We went to St Petersburg in 2009 for a meeting on an EU project called ISAAC about heritage tourism. The May weather was marvellous and we stayed in a nice hotel next to the Fontanka River in walking distance of Nevsky Prospect. The high spot of our trip was a private tour of the Impressionist paintings in the Hermitage and Russian art in the Russian Museum. The Hermitage Museum, founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great is spectacular - lavish, ornate with the most impressive collection of art. The collections occupy a complex of six historic buildings along Palace Embankment, including the Winter Palace, home of Tsars, centre of imperial power, scene of the Bloody Sunday massacre of protesters in 1905 and subject to storming by Red Army troops in the October 1917 Revolution. We also had a boat trip to Peterhof, , the Russian Versailles, begun in 1714 by Peter the Great as his Monplaisir'.

This is an account of a trip with Emily So of Cambridge University in 2006 to the areas affected by the Pakistan earthquake of 8 October 2005. The aim of for Emily was to conduct a survey of survivors of the earthquake about their injuries as part of her PhD. My aim was to shed light on the factors affecting long-term recovery after major disasters. We interviewed people in Islamabad responsible for coordinating relief and reconstruction and visited the areas affected by the earthquake. We also drove up the beautiful Kaghan Valley as far as we were able. Understanding some of the issues faced by survivors of the earthquake was a powerful experience for us both and we were treated with the warmest hospitality and generosity by everyone we met in Pakistan

The GR20 is one of the great walks of Europe, comparable in length to the Tour of Mont Blanc and similar in quality to the Cuillen Ridge on Skye. It runs across Corsica northwest to southeast. It crosses jagged peaks, that are snow covered for much of the year. It is over a hundred and thirty miles long, involves over 25,000 metres of ascent and descent and takes nearly two weeks. It is divided into two sections by a small gauge railway that crosses the GR20 at Vizzavona. We walked the northern part from Calenza in 2001 and the southern part from Conca in 2004, when we had just turned sixty. Like so many who do this walk, we found our own way, carrying all our food and the minimum of gear and clothing. This is an account of the walk, plus excursions to the Aiguilles de Bavella and Monte Renosu, two high level variants. It will introduce you to the joys of multi-day high level walking and maybe encourage you to try for yourselves.

India has an overwhelming impact: the colours, sounds and smells of Delhi, where we bought a silk carpet. The majestic Himalayas and our climbs through steep green valleys and raging torrents into the soaring snow-white mountains. We tell stories about the people we meet; the Sikh pilgrims on their pilgrimage to Hemkund, our young guides from Joshimath, the people we stay with in the small mountain villages and the merchants in the hill station Mussoorie.

I went to Kyrgyzstan to run a scenario planning game in Bishkek with Emergency personnel from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan use remote sensing to map hazards and monitor disaster recovery. Our host takes us to a night club. It's in a vast concert bunker. We toast each other unmercifully with vodka shots until encouraged onto the dance floor where we dance with a group of attractive young girls they call the `jet-set'. We went for a walk in the snow covered Tien Shan and walked up the Ala Acha gorge. We wanted to see snow leopard, but all we saw were the inquisitive marmots and circling eagles. Having forgotten my trainers I had only sandals to keep my feet warm. Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan is a fascinating city, with its tree-lined boulevards, Soviet `brave new world' architecture and a huge statue of Lenin pointing towards a future long gone. Bishkek is a city on the ancient `silk-road' and there is a relaxed human feel to the place.

El Autana is a sandstone tepuy or butte about 400 miles south of Caracas in the Amazon Territory of Venezuela. We climbed the left hand ridge in the photograph in three days in 1974. A cathedral sized cave pierces the mountain from side to side, so that light shines through about 400 ft from the top. Like all good jungle mountains, this too has its indian legend. At dusk, when the sun shines through the cave that pierces the mountain from one side to side, the Piaroa indians call the cave the `Eye of the Gods'. Stephen Platt, David Nott, Wilmer Perez la Riva and Carlos Reyes climbed the North Ridge in its entirety and then descended to the caves were we spent three nights, exploring the galleries and traversing around the mountain along the horizontal fault line at the height of the cave. On the third day we completed the ridge to the summit. Night caught us abseiling down the last overhanging 300ft wall and we stumbled back to base camp by the meagre light of our only pocket torch

Originally presented as papers in the 1991 British Sociological Association Conference on Health and Society, Locating Health represents a valuable addition to the 'health inequalities' debate by extending our gaze beyond the traditional locations to include place, consumption and lifestyle. It offers reconceptualization of key theoretical terms, including work, income, and public/private domains as well as addressing the reciprocal influence of health and social location, for example early retirement; and highlighting the health consequences of multiple locations, such as gender and class, gender and age.

Private Risk and Public Dangers is comprised of a collection of chapters which were originally papers presented in the 1991 British Sociological Association Conference on Health and Society, and they address a range of private risks and public dangers. Issues covered vary from the response to HIV and AIDS and 'foetal alcohol syndrome' to the nature of accidents. These seemingly diverse social situations within which emerges is that we need a more sociologically informed understanding of the personal shading the public dangers they are expected to manage.

Providing a critical review of the current state of health promotion research. This book re-conceptualises the field of health promotion as collaborative and integrating enterprise, rather than as a battlefield for disciplinary and intellectual clashes.
It makes a significant contribution to ongoing epistemological, theoretical and methodological debates in health promotion research. With contributors from Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, Ireland, the UK and the US, Researching Health Promotion will be of interest to students and professionals working in health promotion, public health, medicine and health policy.

Originally presented as papers in the 1991 British Sociological Association Conference on Health and Society, Locating Health represents a valuable addition to the 'health inequalities' debate by extending our gaze beyond the traditional locations to include place, consumption and lifestyle. It offers reconceptualization of key theoretical terms, including work, income, and public/private domains as well as addressing the reciprocal influence of health and social location, for example early retirement; and highlighting the health consequences of multiple locations, such as gender and class, gender and age.

Private Risk and Public Dangers is comprised of a collection of chapters which were originally papers presented in the 1991 British Sociological Association Conference on Health and Society, and they address a range of private risks and public dangers. Issues covered vary from the response to HIV and AIDS and 'foetal alcohol syndrome' to the nature of accidents. These seemingly diverse social situations within which emerges is that we need a more sociologically informed understanding of the personal shading the public dangers they are expected to manage.

An account of a trip to Thailand to test using satellite imagery to monitor long-term disaster recovery. We had two or three days in the hot and steamy concrete jungle of Bangkok and then spent a week in Ban Nam Khem, a fishing village on the west coast, that had been badly damaged by the tsunami. We had a day off and visited the fabulous `James Bond' island in Phnag Nga Bay Phuket where Roger Moore fought Scaramanga played by Christopher Lee in `Man with the Golden Gun'.