Explore the vast range of titles available.

Luckily the island of Formentera is just half an hour away. So I catch a ferry across to a different world. Arriving at the port of La Savina knowing that you have time to kill in Formentera is one of life's great pleasures. The island is famous for its laid-back atmosphere. In the 1960s, hundreds of hippies made the place their home, including Bob Dylan, who lived in a windmill and gave impromptu concerts which are still spoken about today. Pink Floyd used to hang out there. Though there are more tourists about nowadays, even in peak season the island oozes a laissez-faire, chilled out vibe. Most of the visitors are young and Italian. They know how to relax and look good at the same time. I would love to be able to spend a few weeks on Formentera. You can learn to make guitars in the laid-back village of San Ferran; you can learn to scuba dive, and see the barracuda among wrecks on the sea bed. It's the sort of place where you could write a novel. Once you discover the island, you know that you'll come back. It is a quiet, soothing antidote to its hyperactive bigger brother 12 miles to the north, even in July. Next time, as soon as I can, I'll head straight for the chill-out option, without stopping off to party on the way. For me, the best thing about Ibiza Town is leaving it, knowing that Formentera lies ahead. >>> Getting there: easyJet (easyjet.com) flies to Ibiza from Gatwick, Liverpool, Newcastle and Stansted from pounds 51 rtn inc tax. Trasmapi (+9713 15736, trasmapi.com) ferries run almost hourly frequently from 7.45am-8.30pm, from Ibiza Town to La Savina on Formentera, euros 12.90 or euros 15.90 each way.

The [Sevillanos] start arriving back from 11am; some on horseback or in ornate horse-drawn carriages. There are several hundred such vehicles, which slowly do a tour of the streets, occasionally dropping their passengers off at a friend's caseta for a glass of sherry. Despite the previous night's excesses, they are all immaculately dressed. Many of the men wear broad- brimmed Cordobes hats, short leather jackets, and chaps. The women are back in their flamenca dresses, or in a more refined, feminine version of the vaquero (cowboy) gear. Even the more casual Feria-goers will be dressed with flamboyant elan. At around two, everyone retires to their home caseta, and the serious drinking and dancing begins again, until six the next morning. It is unlikely that a foreign visitor will be able to last the pace until the following Sunday night, when an impressive firework display on the banks of the river signals the end of the Feria. But there is plenty more to do in Seville. For those that way inclined, the best bullfighters in the country perform daily in the Maestranza bullring all through Feria week. Ryanair (tel: 0871 246 0000, www.ryanair.com) flies daily from London Stansted to Seville. Accommodation is hard to find during La Feria. Book in advance at the tourist office reservation centre (tel: 00 34 952 129 310, www.seneca.es); minimum stay in this period is three to four days. A list of all the city's hotels and hostels can be found at the tourist office website (www.andalucia.org)

The state-run Parador de Santiago de Compostela (4), Plaza do Obradoiro (00 34 981 582 200; www.parador.es), is by some stretch the best place in town to stay. The setting and interior are superb, which is possibly why it does not feel it necessary to offer winter specials. A double room costs EUR126 (pounds 90) per night (breakfast included). Even if you don't stay there, try out the cocktail of the day in the restaurant bar. The five- star Palacio del Carmen (5), on Rua das Oblatas (00 34 981 552 444; www.ac- hotels.com/english/santiago.htm), is a former convent situated in the hills overlooking the town, which offers a fine view of the city. The discount rate is EUR89 (pounds 64), breakfast not included. For a cheap but clean alternative try the two-star San Lorenzo (6) at Rua San Lorenzo 2 (00 34 981 580 133), which charges a discount rate of EUR54 (pounds 39), breakfast not included. This is a family-run affair, offering good local food, in the old part of town. Catch the last stretch of the pilgrims' route. From the Parque de San Domingos, walk into the old town through the Porta do Camino (8), and turn left into Rua do Olivera, which will take you past the grey, church- like market (9); don't miss the fighting angels on the clocktower. Continue along [Praza] da Universidade and Praza de Mazarelos through the university district, with its august classical buildings. Turn into the shopping district round Canton and Praza do Toural, then turn right down porticoed Rua do Vila, a street of shops and bars where the pilgrims' progress traditionally quickens a step. Turn left into Rua De Fonseca, take a deep breath, and turn right into the Praza do Obradoiro. The cathedral (3) awaits you. Few pilgrims return from Santiago without souvenirs. Some go for the decorative: there are scores of shops selling traditional silver cockle shells and silver necklaces in the old quarter - try Relojeria Calvo de Paz (10) at Rua das Orfas 7 (00 34 981 571 384). Others choose more functional goods: the area is famous for its ceramics. For a good selection of bowls, vases and hanging witches, try Ceramica Tipica (11) at Rua Da Conga 2 (00 34 686 026 679). Epicurean visitors go for more transitory reminders: A Cesta (12) at Rua do [Franco] 52 (00 34 981 587 276) is the best place to buy orujo (Galician grappa) and tetilla (soft cheese).

Enter Queen's Bush Rural Ministries (QBRM). It is important to stress here that QBRM provides its services to all rural residents in need, not just farmers. Non-farmers also can find a sympathetic ear and guidance about where to turn for assistance. The co-ordinator of the program is Alex Leith, who operates a beef cow-calf farm near Durham. Before joining QBRM Alex served many years with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs in a number of roles. He is a member of Amos Presbyterian Church in Soutgate Township.

One of the oldest and best known mercantile firms in the interior, and the whole of B.C. for that matter, was the Wood, Vallance Hardware Co. Ltd., whose wholesale and retail store and office were located at 593 Baker St. in Nelson. The heavy goods warehouses were located by the C.P.R. tracks on Water St. down near the old city wharf. The Nelson store was one of a company of hardware stores located in Winnipeg, Calgary, Vancouver, Nelson and Hamilton, Ontario, with the headquarters in Hamilton and the major shareholders being the Wood and [Vallance] families. The Nelson store catered to the mining and logging industries as well as general hardware to the whole of the West and East Kootenays. This firm was the successor to the H. Byers & Co., who also had stores in Kaslo and Sandon. In 1904 when the Wood, Vallance Co. took possession of the building from the Byers Co. the total staff of the new firm consisted of five employees and a one-horse delivery. Mr. G.W. McBride was made manager, assisted by his nephew Mr. R.L. McBride, who had operated his uncle's business in Rossland. Mr. Alex Leith arrived from Hamilton having been appointed by the board to the position of secretary-treasurer. Also with the firm were my Dad, Roy Sharp and Alf Jeffs, both who had been with the Byers Co. Dad came down from Sandon in 1900 and was hired on as the delivery man. His first assignment was to deliver picks, shovels, axes and wheel barrows down to the Gas Works where a crew of men were starting to build the road west out of Nelson.

[MURCIA] has lots of reasonably priced accommodation, mostly situated near the cathedral. The most luxurious is the four-star Arco de San Juan (3) at Plaza Cebollos 10 (00 34 968 21 04 55; www.arcosanjuan.com), located in an 18th-century Neo-Classical palace. A double room at the weekend (Friday- Sunday) costs between EUR97 (pounds 69) and EUR150 (pounds 107) including breakfast (EUR110/pounds 79 midweek). The Hispano II (4) at Calle Radio Murcia 3 (00 34 968 21 68 59) is good value at EUR49 (pounds 35) Friday, Saturday, Sunday per double room without breakfast (EUR65/pounds 47 Monday-Thursday). Its reception also deals with the Pension Hispano I (5), situated on the other side of the block in Calle Traperia 8, which will set you back EUR39 (pounds 28) for a clean, spacious double excluding breakfast. Murcia is an excellent place for outdoor drinking, with a choice of pretty squares glittering with silver tables and brimful of locals who've stopped for a beer or an ice cream. Plaza Santo Domingo (8) is the most popular. Plaza de Belluga (2), by the cathedral, and Plaza Romea (13), in front of the 19th-century Teatro de Romea, are also fine places to kill a lazy hour or two with a drink in your hand. El Arco de Santo Domingo, in Plaza Santo Romea, is a fine people-watching spot with quick and friendly service. Most of the (rather raucous) post-midnight life is conducted in the university area (14). ... is the cathedral on Plaza Cardenal Belluga (2). It was built between the 16th and 18th century and reflects the influence of at least five distinct periods of architecture. Most memorable is the west facade which looks on to the Plaza de Belluga. This was built, like much else in Murcia, during the 18th century and demonstrates the indulgent Baroque exuberance of the period, dripping with medallions, capitals and cherubim. Around the corner, in Plaza de los Apostoles (23), there is a vast stone chain attached to the wall. Local legend has it that a stonemason arrived in Murcia in 1587 suggesting its addition to the cathedral, staking his life on the fact that Murcia's bishop would approve once it was completed. On its unveiling, the bishop apparently liked the stonemason's work so much that he chopped his hands off to prevent him from building similar chains around rival cathedrals.

The airport train arrives at Malaga-Alameda station (2) (not the central station) on Avenida Comandante Benitez just off Alameda Principal, a busy tree-lined street which acts as the hub of central Malaga. The main tourist office (3) is on Plaza de la Marina (00 34 95 212 2020; www.malagaturismo.com), and opens 10am-7pm daily. It is on your right where La Alameda ends; Paseo de los Curas continues eastwards past the busy port, leading to a stretch of sandy beaches eight kilometres long. Most of the city's main sights lie just north of the Paseo, in a web of crumbling 19th-century streets. You can't go far without coming into one of the two main squares, Plaza de la Constitucion (4) and Plaza de la Merced (5), where Picasso was born clinically dead - his heart was soon galvanised into action by a lungful of his uncle Salvador's cigar. The spectacular cathedral (6) (\"la Manquita\", with one spire missing), the Museo Picasso Malaga (1) and the Moorish hilltop castles the Alcazaba (7) and the Gibralfaro (8) are all a short walk from one another in this area. West of the Alameda, running north to south, is the dried-up river Guadalmedina. Cross the Puente de la Misericordia and go down Calle Cuarteles to get to the main rail station (9) and bus terminus (10). Walk down the marble-paved Calle Marques de Larios from Plaza de la Constitucion (4), turn left at the port and stroll though the park, past a savage-looking bronze tambourine man, the guardian of Malaga's party-going spirit. Walk down Paseo de la Farola to the lighthouse (the subject of Picasso's first oil-painting) keeping the port, with its mixture of cruise ships, industrial liners and fishing boats, to your right. You'll find the first sands of the city beaches on the other side of this spit. When you reach Plaza Malagueta, turn left into Calle Cervantes, which will take you up to the bullring (14). Beyond this, the tangled ceiling of fig-tree branches over Paseo de Reding offers welcome shade from the sun. The Avenida de Cervantes will take you past the yellow neo-classical town hall to the Museo Picasso (1). One of the most popular restaurants is El Tintero (17) on Calle Salvador Allende (00 34 95 220 4464), out in the seaside suburb of El Palo (bus 11 from Alameda Principal). It's a huge place, on the beach, with room for 500 diners. Waiters walk round with plates of seafood, shouting what they have; you beckon one over when you see what you want. A meal for two with wine costs around EUR30/pounds 21. In the more central seaside district of Malagueta, where most of the city's top restaurants are situated, you can enjoy a rather more refined experience at Adolfo's (18) at Paseo Maritimo 12, (00 34 95 260 1914, closed Sundays) with inventive seafood from Adolfo himself, who buys the fish in the market, invents the recipe, cooks it and serves it to you. Expect to pay at least EUR100/pounds 71 for a meal for two with wine, and reserve well in advance. Otherwise try out one of the tapas bars around Calle Granada. Bar Pimpi (19) at Calle Granada 68 is recommended.

Locally it's always been known as the Devil's Bridge - El Pont del Diable - and when you stand underneath and look up at it, the idea of walking along its ridge fills you with juddery-kneed foreboding. Especially if you suffer, as I do, from vertigo. Twenty- seven metres high, 217m across, the Aqueducto de les Ferreres, as it's more formally known, used to bring water from the Francoli river into the Roman city of Tarraco, 3km away. Eighteen hundred years or so later, it's still intact and a popular Sunday afternoon excursion spot for the present-day inhabitants of Tarragona. And something of a dare. Several times, as I contemplate walking across, I see someone declining to set foot on it, like a horse refusing a fence. And, finally, as I gingerly set off through the entrance, I feel some telltale symptoms. There's nothing like the combination of blind panic and involuntary leg spasms to bring home the power of the Roman Empire. The aqueduct was one of two built to slake the enormous thirst of one of the most important cities in that empire. Tarraco in its time was home to 30,000 inhabitants, the capital of Hispania Citeria, the gateway to the Iberian peninsula, a mere four-day galley run from Rome. It enjoys a beautiful climate, which made it a perfect place for the winter HQ of the Roman army in Spain. \"The climate mixes and confuses all the four seasons,\" wrote the poet Aneo Floro, who visited at the beginning of the 11th century. \"The whole year seems like an eternal Spring.\" For two years (from 27BC to 25BC) Augustus Caesar used the city to run his military campaign against the Cantabrian tribes, making it the epicentre of the Roman world at that time. As a provincial capital, Tarraco was of great administrative and military importance, as well as being a thriving trade centre. Such a city needed institutions to serve it: two forums, a temple, an amphitheatre, a circus, a basilica (courthouse), a theatre...

\"MARK my words,\" says Patrick Marber. \"In five years' time there will be 50, maybe 100 clubs run like this. It's the way football is going. Actually, it is the only way football can go.\" \"If things go as I hope, I won't be on the board in a couple of years,\" says Marber. \"It will be made up of democratically elected fans' representatives.\" When they finally agreed terms with [Martin Elliott] to take over the club a fortnight ago (Marber is not sure if the nominal Pounds 1 fee ever actually changed hands, but suggests the process would make \"a brilliant play, though I'm not going to write it, I haven't the time with this\") the local press announced the formation of \"the Barcelona of the South Downs\". It was an unlucky bit of timing: that very day Barca were revealed to be so indebted they could not pay their players' wages.

\"MARK my words,\" says Patrick Marber. \"In five years' time there will be 50, maybe 100 clubs run like this. It's the way football is going. Actually, it is the only way football can go.\" \"If things go as I hope, I won't be on the board in a couple of years,\" says Marber. \"It will be made up of democratically elected fans' representatives.\" When they finally agreed terms with [Martin Elliott] to take over the club a fortnight ago (Marber is not sure if the nominal Pounds 1 fee ever actually changed hands, but suggests the process would make \"a brilliant play, though I'm not going to write it, I haven't the time with this\") the local press announced the formation of \"the Barcelona of the South Downs\". It was an unlucky bit of timing: that very day Barca were revealed to be so indebted they could not pay their players' wages.