Hello, Tolerant Tree-City!
Greetings from Tallinn, where it is so eerily quiet you would never even dream there's a hugely significant election campaign happening in Turkey. Maybe this is what being dead feels like? If so, I'll stop fearing it, it's quite peaceful.
The sun is up--from what I can see, it never went down, or if it did, I slept right through it. Outside my window I see acre upon acre of some kind of dark green, improvised ironic political protest--wait, no, those are trees. Tons of them! From what I can see from the window, there doesn't seem to be any obvious prejudice against trees. They seem to live freely among the locals without persecution or harassment. That's inspiring. My eye is used to Istanbul, where everywhere you can see the effect of the tree-genocide. (Correction: everywhere you can see the effect of the tragic events, with victims on both sides, but somehow there are a lot of people and no more trees.)
First impressions of Tallinn: Population utterly resistant to charm. Try to make them laugh and no matter what you say, you get a puzzled, literal response.
Second impression: Whoa, those are some very short shorts you're wearing, ladies! And with high heels, too! How do you walk in those? Gentlemen of Ricochet, did you realize there's a whole country here full of surprisingly coordinated, humorless blonde women wearing very short shorts and high heels? I bet that's news you can use.
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Comments :
Dec '10
Re: Hello, Tolerant Tree-City!
I require GPS coordinates. STAT!
Jan '11
Re: Hello, Tolerant Tree-City!
If I can't make them laugh, then of what use are all those long, gorgeous legs?
Re: Hello, Tolerant Tree-City!
Especially to them, you know?
Re: Hello, Tolerant Tree-City!
An entire population resistant to charm? To your charm? I'm afraid you have only one recourse. You're going to have to let them know the Soviet Union no longer exists.
Jan '11
Re: Hello, Tolerant Tree-City!
I know plenty of guys who simply wouldn't mind.
Myself, I'd have to spend an inordinate amount of time thinking up replacements for my extensive collection of blonde jokes.
Aug '10
Re: Hello, Tolerant Tree-City!
This is why Mae West is still sexier than supermodels. Mae West loved to laugh. Supermodels are paid to pout.
Mar '11
Re: Hello, Tolerant Tree-City!
Claire Berlinski, Ed.
Gentlemen of Ricochet, did you realize there's a whole country here full of surprisingly coordinated, humorless blonde women wearing very short shorts and high heels? I bet that's news you can use. ·
It depends on what the meaning of "short" is. Please post a few pictures so we can judge. In return, I can post for the ladies a recent photo of an unidentified man in his underpants.
Aug '10
Re: Hello, Tolerant Tree-City!
Claire, what on earth are you doing in Tallinn? I must have missed the post where you explained this! I've spent a lot of time in Tallinn and the rest of Estonia. Business took me there, but I returned many times to explore it. My favorite areas are the islands (especially Hiiumaa) and the southern hills. The people and culture vary amazingly quickly over very short distances there -- the folks on the islands are very different than the folks in Tallinn, and ditto for the folks down south. Like England, there are beautiful walks all over the place. I haven't been back there for five years now, and your post is making me itch to return...
Mar '11
Re: Hello, Tolerant Tree-City!
Ms. Berlinski you may have just chosen my next vacation destination.
Apr '11
Re: Hello, Tolerant Tree-City!
Google Images doesn't show the girls, just page after page of almost fairy-tale mediaeval walls, turrets, and houses, like Rothenburg-ob-der-Tauber. This is what Germany and France would look like were it not for the Thirty-Years War, the Industrial Revolution, and a couple of World Wars. Changing the search arguments brings up the girls, but the pix are all labeled "hot Russian women". We'll have to take Claire's word for it.
I had a theory that the skimpiness of summer clothing varied inversely with the chill of the
Winter. At least that was true of miniskirts back in the '70s.
Apr '11
Re: Hello, Tolerant Tree-City!
Apparently according to Claire, if you think making them laugh is hard, the girls are an even tougher crowd!
Sep '10
Re: Hello, Tolerant Tree-City!
Gentlemen of Ricochet, did you realize there's a whole country here full of surprisingly coordinated, humorless blonde women wearing very short shorts and high heels?
Gentlemen prefer surprisingly coordinated, humorless brunette women wearing very short shorts and high heels.