In the spirit of letting other great bloggers do my work for me I have gotten permission from Perkele to repost something from his blog that I read a while back and found to transcend international barriers. I have been following Perkele's blog for awhile now, and I hope you will consider doing the same.
Again today i got to thinking about this never ending kit hoarding,and my struggle with it :)
Every time i see these old men,who have been relly living from the woods,from fauna and flora,by fishing,hunting and gathering,just to live,not for fun...i am ashamed of my self somehow. These gents,in most cases,havent ever been into "kit" stuff,like i have grown with em. Usually here,you see an old hunter,with worn,but clean simple wool & cotton clothing,pair of rubber- or leatherboots,an old pack with loads of stories in it. In their packs that sometimes look more like empty,youll most likely find an old beat-up coffee pot,a frying pan of some type,sometimes even a cast iron model. The following items are usually an old wood handled axe,maybe some saw,or just a saw blade,a pouch containing some salt,sugar,tobacco and maybe some hard butter piece,alomg with piece of bread and a slice of pork meat. Hell be carrying a simple handmade puukko or just a plain cheap mora,and in some cases an compass in some pocket. And besides the kit,these old school heroes carry the most important things like will,strength,endurance and knowledge,that replace the need ( ? ) for heavy load of mostly non-vital gear.
This is something ive always,and now again, cant look bad at all.No sir,i can only admire and envy these old chaps,theyre never complaining,never whing about anything,except for their old ladies:). Juts a day ago i sat next to the fire,with this old man,who came there with his old dog,asked if he could sit there for a coffee and we got to talk about all sorts of things. I was fascinated about his stories,and his spirit,and i just couldnt stop feeling bit silly,wearing all my gear,and fancy outfit,although mine aint even close to modern or hi-tech by any means. He just sat there,talked slowly and stared at the fire,and his dog slept against his knee,till he had his cup empty and he said that he had to go his home,and he has to walk there cause his driving license was taken away due to poor eyes...though he still was hunting with success,legally.He packed up his few items,a pot and his cup,and off he went.
And i cant stop thinking about the "good" old days that he told me about.
I have recently started to get ridd off my gear,i have given,traded,sold something etc,and after that i feel like sick,and i realise its all because we men like to possess stuff just for the sake of it. But after day or two i feel quite happy about the fact that my shelves,boxes and packs are bit less heavy and less filled,and i realise that i.e. i have carried my trustworthy Sabre pack all this summer and fall,and i havent taken a lot out of it,nor havent i added much into it,except for occasional portion of food,filling water bottles,and a pouch filled with dry socks and such. The "kit" itself has been the same all the way and i trust it,it fills my needs more than well,for day hikes and even for two night-long trips as well.
But i am stripping it more in next few days,maybe ill be writing about it too.
Its a kit thing,yes,and for that i am truly sorry,but hey,atleast its about getting to bare bones,getting rid of unnecessary weight & worry :)
Like it says on my favourite sticker... "No School Like Old School"
Again I'd like to thank Perkele for letting me repost his work here. I am working on some of my own posts at the moment so you will hear from me soon, but until then i think I'll continue promoting other bloggers.
