Quote Originally Posted by Mike T View Post
On a similar note, Alain de Botton, in his "The Art of Travel", suggests that if you are doing a routine walk - say, for example, to the shops - make it far more rewarding by looking up - you will notice lots of things of interest that you had not noticed before.
That did remind me of 'A Journey Around My Room' (originally published in French as Voyage autour de ma chambre) is a 1794 book by Xavier de Maistre. It was written to stave off boredom whilst the author was serving a 42-day sentence of confinement to his room for participating in an illegal duel. The book is written in the style of a travelogue and discusses the contents and furniture of his room as well as imaginary situations and dialogues. The theme of the work is that pleasure can be found in one's everyday surroundings. At the end of the work he notes his regret at having to return to society. The work is thought to have been first published in English in 1871. A sequel, A Nocturnal Expedition Around My Room, was published in 1825.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Journey_Around_My_Room

I've not read it - it's on my very long list of to-reads! But I appreciated the 'novel' concept.