These boots are made for walking...

These are my hiking boots and they are the best to walk in. The first time I tried them on in the store, my feet thanked me and begged me never to take them off.

They were with me on my second fieldwork and a great support for my injured ankle during a month fieldwork in Swedish Lapland. One week before I was to start my journey, I managed to take a wrong step and literally tore of a small muscle from its attachment on the bone in my ankle. I had to postpone my journey one week to be able to walk with only one crutch. Then, the boots where a blessing for support. Because of my boots I was able to make a short hike along the Kungsleden trail, when my original plan was changed in last minute. I was on my way to the boat that would take me and other hikers across a lake to the trails, with my backpack, my camera bag and my crutch, to make a small hike to a mountain cabin. My ankle didn't want me to so I had to rearrange my plans a bit. Well, anyone with a clear head would understand that hiking with a crutch and a bad ankle isn't the smartest thing to do, but I was so determined not the let the ankle stop me that I didn't think straight.

My boots were also with me when I worked a summer in Jokkmokk, a small town way up in the northern parts of Sweden. I worked 75%, wrote on my master paper and did research when I just had got diagnosed for a stress-related disease. Not the smartest thing I ever done in my life!
In the end of my stay in Jokkmokk I went on a small hike to the mountain cabin I should have walked to the year before. It was really good to have my boots then! And it was totally amazing to do the hike! When I came to the cabin, the manager had gone fishing, so I put my things in one of the cabins, made myself a cup of tea and sat in the sunshine with the most wonderful view in front of me. The Akka massif is breathtakingly beautiful, the kind of view you don't ever get tired of.

When the manager came back we had a nice chat, and he recognised me from the hostel I worked at. I didn't recognise him, and I'm usually good with faces. (I didn't know it then, but my brain was overloading and the effect of that summer came crashing when I came home again and closed the door to my apartment). He told me and other hikers some funny stories about guests.
One guest that stayed at the cabin had worn the craziest clothes when hiking in the mountains; he was hiking along the trail in a costume and white shirt. In his briefcase he had plastic bags with portions of potato chips, because he had calculated that those contained all the nutrition he needed during his hike. In his backpack he had several white shirts and an old flatiron that he heated on the gas stove, to iron his shirts. He did not have hiking boots either, but a pair of ordinary shoes, that are usually worn to a costume but not for hiking along a trail in the mountains. The other guests became rather annoyed with him, because he acted like a know-it-all and commented on everything the others did, ate, wore and so on.

I meet a lot of nice guests when I worked at the hostel, and a few strange ones to. One came up to me during breakfast, telling me that the coffee mugs smelled strangely and because of this the coffee tasted bad. She put the mug under my nose so that I should smell it to and wanted me to poor my self a cup so that I could taste. Luckily I don't drink coffee.
Another one came in during the time I cleaned the houses, I had forgotten to lock the front door, and asked about a room. I had to tell her to come back during check in, in the evening, to book a room then. I worked evening to, so I knew I would meet her again, and when I did she kept referring to 'the cleaning lady said' and I tried to explain to her several times that I was the one she spoke with earlier but she didn't get it and kept referring to 'the cleaning lady' during our conversation. And, the only thing I had done was to get a shower and change my clothes, big change apparently.
Well, well... :)

Oh, wow... long blip... I hope it isn't to tiresome...