The border-obsessed times we live in reminded me of some really tough borders I encountered in years past. It is October 1961, the place: rural Turkey. Where you would have expected to roll on down the deserted dusty road, there is a boom gate and four sentries. This can't be a border, however. We had already experienced the grim realities of a Middle East border in our attempt to cross from Israel into Jordan through the Mandelbaum Gate. Despite our special ‘clean’ Australian passports, supplied by the Australian Embassy in Tel Aviv and devoid of any Israeli stamps, our trepidation as we approached the crossing was acute and intensified by the sudden bursts of gunfire on both sides of the gateway. We U-turned sharply and retreated and so ended our drive to Baghdad.