Everybody to the beach, if you dare! As of two weeks ago,
rannahooaeg (beach season) officially kicked off at Tallinn’s five public beaches. The
rannavalve (beach patrol) is out in full force and this year they’re using the help of
skuutrid (scooters) for speedier rescues. Here you have the Kopli baywatch stats for
15. mai (months and days of the week are NOT capitalised in Estonian. This sign is slightly misleading...) The time is also written slightly differently (using a 24-hour clock and separated by a period, not a colon), but the information posted on the wall of this
rannahoone (beach pavilion) at Stroomi rand should otherwise be easy to follow. ÕHK is air (temperature), VESI is water (temp) and UV indicates the sun’s potential wrath as per the
ultraviolett- or
UV-kiirguse indeks, the UV index. Tallinn stretches across 4 bays, which from west to east are: Kakumäe laht (home of Kakumäe rand), Kopli laht (Stroomi rand), Paljassaare laht and Tallinna laht (with the out-of-the-way Pikakari rand on Paljasaare poolsaar (peninsula) on its western shore and the famous Pirita rand on its eastern shore). The capital’s fifth public beach is at Harku järv (lake) bordering the neighbourhood of Õismäe. Beach season officially ends on
15. september.
This lone swan was one of the few living souls at Stroomi rand on the first official day of sunning and swimming season. The
kühmnokk-luik (“hump-billed swan” because of the characteristic black bump on top of its otherwise orange bill),
Cygnus olor, is Estonia’s largest bird, just as the Trumpeter swan is the largest North American bird. Known as the Mute swan in English, since it hardly makes a sound, it is one of the oldest bird species in existence, (not to mention one of the heaviest fliers) and Denmark’s national bird. The only other swan you might see in Estonia is the smaller, yellow-billed
laululuik (Whooper swan,
Cygnus cygnus), Finland’s national bird. Northern Hemisphere species of swan have a pure white
sulestik (plumage), while Southern Hemisphere species are mixed black and white and the Australian Black Swan is completely black. Young swans are known as cygnets, from the Latin word for swan, an adult male is a cob, from Middle English (leader of a group) and an adult female is a pen. Although Mute swans establish strong bonds, they do not always pair for life, as is widely believed. They may have as many as 4 mates during their lifetimes, which is still quite exemplary for the animal kingdom.
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Kommentaarid on kirjutatud EWR lugejate poolt. Nende sisu ei pruugi ühtida EWR toimetuse seisukohtadega.
Riina Kindlam03 Jun 2008 06:47
Has anyone noticed the similarity between the Estonian word for beach RAND and the Swedish STRAND? And the main road in London England, which in spots runs parallel to the bank of the Thames... is The Strand!
"Strand derives its name from the Old English word for "shore" or "river bank". (Swedish/Danish/Norwegian/Icelandic, Finnish, German and Dutch have also derived their word for "beach" from the same Germanic root; many beaches in Ireland are still called "strands")."
Source: Wikipedia.
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