Lichen study

Thanks to inspiration from http://www.slugsontherefrigerator.com, who apparently has a molten hot bath every single night, I have just had a nice long soak and a read. Just what I needed as I'm feeling a bit run down. Having a whopping great ulcer at the back of my mouth is not helping.

Something to do with the weather has made the motorway louder though and it was quite obtrusive through the bathroom window even though it's about a mile away. It's probably all the spray from the downpour we've had this afternoon. As I was getting dried I was gazing out of the teensy gap in the wide open window at the lichen on the roof of next door's extension. As one does. The extension has only been there about five years and there is yellow and light grey-green lichen along the south-east facing ridge of the roof. For all I know it might also be on the north-west facing side but I can't see that from my bathroom window.

I did a project on lichen a few years ago during my OU degree in environmental studies. And I seem to remember that although the yellow one is tolerant of pollution, the greeny ones are less so. So that's good news for the air quality despite us being so close to the M6. Not sure what the lichen situation will be in certain areas of Runcorn that I'm considering moving to, which are a stone's throw from the chemical works. It's the only place I'll be able to afford a bit of garden. And emissions regulations should be pretty stringent these days.