Jumbo isolation

I was flying alone in a Jumbo jet made of plywood. Quite a feat of carpentry. No other passengers or flight crew, just me, sitting in the passenger accomodation. No wonder considering the construction material. I looked out of a window and the plane started to bank over, looking out of the other windows made the plane bank in that direction. I sat in the middle and a level, even flight was resumed. I seemed to have some influence on the flight's progress, which was reassuring. Sitting in the middle I was also aware that I could sense what was outside the plane, sitting at window seats destroyed that ability. I started to panic and control was lost, I woke up.

Time line

A short but vivid dream last night of floating along a thin line. I looked down and could see another fuzzier line which had hours marked on it, although not very clearly. I was aware that I could float downwards to, say 7am, and then I would awaken at that time. I was in a slightly lucid dreaming state. Also aware of a friend nearby watching me and perhaps a bit concerned.
Wondering now of course if it was uni-directional, could I reverse? Could I speed ahead? Maybe not possible or allowed.

The Waiting Room

This dream was about a month before my dad died. He was in a nursing home and I used to visit him with my children. He always sat in a window seat overlooking the town. He waited endlessly for a train to arrive. All the staff in the home, in his mind, took on roles from a railway station, the station master, guards and porters. All this was interspersed with memories from his war years. The staff would call him for his tea, he would respond by asking if he should take his rifle. Normally they said that he need not bother. Once when my youngest son, Callum, entered the room, he was warned to duck down because of the high sniper risk, he immediately hit the floor. Mind you, for years I was terrified of the seaside after my Dad told me that a large scar on his chin was caused by a shell on an Italian beach. Also, a fall in the ward corridor instantly transferred itself to a real wound he received on a sharp edge of a Nissan hut in North Africa etc.

Eventually I suppose his train did arrive.

The dream caption is about me being able to save Callum and Richard but not my Dad. Not a train that is arriving though.

Ben Nevis Estate

No dream last night so another from the archives. It was when I had a love affair with Ben Nevis, actually I probably still do. The housing estate that I lived in at the time handily transported itself to the slopes of the Ben. I could then walk out of my front door and begin climbing. Maybe that's an ideal that I aspire to, bringing the things I like together into one place (woman?). Alas the opposite seems to be what actually happens. Also, I now struggle to get out of bed, never mind doing a winter ascent of Tower Ridge.

Tie Problems

I needed to spruce myself up so I went into a large apartment store to buy myself a new tie. As I was admiring all the ties in the Tie Department, I glanced at the floor and tutted at all the fragments of ties lying around. My tut was heard by a Borat like, Tie Department Manager. He immediately grabbed me by the lapels and shouted, "You lot from the Electrical Department are all the same, forever criticizing our bow tie making methods." I presumed then that they just cut up ordinary ties to make bow ties. I protested that I was a customer and unconnected with the Electrical Department. "Worse and worse," he roared, "Not even qualified to mend a fuse!" I left without a tie.

Global Warming and Green Issues

I went into a large public toilet for a pee. The toilet consisted of long channels of narrow water gardens. A load of men were standing alongside the channels waiting for the water levels to rise. This I thought could take a long time, if ever, according to ignored evidence from BBC Channel 4. I noticed that they were all men or boys I had known from the past, some now dead. It was all too crowded and weird for me so I left.
I then decided to fit new spiked tyres onto the front wheels of my Volvo. I thought this would aid adhesion, lessen wheel slip and so conserve energy. A friendly woman shouted a garage man from his house who removed my front wheels. I noticed with mild interest that when the wheels were removed the car remained suspended without any jacking system. I then proudly entered my car complete with its new set of vicious front wheel spikes, blithely ignoring the fact that it was rear wheel drive.

White flowers from the sky.

This is the only dream, had by someone else, that I have painted.

It was a dream that my sister had, following the death of our father some time ago. She was standing on the shores of a loch when a shower of white flowers and petals descended from the sky. One of my favourites.

The Adventure of the Old Bicycle Ride.

I mounted my old bicycle, an ancient machine with poor brakes. I set off downhill gathering speed. The bicycle changed into a police van complete with a female passenger. In the back of the van was a double mattress partially covered by a sheet. I stopped with difficulty on the hill and with my companion took the mattress out of the van and pushed it through the open window of the bedroom of a nearby house, to rectify the sheet problem. We then put the sheet properly onto the mattress and started to push the mattress back out of the window. I decided I needed a pee and so went over to a corner of the bedroom, as I thought it would be an imposition to use the toilet. My female companion mentioned that a neighbour was watching so I rejoined her in returning the mattress to the van. The female owner of the house appeared demanding an explanation. I hardly thought any explanation was required but when her husband appeared insisting on a repair to his damaged wooden window frame, I began to lose my temper. I then proceeded to show him that the window frames were rotten and that the fault lay entirely with him. Tutting to myself we resumed our downhill journey.

A lot of obvious sexual themes here, now wondering on what problem to look at first.

Earl Grey, Blindness and a Lunar Eclipse

I was sitting at a table in an open square in a foreign country, sipping my earl grey. It was a beautiful place, busy but peaceful. Suddenly, I could no longer see, I had been struck blind. I continued to sit, unable to take this in. I even had another drink of earl grey, albeit with difficulty. What should I do, shout out, try to find my way to a place of safety, wait for something to happen? Maybe my sight would return. Does drinking too much earl grey make you blind? Perhaps someone I knew would come along and find me. I felt extremely vulnerable. Who would answer my shouts, a waitress, robbers, police, bemused passers by? How could I judge if they were ok or not? It was a different universe, rules had suddenly changed. I was never even completely at ease with the old ones!

I awoke, to see moonlight pouring in my window, incredible relief. Memories of the 'Day of the Triffids' came back. Last night I had seen the eclipse of the moon, the best ever, beautiful shades of grey, green and a coppery red. A white light retreating then creeping over the lunar surface. A fantastic 3D effect through the binoculars.
A profound appreciation that I can see.

Lost Dog

Max, my 17yr old dog, had disappeared. He had trotted off along a rocky beach, trailing his lead. Always the explorer, the beach offered a lot for the connoisseur of doggy type smells. Its rocky edge provided plenty of nooks and crannies for the convenience of tourists. I wandered up and down for hours searching. Calling his name was pointless as he has the peculiar affliction of judging sounds coming 180 degrees from their true source. Hearing his name called sent him running off in the opposite direction. Woke up still dogless.

Pacified slightly by his presence on the floor in the morning.

Fruit Cake and Mice

Suddenly I needed a snack. Naturally enough, I decided to toast two slices of fruit cake. I retired to a safe distance and awaited results. Unexpectedly I heard noises coming from the toaster, suspiciously like cries for help. I pulled out the plug and peered inside. A crumb snacking mouse had been in the process of being toasted along with the fruit cake. Whilst deciding how to resolve this situation, another mouse appeared and pulled its colleague from the jaws of the toaster. They then both run around me in the spirit of celebration. I binned the fruit cake.
Wondering about the connection between fruit cake and madness.

Unexpected Encounter in the Chip Shop

I decided to Leave the City. I therefore carefully laid down my briefcase, umbrella and top hat on the pavement. I headed Out of Town and freedom.
I called in at a take away for a snack and ordered fish and chips. I was astonished to see that the girl that was serving was my own daughter who I thought lived in Australia.
I started to try to frame a question but my mouth just opened and shut like a guppy fish at feeding time.
P told me that I should try to keep up with things a bit more.
Suitably humiliated I left the shop and woke myself up.
ps must make a phone call

Parasite Fish

This was a dream I had about a salmon who swum around a green ocean but was full of parasite fish who lived in its flesh. The salmon needed the parasites and the parasites needed the salmon. The salmon has its freedom but was burdened by the parasites, which made hunting for food difficult and was always hungry. The parasites had life but no freedom, albeit plenty of food. I wondered which I would prefer to be, what about you? Maybe I am both.

Nothing Sacred

Alone and walking endlessly through a bog towards a distantly remembered pool. It was in the furthest corner of my mind, a deserted and seldom visited place. As I approached I recalled from years ago that it was deep and crystal clear containing beautiful fish. But I knew if I got there I would be at the furthest possible point from any safety. Suddenly, as I rounded a corner which revealed the pool, I saw a thriving water sports centre that had opened at the pool side. Young people milling about with kayaks, mobile phones and ipods etc
I was shocked but realised that even at that remote place in my subconcious there could be surprises and possible places of safety.

The Football Match

I went into a large open air football match. The pitch was at the bottom of a deep valley. There were thousands of young men watching the game. The problem was that from the top of the valley the pitch was invisible, the slope down to it being convex. I tried to go down the slope towards the pitch. The slope got steeper, no sign of the pitch, just thousands of young men, many of which must have been crushed to death, but all cheering the game.
I still have a lot to learn about football.

The Wild Hunt

I was part of a large group of people all wildly running in a straggly group. We were being hunted and herded by velociraptor type creatures (bit like the Beano creatures from the last post but with serious teeth). They had previously been domesticated but had escaped. They were very intelligent and continually stopped to confer with each other and plan their attack. The people seemed stupid and witless in comparison. Everybody tried to get into the middle of the groups as stragglers were quickly seized. I dashed out of the group to pick up a large stick to defend myself but the wood was rotten. A creature watched me with quiet amusement.
We ran alongside a fence, reassuringly man made, and I climbed through to the 'other side', until I realised that it had been erected by the creatures and we were all being funnelled towards our fate.

Beano Heads

A few slow dream nights so another from the archives.

This dream came about after I had been reading some of Carlos Castaneda. I was approaching a railway line and saw a very bright light seemingly shining just above the ground. Near the light was a group of weird creatures. One of them spoke to me and said they were from another dimension. They had put 'Beano' heads on so I wouldn't be scared. (The Beano is a famous Scottish comic). Their ruse hadn't completely worked. They urged me to approach the bright light, enter it, and join them in the other dimension. I slowly walked towards the light but freaked out and woke myself up. An opportunity missed?

Blog Spots

I woke up to find myself covered in white spots. I explained to my horror struck companion that it was quite normal and that everyone gets them. She (whoever she was) was not convinced.
Maybe I'm coming down with something.

Dream flying and cartoons.

The first dream last night was great fun. I possessed an red engineless flying machine. However it was powered by my thoughts. I took a small group of people on a tour. Flight was effortless and very fast. We skimmed over a rugged mountainous area, through narrow gorges, where at times I tipped the machine on its side to get through the gaps. The ultimate ride. We landed on a rocky plateau and had a fun filled picnic before setting off from home.
No fear of being stranded on top like in last night's dream.
One for me to paint.

In the second dream I had in front of me a number of cartoon costumes, all different figures and animals. I had to choose one, put it on, so I could enter the world of cartoons. However I woke up before choosing one. Most annoying.

Marooned

I was at the top of a high building with several women. The top of the building consisted of a series of giddy and shaky walkways. The only security was rusty handrails. There was a stairway, like a fire escape, which led downwards. The women carefully climbed down, but the steps got further and further apart. They had to lower themselves or jump onto the next step. The rusty handrail disappeared at the crucial point. A slip would be fatal. It came to my turn but I could not do it. I was too scared. There was no security, a slip then death seemed certain. The women could do it but not me.
I resigned myself to staying marooned on top of the building forever.

Relationships and the Gods

No dream remembered last night so another from the archives. This was about Greek gods watching my relationship. They were laughing and joking with each other and each kept putting problems in our way to watch how they were dealt with. The problems got more and more difficult. It seemed we were some sort of relationship test piece. Some seemed just impossible. Could we survive?

It certainly seemed a bit of an egocentric dream and was a bit of a lesson not to look outside of the relationship for problems as if they were all from without. Most came from within. But the dream was very intense and real and sometimes that's exactly how things appeared.

Wasps out of season.

Just thought I would add a dream painting that I did a while back. Got dozens of them. This one was about being chased by giant wasps that came out of ear ring type nests on the trees.

I had to really run to escape them and climbed up a toffee coated pole in a futile attempt to evade them.

Needless to say I was even more attractive to them and there was really no escape.

Never been that keen on wasps.

The ear rings were typical of the type worn by my partner at that time. Hers were not however, as far as I was aware, wasp filled. The dream gave a good start to tackling ongoing relationship difficulties. Actually when I think about it, these were never really resolved. Constantly felt under attack. It revolves around power issues I probably have with women.

However sometimes a toffee covered pole is just a toffee covered pole, whatever that means.

Accident

I knew something had happened outside because there was a deathly hush. I carefully went up towards the road, nature seemed to have gone into shock. There had been a terrible car accident. In the middle of the road was a pile of crumpled metal, faintly smoking. I think there were two cars locked in an intimate metallic embrace. I was scared to go near, afraid of what I might see. Other people arrived but nobody went near. Horror seeped towards us, keeping us away. I heard voices on mobile phones. No police arrived, no fire brigade and no ambulance. We waited and waited. Eventually I left. For all I know it still remains.

Obviously something scary around that I need to look at and manfully tackle, can think of several things!

The Tsunami and Max

Two dreams again last night. The first was set in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean where I saw my mother approach in a long, open fronted shed, which was perched on top of a tsunami type wave. This wave had come all the way from the Arctic. My mum had apparently been living in a shed on the Arctic ice when some of it broke off causing the aforesaid tsunami. Perhaps global warming means I will see my mum again.

In the second dream I was driving home when Max (my 17yr old dog), got really excited when he saw a large mountain peak ahead. He obviously wanted out to climb it. I explained that we would soon be home and we would climb the much smaller hill near my house. When I woke up I thought I might keep my end of the bargain but the rain is just pouring down. Perhaps later.

Death and a busdriver.

Two dreams again, although string again is a common theme.
In the first I was sitting with a large circle of people. Slowly walking around the inside of the circle was a tall hooded man in dark clothing, perhaps Death himself, (herself!).
He was individually dispensing punishment, torture or death as he proceeded. He came to me and tied a piece of string to my ankle. The other end was tied to a 2 metre high rocket, sort of miniature Saturn V type. I thought this might hurt. The rocket took off with a huge roar, the string snaking out behind. The string tightened with a jerk and my leg twitched but the rocket turned and headed on full power towards the ground. (Bit of a consolation for not being a lightweight). It narrowly missed me and exploded nearby. I was ok and Death moved on.

In the second dream I had a red plastic toy telephone with a piece of string attached. I stood at a bus stop and tied the end of the string onto a nearby drainpipe and talked to nobody in particular. Hoodies at the other side of the road, kicked a football repeatedly above my head. A bus arrived and they all boarded except myself who entered a previously unnoticed bus shelter. The driver came into the shelter and put on some classical music for me with a gentlemanly smile. I was overcome, and carried on waiting . . .

Roped in or out

Last night I built a wall out of string and bits of rope in front of me. Not much of a wall. Unsure for what reason, what I was keeping out or what I was keeping in. Needing to check my boundaries?

Testing a dream

Last night I came out of a big party into a grey dawn. I really wanted to see a touch of red. There was a large model steam engine waiting outside, onto which several of us climbed on board (it was around 4 metres long). We set off and after a muddy section, without track, we sailed along a canal to a little harbour by a pub, where we moored. It was an idyllic spot. A real maroon train clanked past on a higher level. My father (deceased) was nearby and he drove off in my Volvo. I tried to get a lift from him and got into the passenger seat and found myself sitting in the middle of the road. I then tried to walk home, and as I went along by a desolate harbour area, a giant fighter jet appeared out of the steel grey sky and crashed with a terrifying roar a few miles away. Really scary. Another jet approached from behind and crashed a few metres away. I thought I would be vaporised. But, I had misjudged its size, it was only about 20cms long and exploded with a puff of weird harmless smoke.
I turned right towards home up a long, gently inclining, curving street, which was the most beautiful street I have ever seen. It seemed to portray a timeless, innocent scene from an always 5pm, pre first world set piece. The buildings were incredible, well proportioned and homely, varied and intricately carved out of red sandstone. I was suspicious and shut my eyes and looked again. Some details of the scene had subtly changed. I then knew it was a dream and woke myself up. I felt bereft and incredibly disappointed.

The Industrial Mice Company

Last night I was awakened by strange noises in my living room, sort of construction type noises. I went through and found that a colony of mice had almost finishing building a house in a corner.
It wasn't the usual straw or bits of paper and stuff that mice generally employ for their houses but a proper brick affair with windows and a roof etc. I was impressed but annoyed.
I was also a bit peeved as I had spent months trying to put in a new kitchen and they had completed a much grander project overnight. Then I really woke up.

My mother and a stolen car.

Two dreams last night.
First was walking up a steep hill with my son, Callum. We were trying to catch up with my mother (currently deceased). We could not overtake her and at the top of the hill she disappeared into a church. We could not follow her for some reason.
In the second dream I parked my silver Volvo estate on the platform inside a railway station. Went to the station cafe and when I returned the car had been stolen, complete with its leaking radiator. I asked a group of soldiers who were parking some tanks just where the Volvo had been parked if they had seen my car. They said they hadn't but I peeked underneath the tanks anyway, no sign.
I went to a phone to report the theft but had forgotten the registration number. I went back to the car to check what the number was and the car was back where I had left it.

Do unto others etc

Relationships again last night. The theme this time was painting your partner in your chosen colour. The hapless partner had no direct say, although past behaviour obviously influenced the choice. I painted an ex partner of mine in a colour that I now don't remember (wonder why?). We went to bed together and not surprisingly some of it rubbed off onto me.