We Do Adventure

At one of the summer camps we were part of in July there was a workshop on survival fire starting. It was a popular session, understandably. When young people see the seemingly impossible demonstrated they want in on the action. The guy leading the session had some serious mountain craft credentials to burn – if you'll pardon the pun – and he didn't disappoint. We, however, had one disappointed young person. For some reason he'd missed the workshop and really felt like he'd missed out. So we decided we'd do a bit of firelighting ourselves. Not wanting to stake a claim as some kind of mountain man I did some research on YouTube for some more urban ideas. A shopping trip this afternoon equipped me with enough cans of Coke, chocolate bars, sticks of chewing gum and AA batteries to go around. Yes, all of the above can be a useful part of an improvised fire starting process. Sadly, at this evening's get together the sun was too far gone for us to get the chocol...

Back when we used to do youth work in the UK I was often the first in and the last out. For a number of years we ran different events in a converted warehouse building that had slightly temperamental heating. It was controlled by a computer system; all regular events were programmed in so, in theory, the venue would be warm when you arrived. Invariably it wasn't. At these times it was a case of reaching for the big orange over-ride button, which would kick the heating in on full for an hour. These days such memories serve as a reminder of how easy life is in a town where central heating is normal.  There are plenty of places in Bosnia and Herzegovina where central heating is widespread; some have city-wide central heating, harnessing the heat from local factories. But Jajce is not one of those places. Heating here is almost always by wood-burning stove. In its favour, this is a far more effective and enjoyable heat than attempting to use an air conditioner, as is common in...