“Work smart, not hard” has become my mantra, which I first heard from Enrique, my fellow survey operator in French Guyana.

Those three months were the hardest, hottest, most emotionally difficult in my life so most things about French Guyana have stuck in my mind: being locked up over night by a drunk official in a room with a French Guyanese soldier shouldering an AK-47; the ‘steaming broccoli’ over which I flew 8 hours a day in 100% humidity and 40 degree heat with no air conditioning as it disturbed the survey equipment; the two terrible tragedies; the physical toll, in part a result of the endless turbulence and throwing up which knocked off the kilos so I was down to 35 by the time my husband arrived from Greenland after I’d been 7 weeks on the French Guyana job; being the only female for three months (though it was a great crew I worked with!)

I took on board Enrique’s ‘work smart, not hard’ since I got published. It took me 27 years to cross the hurdle into print; I don’t intend to spend another 27 years floundering in the wilderness.

So I hope my blog will offer some helpful advice to others making the same journey.