Do You Need Sheets?

So we arrived in Luleå mid afternoon on Saturday 16th Feb, and the first problem was that the bus to the city was leaving in 10 minutes and the luggage still hadn't come out. Once it finally did, the bus had left, and the next one was some 3 or 4 hours later! The original plan though had been to hire a car for the next few days - but you know how expensive hire companies at the airport can be... What was our alternative though? Taxi into town? But how far is it, and how much will it cost? So we checked around the hire companies anyway and luckily found one which still had cars (the other one was fully booked!). Biting the bullet, we hired it. The cost wasn't sooo bad...

The guy gave us the keys and a map, and we were off. Jun, my mate from Singapore, drove first, and we headed into town in search of a hostel (and a much needed shower!) We eventually found one, checked in, and then was about to pay our money when the dude asked that all important question, "Do you need sheets?"

Oh crap! I totally forgot that in Scandinavian youth hostels you have to bring your own sheets, or else you have to hire them. Of course I hadn't packed any (to be fair they're still in Olive's garage with the rest of my stuff) so I of course had to hire them, for the exorbitant price of 65 kronor! 65 kronor?! You could BUY your own sheets for that price! If I'm going to have to pay that in each hostel I stay in on this trip, I might as well have bought a set of 500+ thread count Egyptian cotton sheets for the price! Seriously...

But I had no alternative, I had to hire the sheets. So I pay up and follow the guy to the laundry cupboard from which he produces a set of (fortunately clean) sheets, including a doona cover, a bedsheet and a pillowcase. He then locks the door back up and wanders off... but I noticed that he left the key in the lock accidentally as he left. Lightbulb! I have a cunning plan...

You see, I can't just 'borrow' (aka steal) these hired sheets, as the guy has Jun's information and if he was being pedantic about it, he could cause Jun a lot of problems if I nick the sheets and he notices (seeing as I'm obviously the only one who has sheets to return the next day). So I have to return the sheets. But I could just 'borrow' a fresh set... after all, we'll be back in Luleå on Friday, I know the door code... I could just return them then...

So I go back to my room and wait til the coast is clear. Just as I'm about to make a break for it, some kid from the room next door comes out and starts running up and down the corridor, right in front of the laundry cupboard, making a racket - opportunity missed! So I wait another 30 minutes (after his mum took him away) and when the coast is clear, I quietly, steathily, tiptoe at the speed of light (like Tinkerbell in Hook) across the corridor - whoosh, I swing open the door real quick and fair dive into the cupboard as I can hear someone coming...

Crap! It's dude, plodding up and down the corridor like a sentry at Buckingham Palace! I pray frantically that he doesn't notice the key in the door and lock it up with me in it... (can you imagine that?)... he comes closer, closer... oh no, has he seen the key?

Fortunately the guy is either half cut or blind as a bat, but he misses it, and shuffles off back to the kitchen. It's now or never, I grab the sheets and literally fling myself through the air back to my room in a dramatic ninja-like flailing jump! I make it back to my room just as dude comes out the kitchen again - only this time he must've noticed the laundry door not properly closed as he starts spouting off in Swedish, and banging on the door of the boy next door! I don't know if he knew someone had been in the cupboard, but I suspect he thought the kid had been mucking about in there as when I finally ventured back out later, the door was locked and the key gone... lucky escape for me... phew!

The rest of the night passed without incident, although Jun did say that late in the night he heard someone try to get in our room... might've been dude looking for his stolen sheets...!