SOME UNUSUAL SIGHTINGS

UNIQUE TO NEWFOUNDLAND

Along the Viking trail it is very rural. The earth is shallow and so telephone cribs are built to hold the poles upright. After being dug into the ground as much as possible a wooden cage, approximately 40-inch square, is built around the pole. Then moderate size rocks are piled into the 24-30-inch high crib. It seems to be a perfect solution to the problem.

           

All along the road we saw large piles of stacked cut wood. It is illegal to cut down trees. But every spring the whole community gathers and drags all the fallen trees and dead wood out of the forest. A dead tree still standing can not be cut, it must fall down. When all the wood is hauled out to the clearings along the road, it is cut into what looked like about 12-inch long logs and stacked. Sometimes the logs are piled teepee- style to dry. The woodpiles are for anyone who needs it. It is a community project and is used by the entire community. Keep in mind that most of the villages are small, often with a population of only a couple hundred people. No one would cheat and try to stockpile the wood. It is there for anyone who needs it. In such rural areas one must depend on friends and neighbors.

            Another odd thing we noticed was patches that looked like a garden. We learned that they were indeed just that and are  called roadside gardens. A long time ago it was discovered that for some reason deeper soil gathered in certain areas along the road. Again communities plant these patches, which vary in size, with root crops of  potatoes, carrots, turnips, and onions. The growing season is very short, so seedlings are planted, not seeds. These plots date back to the 1800s! People take what they need when they need it. There is a real sense of community in this area.

A FEMALE HERO

                      ONE PLUCKY DAME           

One day biking in Denmark we detoured to the estate of one of the many  resistance workers of World War II. Even though Denmark was a neutral country, during WW II 100,000 Germans occupied the country. This lady happened to be English and she helped many  downed Allied flyers. Eventually the Germans caught her and sent her off to a concentration camp, but because she was English, the Germans were reluctant to execute her.

            During her incarceration she was instructed to write a letter requesting amnesty. She refused. But the Germans were insistent and weren’t about to give up. She eventually wrote the letter, but in defiance of the Germans she wrote her letter on toilet paper!  Unfortunately she died in camp a few months before the war ended, but apparently not from mistreatment. Her elderly daughter wanted nothing to do with the estate, so it is managed by a foundation.

            During WW II, 6000 Danes were sent to concentration camps, most of them resistance fighters, not Jews. Unfortunately 600 died in the camps.

            The story of the Danish resistance is a remarkable one and I’ll have other stories to relate at another time.