Oh for the days before Instagram and selfies

TATTOOS aimed artfully into the lens, legions of lavishly-illustrated lovelies of all genders vie for adulation on social media.

- GUY HENDERSON

They stand in front of landmarks and natural wonders, waiting for the light to illuminate them just so. Their pictures then flood the social channels, begging to be liked or loved.

They all stand in the same pose.

They all hold their phones the same distance from their faces to get the focus just right, and they all crave the little hearts or thumbs-ups they get.

The rest of us just have to stand and wait to photograph the high lights of our holidays.

Mrs H and I are just back from a week in Corfu, where the sun shone down from an unbroken blue sky for all but the last day. We stayed out in the sticks and disconnected from the hurly-burly of everyday life for a few days.

But we took lots of pictures on our phones, as everybody always does these days. We took pictures of the food we ate and the drinks we drank, and there were selfies with lovely scenery in the background. But we took them quickly and moved on.