leprechauns and dogs on motorcycles
tehume (from france, i gather) suggested i posted in english, too. as an english major i should be able to do this. but i am not sure, if i will be able to translate my life of a housewife alias freelance journalist and translator into english so that it would be somehow meaningful to people in britain or france or wherever, if they happen to read me. i´m also afraid, that my estonian to english skills are rather rusty since my time at the states in 1997/98...
but i will have a go at this small piece i wrote yesterday for my old newspaper Eesti Ekspress (www.ekspress.ee). i hope that they bother to publish it and some photos i took when we visited FIM Rally (www.fimrally.ee) in tartu on saturday.
Crazy motorists are putting fellow citizens in danger wrote Postimees last Thursday. With that article they fuelled the longlasting ill blood against motorists who wheelie and race like mad.
To illustrate their story the daily from Tartu used a photograph taken at the FIM Rally, and they warned that on the weekend there will be more motorcycles on Estonian roads than usual since more than 1100 motorcycles from 26 countries took part in the event.
Strange, that Postimees illustrated their rage story precisely with this event, because it is hard to find a gathering of motorists who would be as gentlemanly and peaceful as the participants of FIM Rally. The parade on Saturday through tartu was really awesome and joyful, despite the pooring rain. It was a rare occasion that there were so many motorcycles on the road at one time in Estonia and at this the colonnade was more organized than I have seen on any other local motoring event before.
Most of the motorists who had come to Tartu where older men and women with gray hair and beards who seemed to be the kind of people who have been through rain, snow and hail. The participation fee itself – 250 CHF per person – took care that no teenager motorcycle hooligans arrived in Estonia.
The most joyful group were the irish, who had dressed up as round-bellied leprechauns in their flag colours and who waved with contageous joy to all who had come to look at the parade. At the same time, one of the greek had brought along a small dog-motorist
Many of the motorcycles were big and heavy tourers or even tourers with sidecars, with which (for example with the 400 kilo Honda Goldwing) to wheelie is near impossible. Only in the italian camp the fiercer machines were in the majority, but they did not take ill use of them.
I do not want to suggest that the remarks of Postimees would be incorrect. Of course, the “mad riders” are getting on everybody else´s nerves – whether they drive on two, three or four wheels, and they are putting themselves and others in danger. Two bikers have already driven themselves to death this year in Estonia.
It is just that beside these madmen it would be nice to notice the orderly, calm and admirable riders – and there are plenty of them among Estonians, too. The nearest chance to convince oneself of that is this weekend at Jõgevatreff (www.jogevamc.ee).
but i will have a go at this small piece i wrote yesterday for my old newspaper Eesti Ekspress (www.ekspress.ee). i hope that they bother to publish it and some photos i took when we visited FIM Rally (www.fimrally.ee) in tartu on saturday.
Crazy motorists are putting fellow citizens in danger wrote Postimees last Thursday. With that article they fuelled the longlasting ill blood against motorists who wheelie and race like mad.
To illustrate their story the daily from Tartu used a photograph taken at the FIM Rally, and they warned that on the weekend there will be more motorcycles on Estonian roads than usual since more than 1100 motorcycles from 26 countries took part in the event.
Strange, that Postimees illustrated their rage story precisely with this event, because it is hard to find a gathering of motorists who would be as gentlemanly and peaceful as the participants of FIM Rally. The parade on Saturday through tartu was really awesome and joyful, despite the pooring rain. It was a rare occasion that there were so many motorcycles on the road at one time in Estonia and at this the colonnade was more organized than I have seen on any other local motoring event before.
Most of the motorists who had come to Tartu where older men and women with gray hair and beards who seemed to be the kind of people who have been through rain, snow and hail. The participation fee itself – 250 CHF per person – took care that no teenager motorcycle hooligans arrived in Estonia.
The most joyful group were the irish, who had dressed up as round-bellied leprechauns in their flag colours and who waved with contageous joy to all who had come to look at the parade. At the same time, one of the greek had brought along a small dog-motorist
Many of the motorcycles were big and heavy tourers or even tourers with sidecars, with which (for example with the 400 kilo Honda Goldwing) to wheelie is near impossible. Only in the italian camp the fiercer machines were in the majority, but they did not take ill use of them.
I do not want to suggest that the remarks of Postimees would be incorrect. Of course, the “mad riders” are getting on everybody else´s nerves – whether they drive on two, three or four wheels, and they are putting themselves and others in danger. Two bikers have already driven themselves to death this year in Estonia.
It is just that beside these madmen it would be nice to notice the orderly, calm and admirable riders – and there are plenty of them among Estonians, too. The nearest chance to convince oneself of that is this weekend at Jõgevatreff (www.jogevamc.ee).
posted by Helen at 9:14 pm
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