If two things make an unusual pair, Estonians say that they are
nagu siga ja kägu – like a pig and a cuckoo bird. For instance, this large, bright red lightbox type of sign on an otherwise humble, weathered housefront in Tallinn's
südalinn ("heart of the city" or downtown core). In some ways it could be a blessing in disguise, an indication that this old wooden house is not slated for demolition. The same cannot be said for many of its ca 100 year-old compatriots, sitting on valuable midtown land; wooden houses that miraculously survived the March 1944 bombing raid. The house is on Lennuki tänav (Plane St., although there isn't a runway in sight), opposite the expansive parking lot of Stockmann¹s department store, thereby guaranteeing the sign plenty of exposure. So it seems wooden houses CAN do their small capitalist part in the neighbourhood of high-rises known as Maakri or "Tallinn City", pronounced
siti. (Stockholm has a "city" too, don¹t you know.) As for what @ SPIT means,
jään vastuse võlgu – I'm left owing you an answer.
Text and photo: Riina Kindlam, Tallinn
