Years ago I knew a Polish guy who was a physio for Olympic teams and collected post cards from places he visited. On a train journey in Russia he showed them to fellow travelers who were amazed, utterly stunned.

One girl was offered a card she specially liked, but she was too afraid to take it. The consequences of being caught with it were too frightening. A picture postcard of a foreign place. Imagine that.

A Polish team visited the UK and he asked me to meet a friend of his. They were staying in student accommodation. I went along thinking I'd take him out to lunch and found he was not allowed to leave the building; there were security people watching the lift and stairs. No lunch.

This was at a time when repression was really bad and people were struggling to survive; I gave him a few things he could barter for necessities. He told me what was going on with Solidarity and how people locked themselves in factories and shipyards to stay alive. Many were murdered and had to be buried at night. Their families were told to keep their mouths shut or else.

After the fall of Solidarity I helped one family to get out. They managed to escape by a miracle. I had food ready but they were too emaciated to eat. It was several days before they could manage anything like a proper meal.

The father told me libraries had no reference books of any kind - that was privileged information available to a few. What really blew his mind was when he picked up a telephone book and started reading the direct dialing codes for all the countries of the world. He was in shock, exploded when he got to "Papua New Guinea"!!! Total freedom to communicate - anywhere in the world!

His first sight of a punk rocker with a Mohican was hilarious - total culture shock - freedom to be different. As was his disbelief when I pointed out I'd been given wrong change at a railway station. The money was in an envelope for me to collect when we returned. He was stunned.

We take so much for granted.