BONJOUR L'ESTONIE

Tit-Bits : 31-01-2006

The Bank of Estonia didn`t inform people in time about a problem linked to the 100 krones banknotes. A part of the new banknotes (30 000) which came from Germany was faulty (one security mark was absent).

There still is at present 5 849 of those "faulty" notes left in circulation. People can exchange them at the banks in any time.

10 people, who lately had problem with the police (they were accused of money counterfeiting) will be refunded.

It shows that even if one doesn't look for trouble, one can be ... !

Source : Vesti

Tit-Bits : 18-01-2006

1. On the 15^th of January the price of rail tickets from Tallinn to Moscow went up from EEK 783.00 to EEK 881.00. In 2005, 146 952 people used this line. This will make an extra EEK 14 500 000.00 for Estonian Railways for 2006 … ! Will it help ?

2. The Tallinn Authorities decided to close the underground pedestrian by-pass near the Railway Station from 21.00 to 6.00 during all the winter period  for security reasons. This place has become a criminal and dangerous one some time ago already, as many times there were people attacked by drugged and robbers alike, especially at evenings. Next to the tunnel exits, special gates which will be closed at night will be built on both sides. Police also will be patrolling around this place. There could be more work for the Police and for more policemen in many places …

3. In November 2005,  all hotels in Estonia were only 1/3 "full" on average. In accordance to the Statistics Department data, there only were 130 000 tourists staying in hotels. 34% of those staying in hotels in November were local people, 40% were tourists from Finland and 26% tourists from other countries. In November, the average cost for a “1 night” stay was EEK 456.00. The most expensive was “nights” in Tallinn hotels as one would expect at quite a very low price of EEK 602.00, the cheapest was in Western Estonia with EEK 292.00. Foreigners, should you want to pay less for your stay … then you know what you need to do … !

Source : Linnaleht

Tit-bits : 17-01-2006

In Estonia, unemployment is the lowest in the Baltic. At the end of 2005, there were 2,7% unemployed people in Estonia,  4,1% in Lithuania and 7,4% in Latvia. So it seems that some other EU countries still have a long way to go .... !

Source : Postimees

The Transport Department of Tallinn is going to increase its number of controllers in the public transport. Now there are 55 of them, from the 1^st of March, there will be 65 and from 2007, 90 controllers. They will be working every day and in all public transport lines. Rabbits, you will need to be careful .... !

Source : Linnaleht

Tit-Bits : 16-01-2006

1. On the 4^th of January, the new Chief of Estonian Central Criminal Police, Elmar Vaher, received a letter with a bullet and a threat written in capital letters. The Police has started investigating the matter. No comment here !

2. Since the beginning of the year,  14 people have died from fire in Estonia. The last accident happened in Pärnu on the 14^th  of January when 4 young people ( the youngest was 15 years old) died in a "sauna" ! I wonder why the door was locked !

3. There were slightly more drunk drivers stopped by Police last year : 15 900 people (in 2004 - 15 756, in 2003- 14 962, in 2002- 13 867, in 2001- 12 990). And I thought that, from a former article, people were drinking so much milk nowadays … ! Somewhere, someone is lying !

Source : Postimees

Tit-Bits : 15.01.2006

1. The "Italian Cultural Centre" will be opened in May on the 4-th floor of Viru Keskus. This is a pilot-project implemented by Italians. In this Cultural Centre, the inhabitants of Tallinn and her guests will be able to get acquainted with Italian Fashion, design, music and food.

2. Since Estonia became a member of the EU, Estonian employers can migrate from one country to the other, moreover from this year, many European countries will abolish the restriction of foreign workers.

All who are interested can visit the following web-page : http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/workersmobility2006

3. Since the 11^th of January 2006 anyone who is interested can listen to the press conferences of Tallinn Authorities every Wednesday at 12.00 on Internet. The address is : mms://gw.tallinnlv.ee:15550/pressikas

Source : Vesti

1. Tallinn Authorities managed to agree, at long last, with the "Redstone" company, who was an owner of the plot of land at Tartu, 36. After all, the town can continue the widening of Tartu Road. To compensate, "Redstone" will get a plot of land at Uus-Sadama, 20 and also a sum of EEK ½ million.

2. In the near future, the town will build a 16 floor hotel in Lasnamäe. Next to it will also be built 16 floor blocks of flats and a 5 floor Shopping-Centre with a large parking space.

Source : Linnaleht

Tit-bits : 10-01-2006

1. We have 104 people aged over 100 years old in Estonia. The oldest is a woman of 106 ; 2 are 105 ; 6 :104 ; 3 : 103 ; 12 : 102 ; 27 : 101 and 53 are 100 years old.   

2. There were 2591 marriages registered in Tallinn last year. The oldest couple was an 81 years young guy and an 80 years young lady ; the youngest : a 17 years old guy and a 16 years old girl.
2848 women gave birth for the first time in their life : the youngest was 15 years old and the oldest : 46 years old.
There were 5063 registered births in Tallinn, last year (2 686 boys and 2377 girls) ; and also 62 pairs of twins and 1 trio of triplets ! The most popular names given to the babies were MARIA and ALEKSANDER.

Source : VESTI 

1. On the first of January 2006, 22 261 unemployed people were registered in Estonia. It is 23% less than 1 year ago. 

Source : Postimees

Tit-Bits : 06-01-2006

1.   On the 18^th of February, the new Estonian Art Museum will be opened in Kadriorg.  Real cost of project is a staggering EEK 656 million. Architect was Pekki Vapaavuori from Finland. Museum is the biggest in all the Baltic and Scandinavia. It is a 8 floor-building with library, reading hall, cafes, souvenir shops and training centre. Full area of the Museum is 24 000 m2. The museum also can "boast" its lift - it is the biggest in Estonia – a car easily can fit in. Whaou .... just over one month to wait to be able to check it for yourself ...

2. In Estonia, within the next 2 years,  4,3 millions acts of births, deaths, marriages and divorces (from 1926) will be digitalized. Cost of this project is EEK 7 millions. It will be financed by EU Structural Funds. A big job ... but something that will be nice once finished ...

Source : Vesti

Information from the Migration Office states that entering to Estonia is forbidden to 1 102 person, it’s a temporary measure for 759 of them. Any idea of who they can be ?

Source : Postimees

Tit-Bits : 05-01-2006

1.  During 2005, the Estonian Cars Register (Autoregister) registered more than 20 very expensive luxury cars costing more than several millions EEK each. For example, last year were registered : 6 Bentley, 4 Ferrari, 3 Aston Martin and 2 Lamborghini, 4  Bentley Continental GT (2,5 million EEK each), 2 Bentley Continental Flying Spur (3 million EEK each).
The most expensive was an Aston Martin V12 Vanquish S - (a little less than 4 million EEK ... !).  It shows again the very large gap between the richest and the poorest ...

2.  In 2005, 27 people lost their lives in fire in Tallinn. This is 3 times more than in 2003. I told you to be careful with matches ... 

3.  On the 29th of december, in Gonsiori, a kid's wallet was found with a full uncut sheet of EEK 25.00 banknotes (45). The kid's father managed to get it back from Põhja Police Prefecture.  It doesn't cost much but it surely is some extraordinary item to find, especially that it was saved ...

Source : Postimees    

1. On the 14th of January, in Mustamäe district, next to "Sääse" Centre, a big fire will be made where all thrown-out Xmas trees will be the actors. This will start at 17.00. People will also be able to enjoy music.  We don't need rubbish bags here ...

2. In 2005, inhabitants of Tallinn bought 960 000 ID-tickets (transport). This project was started on the 1st of March 2004. Nowadays, this system is also in use in Tartu, in Viimsi and on Harjumaa Railway. Unlike everywhere else, at least Estonian ID cards can be used in many ways ... and people use the chance every day !

3. The family where triplets were born in December 2004 will get EEK 100 000.00 from Tallinn Authorities. After all, this seldom happens in Estonia ... I mean, triplets !

Source :Linnaleht

Tit-Bits : 04-01-2006

1. Next Monday, Estonian TV will launch its Internet-portal ETV 24. Nine journalists will work on the project. On this portal, users will be able to check home and foreign news (political, economical, cultural, etc.). Portal will renew around the clock. It had to come …

2. Three companies participated in a competition which was organized by the Transport Department of Tallinn to solve parking problems in the city. Once the best will have been chosen, the “winner” will be entitled to organize and check parking, take money for it and also, if needed, collect penalty (in case of anyone braking the parking rules). The present agreement with "Falk Eesti" will expire on the 1^st of March. I guess that Falk may take the market again …

3. In 2005, for the first time for many years, the births in Tallinn exceeded the deaths (5063 births and 4988 deaths). The previous year figures were 4835 births and 5446 deaths. Statistics had to be contradicted …

4. During last year Merchant banks gave 111 151 new plastic bank cards. On the 31 of December 2005, Estonian customers had a total of 1 400 113 bank cards (1 137 841 debit cards and 262 272 credit cards). Hansapank clients got a total of 54 910 new cards (25 852 debit cards and 29 058 credit cards). It means that only 15% of the population is without a debit card which is very low …

5. Since 1993,  2728 people refused Estonian citizenship (1671 of them in favour of Finnish, 419 in favour of Swedish, 344 in favour of Russian and 200 in favour of German citizenship).  The reasons are not given ….

6. Maardu town authorities ordered investigation (this will cost them EEK 295 000) to find out if Maardu is interested in having the Lasnamäe tramway line prolonged there. It could be nice but no need to say that it will cost …

7. Tallinn authorities have a plan to start widening “Grand Hotel Tallinn” and to also build houses with flats in this area (at last). Since 1980, a wide and deep pit has been dug and all that can be seen is a big pound there. Not a pleasant sight for tourists or even for the locals after 25 years … ! The plans are to build two 7 floors and seven 5 floors buildings.

8. According to the data of the Statistic Office, producing of Vodka for November 2005 went 26,4 % down (or equal 516 000 litres less) as compared with November 2004. Hard to believe but maybe that 500 000 litres too many were produced the month before … !

Source : Linnaleht

Tit-bits : 03-01-2006

In their interviews, the 2 cable-TV companies "Starman" and "STV", whose clients lost the possibility of watching the main Russian TV Channels, said that they are trying to sign agreements directly with the channels in Moscow and that they hope to restore broadcasting within one month.

There is one more cable-TV operator in Estonia - "NOM", which is the smallest for the time being, but nowadays it is getting more and more clients from "STV" and "Starman", since this company paid all necessary fees and its clients can still watch Russian channels without any trouble. This is unbelievable but as shown, some are ready to get the big slice of the cake in any a case …

Source : Vesti

1. The Mayor and the vice-mayor of Tallinn visited one family, where triplets were born on the 1^st of January to congratulate the happy parents. This is old tradition in Tallinn, where the Mayor, himself, personally congratulates the families. Nice … but I am sure they will find some better things to do in time …

2. The first baby born on the 1^st  of January in Tallinn at 01.40 was a girl. This happened in Central Hospital. In Pelguranna Hospital, the first baby of the year was a girl too. She was born at 06.50. Congratulation, no one will catch you know …

3.  On the 1^st of January, some prices were pushed up in Estonia ; all over Estonia : for medicines in chemist’s ; in many regions of Estonia : for heating ; in Tallinn : for water, rubbish removing and for public transport. As everywhere in this world ….

4. On the 1^st of January, in Gulbene, a small Latvian town, a 58-years-old man went to an alcohol shop and drunk there 2 bottles of vodka (of 200 grammes each). He then wanted to leave without paying ... Some will do anything to be looked at !

Source : Postimees