Adam Buxton in the Guardian (Sat 29 Jan)

[hobbsy]

Just spotted this via the letters page
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/ ... d-magazine

It's good to see that Adam Buxton is as charmingly dysfunctional in print as he is on BBC Radio 6 Music. Please give him a regular column.
Alex Collier
Sunderland

and here's the article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2011/j ... y-maldives

[adamneve]

"Reading out made-up vows while someone takes pictures for a newspaper is not the same as sexy vampires," hisses Sarah, for whom ostentatious displays of emotion, public speaking and being photographed are as enjoyable as cystitis."

"We draw up a list of similarly insane gripes. The sand is a little too sandy. The sea is perhaps a degree too warm and not sufficiently bracing. Returning every cheery, "Hello!" and, "Good morning!" from the staff is a chore. The crabs that dart across the beach are cheeky and defiant."

loved it, very funny and readable.

[Gabriel]

Brilliant piece. Loved it. He's a damn good writer.

I also appreciated the Wilfred Owen reference (or accidental homage) in the description of getting the snorkel gear on: "An ecstasy of fumbling"

"With a sense of ineffable sadness, I realise it will be coming for us in just two more days." -- he really meant what he said in that Holiday Blues song!

I wonder why newspapers spend all that money giving people a holiday and then presumably paying them to write about it? Is it subsidised by the people who run the holidays, hoping that the advertisement will boost their sales?

[adamneve]

Is it subsidised by the people who run the holidays, hoping that the advertisement will boost their sales?

I'm guessing that this is how it works. Think of how much a half page advertisement in a newspaper or magazine costs, probably the same if not more than sending two people on a holiday for a week.