street talk
  • place: Bergen, Norway

04::March::2000 19:00 → permalink

It’s not just on the sidewalks, but even on the streets, too. Because of special local environmental conditions, a particular phenomena that I have come to label chicorus nordicus. Local variations are especially intense here in Bergen. Because of the tempering action of the marine climate, there are not such extreme cold temperatures in the center of town. Two hundred meters up the sides of the fjord, there are heavy snow accumulations, but in the center, streets and sidewalks stay relatively clear, most of the time as a slushy mess. The local city street-keepers have made the decision to use salt as the primary street clearing device: it is effective and with the volume of rain that falls here, probably does not cause any undue environmental damage. Most towns in these northern climes — those to the north and east of Bergen, away from the balmy marine influence have totally different climates that require the use of crushed rock of one type or another to keep people and automobiles moving safely on icy and snowy ways. Abrasion from studded tires on the street reduces the surface to a double-tracked wagon-way by the time springtime comes and the law that dictates the end of the studded-tire season gives the street-keepers six months of respite to repair the seasonal damage. Here in Bergen, though, things are different. Without the wholesale use of abrasives on the sidewalks, another thrilling visceral and visual manifestation presents itself. Wandering around, even the most casual visitor will notice the ubiquitous distribution of one-to-three centimeter diameter circles in a variety of pale or pastel greens, vanilla, and off-white colors pressed into the sidewalk surface. The statistical distribution has nothing to do with the material matrix — cobble stone, asphalt, stone slab, concrete. And there are occasional concentrations to such a degree that every five centimeters there is one of these expectorated exclamation points. Chewing gum. Too cool and wet for it to stick to the sole, and never too warm in the summer to regain its tack. It stays and stays. No wonder that old wives tale — that if you swallow too many pieces over a time, they will get stuck in the appendix and you’ll end up in the hospital, doubled over and ripe for surgery. Hey, it’s tougher than asphalt!

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