In Greece we lugged our rucksacks down beaches and quays, jumped on and off catamarans and ferries, pitching up on glorious Syros, Paros, Mykonos.
Sergeant Reed was limited by a back injury suffered in a car crash, and it had not escaped Sergeant Feyer's notice that Sergeant Reed had skipped the long days on the rifle range, that he hadn't humped a 40-pound rucksack up and down steep, chest-busting hills on 15-kilometer marches.
It'll squash down into your rucksack and not weigh you down on an adventure.
Just lay down the rucksack, Arch, and join the happy campers in the sky.
All those pet rocks in our rucksack were taking us down".
If it still comes for you, throw down your rucksack to distract it - but do not run".
Anathem, by Neal Stephenson (Atlantic, £18.99) The latest mind-bending, biceps-straining tome from the author of Cryptonomicon and The Baroque Cycle may weigh down your rucksack, but will outlast the longest flight or train journey.
Oh yeah, you'll need a school bag, so look out for one that's: Black, Straps can go down far, Rucksack style, one YOU like.
Downing rucksacks, the children raced up the narrow staircase of the eight-storey house, relishing the breathlessness induced by the rarefied air.
A lot of that, mind, was down to the rucksack.
