From first arrival in Lebanon as a fresh faced graduate to the heat of the first Gulf War conflict as managed from Saudi Arabia, Sir Alan Munro's account of life representing Her Majesty's government in embassy posting across the world will enchant and engage. This book is intended to convey something of the flavour - and the frivolities - of escapades and encounters which Sir Alan and his wife experienced in the course of thirty-five years in diplomacy in the Middle East, Africa and South America, and at home too. The narrative is set against a half-century of post-imperial adjustment in Britain's foreign policy, in which withdrawal from a global role is offset by an overriding concern, shared with western partners, to counter the extension - political and economic as well as military - of Soviet Marxist influence across a fractious post-colonial world. It is no purpose of mine to denigrate or burlesque any individuals who appear in its pages. This account brings out the human side, as well as the value, of a profession in which 'life's rich tapestry' plays an uncommonly prominent part.