kolmapäev, juuli 31, 2013

the town and the country

Is Estonia truly the land of zipping, ubiquitous wireless Internet connections, pay-by-phone parking, online banking, e-voting, young and savvy entrepreneurs, not to mention Skype? If you only read The Economist, you would think it so (and be very grateful to Mart Laar's angelic first government, who set everything in motion decades ago). And it is all of these things. But it is not only all of these things. I have seen life in the countryside that would make even the most open-minded undergraduate hold his nose.

Meh. The countryside. Land of "dry" toilets (or, as I call them, in-house outhouses), land of do-it-yourself fire hazard electric wiring jobs, land of unemployed, alcoholic uncles. When we celebrated a relative's 50th birthday last year, he took us on a tour of the graveyard to visit some old high school friends whose birth years were in the '60s and death years were in the '90s and '00s. I remember the September light on the stones, the moss on the trees, the wind in my hair. "But how did they all die?" I asked as a particularly cool breeze picked up. "Alcohol," came the deep-voiced and eerie response.

So, next time you read The Economist, remember that e-voting and pay-by-phone parking are wonderful, wondrous things. But so are professionally installed wiring, modern plumbing, and sober, employed relatives.

4 kommentaari:

Marko ütles ...

I actually tried the wi-fi thingy in Viljandi, in fact I used two different smartphones and two different laptops. I walked around town centre, castle ruins(main tourist attraction) and around lake. No success. Broadband speed, provided by Elion (main cable provider and flagship telecommunications company), in heart of historic Viljandi reaches 12mbs, that is you're not watching HD tv at the same time, but if you do it's only about 8!!! Not to mention hardware they supply you with, if you live technologically in 2013, don't bother, buy your own wireless hubs etc. Estonia - home of the Internet? Don't think so, at least not anymore. Other industrialised country have far ahead of us now.

Social problems are also here for anyone to see and experience. It's embarrassing. Local elections are up soon, I bet their main focus will be the indoors water sports centre. For 10th elections in a row.

LPR ütles ...

They left that part out of this one ...

http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2013/07/economist-explains-21?fsrc=scn/ln_ec/how_did_estonia_become_a_leader_in_technology_

Temesta ütles ...

Who cares about professionally installed wiring, modern plumbing, and sober, employed relatives, when the countryside will receive this:

http://news.err.ee/sci-tech/4a921fa7-302f-4bf3-a2aa-9c915a945034

Marko ütles ...

Yep, you can get higher internet speeds in villages next to a pigs battery farms or landfills, than in historic town centres. Social engineering, Laar style? Lol.