My Guardian Weekly subscription began as a Christmas present nearly 10 years ago when I moved to Melbourne and I used to look forward to the regular Friday deliveries. Now that my family and I live in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the deliveries are not quite so regular. These days we hear nothing for weeks then three or four copies all arrive on the same day, some even faded yellow from the sun.
As subscribers to the daily Guardian newspaper back in the UK, we enjoy seeing our familiar favourites neatly condensed. My regular starting points are always What I’m really thinking and Oliver Burkeman’s column, before moving on to the puzzles. My wife, Henri, and I always enjoy the Maslanka Missing links and crosswords, although with three or four new copies on the table it takes a certain amount of self-discipline not to look up the answers. I am a teacher here in Addis, and all copies get left in the library and are therefore well-thumbed. The Eyewitnessed pictures get posted on the classroom noticeboard for all students to see.
The news is often a little outdated by the time it arrives but it is the comment that makes the paper for me. I particularly enjoy Opinion in brief and we laughed at the recent article about living offline like Eddie Redmayne, as this is the reality of our day-to-day without TV, Wi-Fi or a landline in our house. But that’s what makes the arrival of the Guardian Weekly such an event. When it arrives.
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