Thursday, July 10, 2008

North and South in Svångemåla

The road passing my house is a narrow gravel road. It is, most of the time, so narrow that two cars cannot meet and small meeting places have been made so that you do not have to go off road when you meet someone. These meeting places are clearly marked with a sign with a big M on it. Today I noticed that the signs do not just show where you can safely meet but also in which direction you are going! The trick is to see on which side of the sign the moss and lichens are growing since you only find it on the northern side and not on the southern. It is a piece of knowledge that we learnt as kids in school since it is part of the survival skills you have to have to live in the deep forests of Sweden. No compass, no GPS needed in Svångemåla!

South...


North ..

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Are you sure this is moss and algae? It look more like the paint is cracking up ?

Bear said...

Yes, I am sure that it is not the paint but the correct word is Lichen and not Algae. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lichens
Thanks for your comment!