This self-made jääpuhastusmasin or ice resurfacer, seen here being filled-up with H2O, was once a Soviet Army vehicle. Now it serves a better purpose, making skaters happy at Pirita Spordikeskus. It even still has Soviet-era licence plates (numbriplaadid) and looks like a glorified ice cream truck.
Ice is a great word in Estonian, JÄÄ. The only word to beat it is ÖÖ (night). Skates are uisud (sing. uisk) and skating is uisutamine, hence the word uisuväli (literally "skating plain"). But I prefer the synonym LIUVÄLI. Liugu laskma is to slide, including sledding and what else do you do on the ice but slide? It also could well be the cheery sound you might want to make while zipping along: "Liiiiiiiuuuuuu!"
So it turns out Vello does not know exactly how long Berta (the name I've given the beast in my head) has served skaters in Tallinn, but she was around long before Estonia's reindependence. My attention was drawn to the fact that vehicles similar to her have served in the Chechen Wars (perhaps he assumed that's where someone like myself might have seen them – on the evening news). I also learned that indoor and outdoor resurfacers are nagu öö ja päev (like night and day); Berta was built specifically to withstand the harsh outdoor conditions we're currently experiencing in Eesti. "Ta on võimas!" She's powerful!
Like any good Zamboni-wannabe, she has a nuga/tera ("knife"/blade) which shaves the surface of the ice, a korjaja (collector), which Vello also calls a tigu – snail! – i.e. an auger, which sweeps the accumulating shavings to the centre, where a second auger picks them up and deposits up into the dump tank. The veepaak or main water tank holds clean water at 60°C for making new ice, which is released through a long sprinkler pipe, a procedure known as kastmine, watering. (Berta lacks the sophistication (?) of a cloth towel beneath the sprinkler pipe, "which lays down the clean water to fill the residual grooves". But the skaters looked happy enough with the results, which are kept chilled at -4° or -5°.
Most will no doubt be happier still next week, when Tallinn hosts the ISU European Figure Skating Championships (Jan. 19-24) at Saku Suurhall, which has been transformed into an ice arena. (Premia Jäähall next door was simply not up to the task.) This is a huge event to be hosting, especially given the count-down to the Winter Olympics. Estonia is being represented by Jelena Glebova (Ladies), Viktor Romanenkov (Mens), Maria Sergejeva and Ilja Glebov (Pairs) and Caitlin Mallory and Kristjan Rand (Ice Dance). Mallory and Rand already won a "ticket" to Vancouver, but since Mallory was not willing to revoke her American citizenship in order to skate carrying an Estonian passport, and has so far not been issued citizenship based on merit, they are not slated to skate at the Olympics. You can follow the European Championships at www.euroskate2010.eu
I hope rinkmaster Vello won't mind my saying Berta looks like a groovy, glorified ice cream truck (jäätiseauto). In any case, I promised I'd send him a clipping of this article, since when I asked if he had internet access, he said he was retired (does that say it all?!) Next time I go for a ski at the Pirita trails, I'll pop in, in hopes of maybe catching a resurfacing ride!
Photos: Riina Kindlam