The book was written within a year - or, at least, the actual pounding of the computer took that time. The ideas and memories have been fathering for decades. I wondered why I found myself wasting daylight hours before I actually got around to typing. Then, I realised that for two decades I'd been producing scripts for television which had deadlines for the Six O'clock and Nine O'clock News; so I resigned myself to being an owl, working into the wee small hours. When it came to priorities, I've never been able to categorise what I've seen into 'the worst thing' or 'the most frightening situation.' Life as a reporter is so varied that I find it's impossible to judge, for example, a terrorist incident against an earthquake, or a murder against a riot. Numbers and statistics are no help either, for the impact of any events depends on so many individual circumstances and details. I wanted to give some of the background, 'everyday details of work as a television reporter. Having been asked if the newsreader writes the entire bulletin (having just "phoned a friend or two for the information") and frequently having to explain that transport, food, accommodation and safety are entirely the responsibility of those of us in the field, rather than a mysterious imaginary back-up team catering to your every whim, I thought it might be useful to describe the daily routine of a reporter, and some of the practical aspects of working in difficult locations - i.e. places with no electricity, no running water, no heating, no petrol stations, houses with no roofs, burnt-out shops and very unhappy or angry people as neighbours. I also wanted to explain some of the attractions of the hob - the fascination of the unusual and the unexpected, the way that ordinary life can produce extraordinary people, and the fact that you can find fun and friendship in the worst of situations.