Welcome to British Isles Friday! British Isles Friday is a weekly event for sharing all things British and Irish - reviews, photos, opinions, trip reports, guides, links, resources, personal stories, interviews, and research posts. Join us each Friday to link your British and Irish themed content and to see what others have to share. The link list is at the bottom of this post. Pour a cup of tea or lift a pint and join our link party!
Last week, I shared my sewer woes. Tina shared the 25th book, Careless Love, in her long adventure through the DCI Banks series. Becky reviewed Jane Austen for Kids and Cate of the Lost Colony. Gaele read four books - Artistic License, Magnolia House, The Familiars, and Coming Home to Holly Close Farm. Jean reviewed a romance and a mystery by Georgette Heyer.
During our unexpected week-long hotel stay due to plumbing issues, we had a remarkably quiet space for sleep. This time of year, St. Louis hotels aren't exactly brimming with tourists. We mostly saw business travelers. Our only noisy night was Saturday when several rooms around us were filled with people who noisily left the place around our bedtime and returned, almost as noisily, in the wee hours of the morning.
Fortunately, I discovered sleep stories on You Tube from a channel called Calm. These are stories for adults designed to help you fall asleep - not the goal of most writers!
The ones I've heard, so far, don't have plots or characters like you would expect in bedtime stories for children. Instead, they are akin to guided meditations.
Even though they are on YouTube, these stories are intended to be listened to, not watched. I bring them up on my phone with ear buds, but turn the phone face-down on the night stand so that the light is extinguished.
My favorite is called "Blue Gold":
The story is about France, but it's written by Phoebe Smith, a British writer and adventurer, and it's read by Stephen Fry, British actor. This is a travelogue of Provence, combined with a documentary about the lavender plant, all framed as an imaginary visit to the area. Stephen Fry's voice stresses the 'S's and lengthens the vowels in a way that calms and relaxes the listener.
Have you tried sleep stories? Do they help you sleep? I can't say that I've literally fallen asleep while listening, but the stories do put me in a place where sleep is more likely to arrive.
About Joy Weese Moll
a librarian writing about books
