It was a quiet, warm night, June 1990 … and here I was, in southern Poland, on a reporting assignment for CBC Radio News. It had been a long day and I was beat — partly because some of the interviews had been difficult. I also lugged a heavy equipment bag over Hell’s half-acre and filed half a dozen voice reports to Canada — on archaic phone lines that crashed whenever the volume was adjusted. Arggh. I was frustrated, exhausted and emotionally drained. Even so, just could not fall asleep.
