Extract from Edith and I: Travels on the Trail of Edith Durham
Elizabeth Gowing

At the British Library's information desk I asked how I could listen to recordings of a couple of songs recorded by Edith Durham in Albania. I was told to 'go past Beethoven, down to Mozart and use the terminal there to log in.' Maybe this is how directions will be given in heaven.

When I reached (the bust of) Mozart, I discovered the computer with those professional headphones which really block out the world outside. I could see my fingers moving over the computer keyboard, but could hear no sound - like diving, or dreaming.

And then, with one click I really was in another world. There was the spatter and spurt of the wax cylinder (I thought of each of them as a bump and a bash of Edith's saddlebags as she travelled back from Albania) and a sudden wail. Albanian singing has a wailing quality even when you hear it live. Hearing it now in my strange otherworldly underwater condition, it was like a ghost from the past, crying to be heard.

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Life is tough, can you be?
Samantha Lucas

So, there you are, sitting at home listening to the ominous sound of your credit crunching underfoot and you decide the time has come to make some extra cash in your spare time. You don't have the looks for modelling, have no spare rooms to rent out and after some thought have decided that selling a kidney just isn't a viable option. So what do you do?

How about being a Dominatrix? In what is still very much a man's world it could just be the sort of empowering position you've been searching for. You get to take out all those little daily frustrations on a willing and eager chap who'll happily do whatever you ask him to and pay you for the privilege!

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Map-Reading for Girls
Sue Gardner

I can read a map. I can. I always did the map-reading on family expeditions. Okay, occasionally I would say "turn right" when I actually meant "turn left" or "actually, we should have turned off there" as we went whizzing past the exit, but I always knew where we were on the map and how to get back on track. I really did.

When I first stayed in this area three years ago, shortly after my partner died, I needed some serious retail therapy and decided to go to Bluewater, that huge shopping centre built on the site of a redundant chalk quarry at Greenhithe. When I say it's huge, it is massive. You can't miss it once you're on top of it. But it's not visible from the motorway. You have to know which junction to get off the M2 and I didn't. I kept turning off too early, driving around then asking for directions.

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Macheté Lessons on Galapagos
Sue Gardner

My macheté was sharp with a 3 foot long rusty blade.

To demonstrate how sharp, César swiped his macheté across a line of brambles. They collapsed in a heap.

I was a volunteer at the Fundación Jatun Sacha, set in 200 hectares on San Cristobal, the second largest island in the Galapagos archipelago and César, station director demonstrated how to use this weapon as a garden tool.

"Never cut towards you, stand with feet shoulder width apart on terra firma."

I watched closely to ensure I would leave with all my fingers and limbs.

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