The summer is traditionally a time when news-gathering becomes especially challenging for those of us in the print and broadcast media.
This is largely because the people who make the news have buggered off on holiday, leaving journalists who can't even afford a day trip to Margate to rummage around for whatever they can find.
A hamster in Newquay that has learned how to windsurf; a toddler in Troon getting a degree in metaphysics; a Bermondsey man building a box girder bridge out of old shop fittings. You know the sort of thing I mean.
So I was rather taken with the story last week about holidaymakers who overdo the booze when they travel abroad.
Stemming from a report compiled by the Know Your Limits (KYL) campaign, the widely-covered story revealed that "the average adult consumes eight alcoholic drinks a day" while on their hols. This was deemed by the KYL types a very bad thing.
Like many of you I know that alcohol is a hot topic among health experts, but my first reaction on reading this was "Ohfergawdssakesowhat???!!!"
I mean, come on, you're on holiday! A couple of years ago I daily drank goodness how many times my own body weight when on a motorbike tour of Spain - and that was at the end of each day. I don't drink 'n' ride, after all.
And think of those languid evenings amid the pine-covered Tuscan hills, sipping bottle after bottle of DOCG Chianti Classico, or savouring a Cuba Libra or five in Miami, or several glasses of retsina on a Greek island while contemplating a crystal clear bay. Marvellous stuff.
Then another aspect hit me. Never mind the health angle. This is all part of a ploy to make us feel guilty. Whenever and wherever we drink.
Of course there are those who don't know their limits. We've all seen the footage of predominantly young drunken holidaymakers in Greece, filled to the gills with cheap booze - partly, I'm led to believe, as a result of being enticed to do so by unscrupulous bar owners and holiday reps.
But now the rest of us who indulge, perhaps occasionally even overindulge, while on holiday are now being lumped in with the crass minority who behave like idiots.
I realise there is a personal responsibility aspect to this. And yes, knowing one's limits is beneficial both for social and health reasons.
But making the responsible majority feel like they are doing something wrong whether on holiday or after work isn't just unfair, it's counterproductive…