and the Finnish, so human, not Germanic like the Swedes. It’s dull but friendly. Warmer summers too. Does this affect the national character? I know the English to be untrustworthy, like the weather. The French deceitful, because they keep their best wine. I will watch my Akki Kaurosmaki (sic) films again when I get home. Now where is that BMW dealer to buy a new nearside front lens?

Ouspensky who quoted Gurdjieff said “man can do without food for a few days, water even less, to be without air for a minute or two but man cannot do without impressions for but for a few seconds.”

Impressions.

Impression: Wet sleeping bag. Wet tent. Still, I’m dry and warm but it’s still drizzling after a bright daytime-nightime heavy shower of rain, all night.

impression: The German parked right next to the tent in a huge converted army lorry, revving his engine to wake me at daylight-midnight.

Impression: The hot tarmac gives way to the side stand invisibly, the bike lies crunching on the ground.

Impression: The Lupine huge dog rolls on his back for me and wags his tail outside the petrol station

Impression: Confused at my satnav, getting lost, into bad rain.

Impression: The sky is a dustbin lid lifting at the corner to reveal an aquamarine world, showing me hope.

Impression: Reindeer meat tonight for celebrating not hiring a Hutte for 900 Kroner the night before.

impression: The shop and garage owner helping me choose food in his supermarket, and introducing me to his Sami wife.

The Sami people apparently are the only ones allowed to farm reindeer, they were the first nation here and we are southern tribes whomever invaded them long ago. Now they run souvenir tee pees selling hides and antlers and cheap Chinese tat. It really is so like north British Colombia, the first nation men drink in separate bars and drive roadster cars with four doors and a boot (trunk). The white protestants, some from Scandinavia too, settled and now wear cowboy hats and drive fancy pickup trucks. I drank in the first nation bar. I think I wrote about it in my Alaska blog.

Please respond with comments I would love to hear from you…