I had struggled in vain to reason with the Chief of  Police at the airport, but he was not receptive to my persuasive attempts. ‘But I have travelled to North Africa several times and have never needed a visa! I go to Morocco and Tunisia all the time! I never thought I would need a visa here!”, I  lamented. “ Those countries let you in without visa but their citizens have to have visas when they go to your country. We don’t believe in that here. If you insist on visas for us, we will insist on it for you”, the Chief of Police explained, stony faced. I had to agree with him that his argument was faultless and that they were quite right in their decision, but nevertheless...  I shed a tear of disappointment when I saw the lovely city of Algiers disappearing behind me in the morning sun as I winged my way to London.