When people ask "Can I borrow this from you ?"

Funny story, I'd been staying at Loch Maree Hut on the Dusky, there was a group of hunters and a foreign guy there. After arriving at Supper Cove Hut the following day the foreign guy arrives a few hours later. Well the hunters had flown out in the morning after I'd left and taken his boots with them. He only had a pair of Jandals and was wondering if he could walk the rest of the Dusky in those when he heard the chopper flying back - with his boots. Apparently it cost them $800. I only add it here as I wondered at the time if I would have let him have my hut shoes & I think I would have.

Phew, eh ?. Maybe the chopper pilot did a charity run ?. It's the thought that counts.

Obviously there are some hunters out there that do the right thing. Mistakes happen but its the putting right that counts. How many would of left them at the Doc Office and how many more would have tried them on?

Point taken. I was referring to phil21's decision.

Have to say I'm not shy about asking to borrow a pot as it makes my complex evening meal preparation so much easier than transferring hot stuff into the eating bowl while I cook up another lot of food. This is after they've retired their pot for the night and I always clean their pot first as a favour if it needs it and return it cleaned again. I've loaned out a heap of stuff over the years, especially tents at full huts where people have turned up without one. The second dumbest thing I ever loanedout was my sleeping bag in northern Greece in a backpackers. I slept in my waterproof shell and froze. The worst thing was to lend a foreign guy (not Israeli) my spare thermorest for his tramping holiday. He contacted me in a hurry to say he was leaving NZ and could I pick up the mattress from a remote suburb. I only had a bike and by the time I got round to his flat, no one knew anything about a thermorest being left there. Learnt my lesson there. It's called a rescuing drama...

Another time we were staying at Duck Ck Hut in Masons Bay and some foreigners hadn't realized each other wasn't carrying food for them so muggins gave them her leftover food. Well, they strolled down to the beach and grabbed an outgoing plane shortly after. I ran into them in Oban the next day and they'd ditched my food of course. That's annoying when you're stingy and don't believe in wasting food.

I'm with @honara on this one. I've often asked to borrow a 2nd pot to make cooking easier. Or when cycling and on minimal load, even a mug so as to be able to have a drink whilst I cook, rather than have to finish drinking before I can use the billy/mug to cook food. And likewise I've lent out stuff similarly. And have not been too proud to offer round or suggest an exchange of spices, herbal teas, hot chocolate or the like after days/weeks on the same limited diet each day. We all know what out load capacity is, and understand that staying under it means compromising on convenience when you get to the hut. Why suffer rather than share? Pride? == It all reminds me of a religious (and sorry in advance sorry for that) story that was put on as a play by older kids at one of my first assemblies at primary school all those years ago. A man is welcomed into heaven, where he sees everyone who is already there seated round a table laden with a great feast of food. The catch being that everyone must eat only with 4 foot long chop-sticks. The newcomer is bemused and asks to see what 'the other place' is like and is taken down to hell where he witnesses exactly the same setup. The difference? Those up there are feasting by feeding each other with their 4' poles, whilst those down there are every man for himself and starving. Now I'm not christian - and resent religion's intrusion into my life, study and workplace - but that said sometimes the message is a good one.

I could eat with 4 foot chopsticks but the person sitting each side of me wouldnt see how its done for very long. Another common saying. Its all fun and games until someone loses an eye

In short, bludgers, no; people in need, yes. As per my story in the other current thread about meeting ill-prepared people in the bush, a tramper stumbled into Doubtless Hut @ 7pm after his mate left him behind without a billy or stove and he had wandered lost all afternoon. We happily shared our food with him. However, someone like @jmeyer mentions on the same thread describing a through-hiker on the AT whinging about not having a tent and expecting people to accommodate him; yeah, nah.

After reading this thread and then watching a couple of young ladies wolf dcwn half a pint of cream with their muesli, I resisted the urge to ask for a splash in my black coffee.