74.77km –10H32’
Altitude : 187m
This is the moment of relaxation for Serge after a long day on the road.
Serge’s conversation at the end of the stage, while stretched out on the bed in an apartment which was once assigned to the school teachers of Orajärvi, and has been closed for ten years (the children now go to the school in Pello). These apartments have been converted into lodgings for rent:
Serge: « You didn’t come see us all day long; you only come when you need us. We are not objects, we are also human beings.”
Laure: « I missed you on the road? »
Serge: « When are you going to the hairdresser, with that hair cut do you think you are irresistible?”
Laure doesn’t answer
Serge: « I have done the calculations, but you aren’t going to be happy! Tomorrow it will make 400 marathons, I calculated the number of days left and took 200 marathons, it makes…..”
I let him talk and give me his figures, my mind elsewhere and concentrating on the keyboard.
Serge: « I would like someone to fiddle with my feet »
Eliane agrees to massage Serge’s feet and comes in from the kitchen, leaving René with the hard boiled eggs.
Serge: « Finally a woman who does what I want »
Eliane: « It has been a long time since I gave you a foot massage…. »
Serge: « Laure, you can say that I urinated 1.5 liters last night! »
(Indeed, Serge gets up 2 or 3 times every night and nobody believed him when he said that he urinated a lot, so to prove it he urinated into a bottle last night)
Eliane: “You really have beautiful feet, they haven’t been injured”
Serge: « Yes, I think they are the best part of my body, you are lucky Eliane, you are touching the best part of my body! »
(I can reassure you, I’m right there)
Serge: « Eliane, you have missed your calling »
And then, we start talking about the profession of physio therapist … bonesetter … osteopath…..
It’s a moment of relaxation, where Serge let’s himself go with his sometimes caustic humor, after a cold day with snow showers and the ever present north wind which pushes Serge toward the south.
Town : Sammalvaara