I was born in Suffolk. I first went to Botswana to work as an agronomist in the 1980s, and that’s when I first discovered the Guardian Weekly.
It was on thin white crispy paper and arrived weekly in an airmail sleeve. What a wonderful succinct, summary of the weekly news, from around the world and in the UK.
In those days the Weekly had sections from the Washington Post and Le Monde. Later while studying in the United States, I decided to keep subscribing, as I missed its breadth of news and the range of ads for Commonwealth jobs in aid and tertiary education.
Back working in Africa again in the 90s and since 1995 in Australia, I always look forward to my Guardian Weekly arriving. It now gets dropped on my sun-parched lawn in Queensland.
It arrives rolled in plastic and that seems strange in the mostly dry heat and often I bring in an ant or two. However when it pours, it pours in Queensland, and so on those days my paper is nice and dry.
I pass it on to my daughter and her postgraduate room-mates. I love the Notes & Queries (my first stop), then the world roundup, Shortcuts and Discovery pages before reading the longer essays.
Wherever I have lived, it has been a very positive constant to keep in touch with world news. I couldn’t ever stop subscribing; I am really happily hooked.
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