Audio books and teddy-bear holidays

I've been unwell lately. Very unwell. Usually when I'm sick I lie about reading books or doing something else equally useless, but this time I didn't feel even up to that. I'm not much into television and anyway violently opposed to having one in the bedroom, so if I'm staying in bed I'm not going to watch that.

So instead I've been trying out audio books. Non-fiction is highly satisfying in audio form (well, I only tried out Douglas Adams' Last Chance to See, but I really enjoyed that - as much as I enjoy the printed form), but (and here's the incredibly insightful statement coming) audio fiction is vaguely unsatisfying in a very similar way to movie versions of books. Which is strange, when you think about it, because the same story is there. It's not like a movie where they have to cut things out and change stuff to maintain the dramatic sense and time limits of a different medium. Still, they're very enjoyable, though I'd recommend listening to a book you've read many times before if what you really want to do is sleep. If it's a new and interesting book you feel obliged to stay awake and listen.

What I've also been doing is a bit of web-surfing, and in the course of that I came across a very amusing site: www.teddyinsthlm.se. This is a website that gives you the opportunity to send your teddy bear on holiday to Stockholm. The site has a link to a site where you can send it on holiday to Munich instead. Or maybe the following year. As the website puts it: "After helping us through the most difficult situations in life you now get the opportunity to reward your best friend". I really enjoyed reading about all the things teddy would enjoy on it's trip.

Anyway, I'm going to go back to sleep. Enjoy.