Dagmar
came home from work one day and said,
"We've got a meeting on Runö
- there's a spare seat on the plane if
you want to come..."
It
was the Nordic Association of Estonia
(Föreningen Norden I Estland) who
was the host organisation, and the focus
of the meeting was how the Nordic Associations
of the three Baltic countries could co-operate
with one another, and with the offices
of the Nordic Council.
How
does one explain why Runö is so special?
I'm one of those people who's fascinated
by islands and boats, and the way peoples
with different languages and cultures
have co-existed in harmony side-by-side,
without anyone thinking about questions
of national sovereignty: you have it in
the far North, where Swedish settlers,
Saami (Lapps) and Finns all lived rather
similar life-styles; another example is
the area south of Lake Peipsi, where Russians,
Estonians and Setu people lived in neighbouring
villages scattered freely over the area.
Runö has a documented history as
part of Sweden for 700 years, surrounded
as it has been by Estonians, Latvians,
and Russians, and also came under the
sphere of German influence ... so of course
I was thrilled to bits at the opportunity
of seeing what it was like, especially
within the framework of Nordic cooperation...
It
meant driving from Tallinn to Pärnu
on the west coast to get a plane which
left at 11 am on the Tuesday; the program
included lunch on arrival, settling into
the guest house where we were to stay
the night, a bus excursion and time of
the beach and an evening meeting. Wednesday
morning featured an excursion on foot,
a visit to the museum, further discussion,
a free afternoon and the plane back leaving
at 6pm.
