On the Bottom Half

A Briton in Resolute.

Combing the BBC this morning for my daily dose, I had to share an excerpt from a BBC journalist tracing the Northwest Passage. You'll already know (faithful reader) that the Northwest Passage is open for the first time in recorded history. Already, journalists are going there to write articles about the event and raise awareness of our changing climate.

Anyway 'Poms', as they are affectionately known by Aussies, have this to say about boots:

The Coast Guard requires us to wear a particularly macho kind of cold-weather boot, packed with insulation and fitted with hardened protection at the toe. Only the Canadians make this kind of thing. Or NASA.

They keep your feet warm but they are not easy to walk in

The Arctic pioneers would have loved them - or maybe not. Sir John Franklin famously survived by eating his boots, which in those days were made of barely digestible leather, while ours consist of heavy duty plastic.

And wearing these vast boots feels a little like having a sizeable wooden box strapped to each foot.

So, in addition to everything else we have to prepare for, we have a new task - learning to walk.

Excerpted from: Taking the Northwest Passage - BBC, D. Shukman

posted by Kyle @ 17:07