shows what all the candidates want to do. Its all pretty positive stuff, with absolute consensus on various combinations of building up infrastructure, and improving services and quality of life. There's none of the UK obligatory candidate promising to cut the (by definition) bad public expenditure and (by definition) wasteful public servant jobs.

Thankfully, amongst what seem to be the serious ambitions of most of the candidates, there is at least one of those absolute delights of Polish politics, a complete eccentric (or nutter if you prefer). Janusz Korwin-Mikke is well known for his amusing and extreme ideas - I saw him described somewhere as a Publicist and Politician, with self-publicising seeming to be primary whenever I hear about him. Unfortunately, his 'improve Warsaw traffic by eliminating trams', looses my support. Trams were my primary method of getting around in Warsaw, with the main problem being that I never knew whether to get off the tram on those rare occasions when they broke down. Everything was normally sorted out in 10 minutes or so: quicker than going to the nearest bus stop and waiting for the bus. No London-style extremely long wait for the next bus with space, etc.

I also liked 'Katarzyna Munio is planning to introduce bus passes for cars with at least four passengers', which had me envisaging cars driving through the doors of Warsaw buses. Then I realised its just a journalistic howler - I think she wants to allow full cars to use bus lanes.

The sad bit to me is Czeslaw Bielecki claiming to be an independent candidate whilst being on the PiS political party list of candidates. I hope they sort themselves out soon. However, since he wants to 'eliminate traffic jams', he may be a bit of a nutter (eccentric, sorry) too.

What about reducing public sector debt? Well, I haven't seen Warsaw's balance sheet and if Korwin-Mikke, who quotes Milton Friedman - the arch-enemy of government expenditure, doesn't (have the guts to?) demand it, then neither do I.

(In)glorious Autumn

I was thinking about doing a post about the lack of autumn colour, but found that Polish M' Knobs' Autumn Fall post got there first. However, he compares Poland to the USA and Canada, whilst I was just thinking of last year in Młochów.

The leaves were just starting to change colour here this year.

From 2010 10

However, four or five days of high winds stripped off many of the leaves. I keep looking out for something spectacular, but there is little. Last year, however was very different.

From 2009 10 Mlochow Autumn

Mind you, the season was also very different last year. This is what it looked like on the 14th October 2009 - it was snowing.



Whilst today's, 12th October sunny weather is forecast to continue for another week. The sun has the frost vaporising off the garden chair in the picture below.



There's still more time, though. These pictures were taken on the 19th Octover last year.







For more pictures from last year see picasaweb.google.co.uk/PanSteeva/200910MlochowAutumn#.

Respect and Honour

A touching, if minor, news item (original in Polish) from http://kielce.gazeta.pl.

Chamber of Memory for MP Gosiewski

The parents of Przemysław Gosiewski - Jawiga and Jan Gosiewski - yesterday opened a chamber of memory in Kołaki Kościelne, where they live, dedicated to their son. His widow, Beata Gosiewska, and their children participated in the ceremony.

The president of PiS, Jarosław Kaczyński, also came to the ceremony. He gave a copy of the new Polish constitution to Przemysław Gosiewski's parents. "This is the supreme work of Przemek [diminutive of Przemysław], which symbolises the meaning of his life. His purpose was to serve Poland and the Polish Parliament which, with this new blueprint, had at last to begin to serve the Polish nation. I honour his memory", said the president of PiS. Earlier he had stressed that Gosiewski had been his friend, and a man with huge energy and organisational talent. "He had an unusual gift of acting among people. He managed to achieve success, whilst surviving the most difficult times", underlined Kaczyński. A small museum has been created in farm buildings on the grounds of the family's property. The centre of this is a fire-place, over which hangs a portrait of Przemysław Gosiewski surrounded by a shroud.

Among the exhibition exhibits are mementos which, as a politician, he received as presents from voters of Świętokrzyskie Ziemi [region], amongst others. One can also see the certificate conferring on him the status of honourable citizen of the town of Włoszczowa. The Chamber of Memory will be open up to 1 November, afterwards only in spring.

Someone reading about Poland in English will know of the Smolensk air crash, but will primarily be assailed with controversies centred around who was to blame, where to place a memorial cross, the PiS political party and its president. This report, however, gives a very different perspective. Everyone is expected to know that Przemysław Gosiewski died at Smolensk and that he was the successful PiS organiser in Świętokrzyskie. The only things required for the people in Kielce and the region are respect and honour.

Cheer Up - Economist Eastern Approaches

I like the Economist Eastern Approaches blogsite. Apart from having articles about Poland, it gives me a perspective on events in countries around me. I say 'perspective' as I remember the Economist from years ago, when it often had interesting, well written articles with a clear hard-hitting message. The problem was that the lack of knowledge of the writer was normally only too apparent when an article covered something I knew.

I don't know how I would have regarded their current 'Cheer up' article and the full article in European Voice. The points come across very differently in the two articles, but both make what I consider to be a fair point: "Poland's cup has rarely been fuller, not something a visitor would guess from listening to Poles complain". OK, 'rarely' is journalistic waffle, but who wants to look back more than 70 years?

I would certainly agree that, 10 years ago, virtually every Pole thought Poland was the pits and had no chance. I seemed to be the only one who thought otherwise. This is changing and their is a much greater sense of optimism, especially as a result of people returning from the self-evidently great countries, such as England, spreading the news that much there was pretty awful as well. However, I would still hesitate to say that the balance of the Polish mood about Poland has become more than it's OK, possibly having the chance of becoming prosperous and a good place to live. (I have moved from belief in this possibility to expectation, with certain knowledge that Poland is already the best possible place for many people who already live here ... and some that don't)

However, there is still a strong trend in attitudes that has everything in Poland impossible and unacceptable: the "sophisticated London-based Poles" mentioned by the Economist journalist being archetypally amongst the most narrow minded and uninformed of such people.

What surprises me about the articles is that the description of Poland is so very different from that I see described in the media. The impression given by the "Polish media and blogosphere" seems only to reflect blogs and comments on media articles. Indeed, I get the impression that the journalist wants to emphasise that he is saying something good by saying everyone else says it is bad, distorting reality to achieve this. He then makes himself the arbiter of balance by giving "criticisms [that are] are all the more powerful when made fair-mindedly".

I can't help smile at the "corruption and cronyism", which are always a fun media hang-up, but shouldn't a journalist know that these are blown all out of proportion from their value to the press as attention attracting news items.

However, "the soft-pedalling towards the regime in Russia has gone too far (Chechens, Georgians and Russian democrats all scent betrayal)" is completely weird. Poland has recently drawn back from attempting to incite open conflict to a position where it talks to its neighbour in a normal, untrusting, but diplomatic fashion. Sure, the Chechen leader visiting Poland was arrested, but his case got to court and was rejected quicker than it would normally take to question anyone, not to mention finding faults in the international warrant, lack of documentation, etc which are the world standard for prevarication. The guy himself was clearly not angered by the whole process: it was a set-up. One in the eye for the Russia and he can now come to Poland any time he wants without hesitation. The Economist has picked up one side of the Polish political spectrum and translated their extreme view into being "fair-minded".

The journalist's problem seems to be that there has been a change of party in power and he can't quite figure out what this process means. Democracy is too lively and energetic in Poland for someone who comes from one of those limited option, "sophisticated" democracies where the fundamental principle of political parties is that they are all pretty much the same behind the propaganda. Boring politics for boring countries, but not for Poland.

A Big Thank-You to Polish Cashiers

There was an 'Italian strike' in a number of Polish hypermarkets and large DIY outlets. This turned out to be a 'work to rule', whch I think means being as bloody-minded as possible rather than following rules in any clear sense. Someone asked me what I thought about it. Well, actually nothing. I wasn't planning on going to the shops so it didn't affect me.

I am quite balanced on the principle of union action of this sort. I believe in the concept of paying the market price for your labour force, but this is a complex thing to judge. Although most supermarket jobs can reasonably be described as low skilled - cashiers and shelf fillers, this does not mean they are unskilled. Cashiers need more than the ability to generate a list of prices and receiving payment. Very important, for me, is their ability to remain patient with moronic and unpleasant customers, whilst being pleasant to those that are more considerate. Company management, on the other hand is often forced to consider short-term costs eg the lowest possible expenditure on employees irrespective of quality. Things such as loyalty of the labour force go completely out of the window. This is rarely in their longer term interest, but they have little choice. Union action forces them to consider the balance of their own wider interests. With the union affecting a range of highly competitive companies, such actions help avoid competitive down-cutting.

I do have a strong personal interest in all this. I have been doing our weekly shopping in Polish supermarkets and hypermarkets for some years now. I am extremely grateful to that vast majority of cashiers who have been extremely friendly and helpful to me. So a big THANK YOU to all of you I have met in the two Tesco's, Auchan, Carrefour, Real and all the other shops around Warsaw's Jelonki; Tesco and the two Lidl's in Pruszków, Auchan in Piaseczno, Real and, for DIY, Praktiker in Janki. There have been many other places, but those are the main ones.

There was a campaign not too long ago complaining about supermarket cashiers, which brought home to me just how difficult their job was. The campaigners said that the cashiers were rude and didn't smile. I knew the first to be untrue as a general principle - there are always exceptions. Not normally smiling is something I would accept, but I couldn't, and can't, think of anyone I know who would do this in such a job. Who could possibly expect such a thing? It was explained to me shortly afterwards. Someone told me that they refused to go into any Tesco's stores because one cashier hadn't said anything to them expect to tell them the price. Once? Any Tesco's? I said that I thought they were good, and asked if he/she had said good morning/afternoon to the cashier. This was completely irrelevant. The cashier had to be nice, but the customer didn't. So that was what this arrogant, selfish campaign was all about: these people think they buy the cashier's time along with their groceries. They expected servants or slaves.

I have no idea whether the conditions the workers are seeking in the work-to-rule are right, but they have my good will. I do support Sunday shopping though.

Foul Mouthed Polish?

I have seen several complaints on the internet from Polish people living in Britain about the amount English people swear. I can't say that I noticed this in England, but I may just be used to it. An external observer might notice such things better, so fair enough.

Indeed, I also noticed that Polish people swore continuously and openly. This was based purely on listening to people's use of the Polish 'K word' (pron. koorva) and its routinely used variations, compared to the English 'F word' (pronounce it yourself) and its less routinely used variations. The sounds of koorna, koorcha, koorda, etc are part of continuous everyday Polish conversation. I recognised they must be milder, but I sympathise with the English point of view that considers (for good or bad) that substitutes like 'fek' or 'fok' are absurd and hypocritical: everyone knows what you are saying.

I was therefore surprise to find that I offended people when I suggested that they swore. Any link with the swearword, of any sort, was not only completely denied, but the big Polish dictionary was brought over to prove me wrong. It was completely inconclusive, but I got the point. Since the sound similarity and identical usage are obvious, I accepted that the Polish language had evolved a system of non-vulgar exclamations. So, if English people swear more, this is simply because there is a different assessment of what is vulgar or not.

Then, a forgotten Polish dictionary appeared, which had the family in fits of laughter. The Ślownik Eufemizmów Polskich - Dictionary of Polish Euphemisms - published by PWN tells me that I was right and that all these uses are vulgar. As the linked page describes it, the dictionary "provides the milder substitutes not only of obscene words, but also of those which the user would for some reason like to avoid" ie it is like saying 'fek' in English. These may normally be innocent exclamations in Poland, with the vulgarity forgotten, but from an English cultural viewpoint, Polish people do swear continuously and openly. The difference is just the degree of offensiveness.

The dictionary has 43 headline euphemisms for the 'K word'. Some are direct replacements, but others are used to refer to the word, as I have done here. 'PKP' is an interesting example, roughly equivalent to 'f**king beautiful' with the negative meaning of something bad. I was surprised to find that 'Matko Bosko' (mother of god) is not included, which is also routinely used as a replacement. I remember going in to a local bar for a cup of coffee when an angry drinker was raving about something or other. When the barmaid - barmother, really - reprimanded him for swearing too much, he immediately switched to 'Matko Boska', with the transition marked by a loud 'Matko Boska Częstochowska', with his fist banging in time on the bar - the implied meaning of a very angry 'f**king hell' very unmistakeable. Matko Boska Chernst-ohovska - it rhymes - is the most important miracle giving religious picture in Poland. For someone brought up in an old-fashioned English school, this therefore combined the extremes of both vulgar and blasphemous language - we were told off for saying "Jesus'. In Poland, the response was 'that's better'. Fascinating.

I also had to look up 'jej', which is the standard word in children's programmes. I wondered what the English version would be: it seems to relate to the Polish version of 'balls' or 'bollocks', but the Kompas English Language Translator and Dictionary's closest equivalent gives me 'gee'. The euphemism dictionary's index points to the 'koorva match' list.

Warsaw's Friendship Estate - Osiedle Przyjaźń

Warsaw's Osiedle Przyjaźń, the Friendship Estate, lies in the district of Jelonki (Yell-on-key), behind Ratusz Bemowo (Bemovo Town Hall), the name of the bus and tram stop. It is a unique wooden housing estate.

From ul. Powstanców Śląskich (Silesian Insurgents Road) on the west of the Estate, the wooden houses are welcoming and homelike.

From Osiedle Przyjasn

From ul. Gorczeska (Hill Road) on the Estate's northern end, the huts are large and barrack like.



I have produced an illustrated downloadable history of the buildings in PDF format (www.fileden.com/files/2009/2/13/2319388//Osiedle Przyazn.pdf). It is an amalgamation of Polish language information from the internet - perhaps the fullest collection so far, with much available in English for the first time. I refrained from adulterating it with my own comments, but I add them to the short description below.

The history of the huts go back to the country of East Prussia in 1939. The 25th anniversary of German victory at the Battle of Tannenburg was planned to be a major celebration of East Prussian and German pride, with Nazi style nationalism well to the fore. A small village of huts was built near today's Polish town of Olsztynek (Ol-shtinek) to house the thousands of World War I veterans attending the celebration. However, it was cancelled - World War II had broken out.

In September 1939, Polish prisoners of war started to arrive and POW camp Stalag 1B Hohenstein was created. Large numbers of French POWs were brought here from May 1940, with the camp being extended. Soviet prisoners started arriving in the latter part of 1941. Lesser numbers of Belgians, Dutch, Italians and some Czechs and English were also held here. Some 600,000 POWs may have passed through the camp, although only about 52,000 at any one time. Despite being a German military (Wehrmacht) POW camp, not an execution camp, about 55,000 POWs died from maltreatment and resulting illness - 50,000 being Soviets. All the African and Arab members of the French POW group also appear to have been murdered. The huts in Stalad 1B are shown below - from www.wwiimemories.com/hohenstein2.jpg.



Soviet 'liberation' came, with the Germans leaving on 20 January 1945 and most POWs, except the sick and their carers, leaving the camp. The PDF document description describes the fate of the POWs and the appalling barbarity of soldiers of the Soviet Red Army (Russians?). The Soviets used the camp to hold arrested civilians.

The Stalag 1B buildings were later dismantled and sent to Warsaw, where they were used in 1952 to create a work camp for the Soviet builders of the Joseph Stalin Palace of Culture and Science - The Friendship Estate in Jelonki. This had individual self-contained homes for the technical and administrative staff. There has been a recent suggestion that some of these may have come from Finland as part of a barter deal for Polish coal, but from pictures of the Finnish homes and discussion on the web, this seems unlikely. They today look like:



The labourers lived in barrack style huts. The one below still appears to be in its original colours.



Unlike the technical staff, they had communal wash facilities. The bath house, the Estate's only brick building, is shown below - as it is today.



This used to be a canteen.



From the description of a Russian labourer - see the full document - about the normality of being beaten and the reaction to her love affair, I get the impression that this was effectively a forced labour camp, if a more pleasant one than most. It had a wide range of facilities so that the workers could be isolated from local people, helped by the barbed wire and guards at the gates. It was also built some distance from the centre of Warsaw for the same reason.

With the Palace of Culture complete, the Soviets left and the Estate was handed over to the Polish Ministry of Higher Education in May 1955, which allocated living places to academic staff and students of various Warsaw colleges. It remains today as an intercollegiate, residence estate for staff and students. The quality of maintenance of some of the houses suggest that the teaching staff have long-term security of tenure, if they are not actually now privately owned.

The Soviet workers had a Sports Centre - still in existence, and a cinema, which was named the 'Gift Cinema' after the Soviets left, but now the Kolorada children's play centre. The Estate now also has a students club, the Karuzela (Merry-Go-Round) where the Soviet workers had their club.



If you want to visit, the Estate is freely open to anyone passing by - it provided me with the shortest walking route from where I lived, under the bridge and across the railway line, to Wola Park shopping centre. Bus and tram routes are plentiful and there is lots of parking space at Bemowo Town Hall. Its a little bit of history, largely unknown even to the people of Warsaw.

Full credits, more information and some information about Young Stags Garden Town are included in the full document.