More thrills than skills – A half-life in journalism, part 15

Over the next few weeks, allmediascotland.com is to publish, each weekday, edited extracts from the memoirs of Scottish war correspondent, Paul Harris. ‘More thrills than skills: A half-life in journalism’, is being scheduled for publication next year.

AT one bar, a grinning, moustachioed character asks me to hold out my hand.

Thinking it might be another beer, I stretch it out to find a grenade clamped in my palm. I just hold on, pushing the pin in, grinning furiously, until the beer is finished.

Much amusement all round.

Meantime, Judy discovers she has run out of film. She asks if I will lend her some. This was always my least favourite request in a war zone.

The film you lend is invariably what you will need later in the day. When I decline, she looks distinctly put out and asks where the shops are.