My brushes with the forces of law and order have, mercifully, been brief. There was,however, one occasion that was positively scary, which happened during my time as a VSO volunteer in Eritrea. I had been out on a Saturday evening and had visited one of my usual haunts, but the place was heaving with sailors and quite rowdy. I moved elsewhere, had a drink or two with some people I knew and went home. Unexciting thus far. The next day, I was hauled off by the police and put in a cell. I had no idea why and the guards either couldn't or wouldn't tell me. I spent a largely sleepless night being devoured by mosquitoes. To cut this long story short, I emerged 36 hours later unscathed (apart from the bites). It turned out I had been mistaken for a sailor who'd been involved in a brawl. No harm done, but it had me in a panic. At least it provided me with a chapter for my book. Not that I had that in mind at the time. Anyone had a brush with the law, or at least one they'd like to admit to?