The nice people at Sigg sent me a couple of water bottles today. I was rather excited to receive them. The thing is, it's a water bottle, made of metal, so what's the big deal?
Well, this one is a pleasing blue. It has a beautiful finish coupled with the reassuring feel of quality and sturdiness that one might expect from a Swiss company that have done just this for over a hundred years. It holds a litre of water. It has a nice screw cap. It is fairly light.
"So what?", I hear you ask?
Well, a photo is worth a thousand words...
You see, this isn't my first Sigg bottle. On the right is my new shiny bottle. On the left is my old, battered bottle. That bottle is over twenty years old. It has been around the world, been up mountains, been at sea, been used as a makeshift rugby ball. It still does exactly what it did when new. It's never faltered. When thirst called, it has always quenched (that's assuming I had filled it up!). It even has the original seal.
Kit comes and goes but great kit lasts a lifetime. This isn't just any bottle, this is something that will survive the rigours of adventure and go back for more. It's almost a companion, each chip and dent tells a story.
I can't bring myself to replace mine just yet so the new bottle will for now sit on my window sill like the piece of art that it is. Indeed, there is a permanent collection of these held at the New York Museum of Modern Art! If you don't own one, I really would recommend them.