Car with a little extra.

I was looking at a new car in a showroom. It was a shiny blue hatchback.
There were tiny patches of tastefully coloured glass on the side of the door.
I peered through the glass and saw that the interior was much larger than what the outside would suggest.
Inside, a large curved kitchen was visible, plus loads of food on shelves, looked excellent.
Thought I might just buy it.

Virtually a Ladder

I was trapped on top of a tall building or tower, been there for ages.
I looked over the wall and saw a steel ladder, fixed vertically to the wall, descending to ground level about 60 feet below.
Why had I not seen it before? Possibly because it seemed to blend with the stonework. Was it really there?
I swung myself over the wall, grasped the top rung and started to descend. The rungs were hard to hold onto as they were so close to the wall.
Suddenly my heart lurched, the ladder was no longer there, just stone work. I was gripping onto stone edges. Please come back. Then the ladder gradually reformed, but hazily. I descended even faster before it or I decided it wasn't there again.
Perhaps the world is what you make it.

That sinking feeling.

I was on the surface of a wide river or sea inlet beside a wall of seaweed. I started to sink down and down, passing an undulating wall of greenery.
The water was unnaturally clear and I started to feel disorientated.
Was I going up or down? What way should bubbles go?
I started to panic, the amount of water around me seemed immense.
I tried to struggle back to the surface but I think I just got myself deeper.
Sounds familiar.

Probably influenced by a recent kayak trip to the Tay rail bridge.

The Race

The race was on.
I had another man for company.
We were to race against another team, all men.
We set off at a punishing pace.
A huge empty church loomed ahead.
We decided to cut through the church.
The other team went round to its right.
The church was in complete darkness. My companion stayed near the door. I raced on down the aisle hoping my way was clear.
I ran and ran, but could not reach the other side of the church. I kept on running and shouted over my shoulder to my companion.
I was stunned when I heard his voice beside me. He was still near the entrance. All my running had got me nowhere.
I could never cross the church.
We had lost.
Can't imagine what the moral might be!

Floating Visions

I was somewhere in the north of the world, walking along a river bank, heading upstream. I was with my son Callum.
It was a wide river, swift flowing.
Coming down stream were several floating trees, branches and bushes.
The frequency of this floating foliage increased.
Amongst them were round bushes. Closer inspection revealed that they were concealing egg shaped transparent boats. Within each egg was a woman in blue robes facing backwards. The branches were an attempt to camouflage the eggs.
They looked quite magical.
Callum waded out into the river, seemingly attempting to get a better mobile signal.
He fell face down into the water. I dived in to save him and pulled him ashore.
Most unlikely as he is a far better swimmer than myself.

Avoiding The Funeral

I was driving along to a funeral dry run, ie without the body. I attended the church service and all went well.
The next day I drove towards the real funeral, passing hundreds of parked cars and people heading for the church. I couldn't face attending so I slowly edged past the crowds, hoping I would not be noticed.
Just past the church I entered a white paper tunnel that spiralled downwards for around a mile.
I drove slowly down and near the end, walked the rest into an underground town.
It was a spooky and scary place, old shops and house with unknown doors and tunnels leading off the underground street. All totally deserted.
I knew finding my way back would be problematic.
If I did find my way back I surmised I would find myself back at the funeral.
No escape.

Missing Water

I dreamt that son C and a friend were re sizing the terrapin tank near the back door. They were using their hands to squash and distort the tank. Impossible in reality as it is made of glass. I remonstrated with them and they desisted.
When I awoke I went through to feed the terrapins.
I blinked in disbelief as I saw that almost half the water was missing from the tank, around 10 gallons. The tank was fine the night before.
No sign of the missing water, the floor was dry.
Must not jump to conclusions.

Various Ghosts

1/ Accompanied by a tall female ghost I entered a block of flats and went up to the 3rd floor and entered some rooms.
The rooms were bare of furniture.
The ghost told me that a woman was buried behind the wall. I pulled the wall away and right enough, the decomposed body of a small thin woman was revealed.
Tricky situation I thought.
A ghost of this dead woman then emerged and started to violently struggle with my ghostly companion. Things were getting out of hand.
They didn't improve when the dead woman came to life and joined in the fraca with a view to aiding her ghost.
This was too much for me and I changed channels as it were into another dream.

2/ I was working in an old house with a hollow interior, familiar.
My Dad who was working outside asked me to help him board up a small cellar window for the night.
He would hold a series of boards over the opening with a long bolt and I would go inside and attach a nut and piece of wood to the bolt, that would do the trick.
I crawled into the cellar and along a narrow tunnel to the window opening. After the job was done I peered into a little alcove by the window and found an old diary, camera and spool of film.
We then gathered our tools and went outside to put them in the car.
Blast! Someone had pinched my kayak from the roof of the Volvo.
Peering more carefully I noticed that a ghostly blue shape of the kayak was visible on the pavement.
Not completely gone perhaps.

Hangman's Crack

I looked over a wall and saw a old castle.
Running up one side of the wall was a long shallow groove. Half way up the groove ran a horizontal crack.
The groove continued to the castle battlements, about 100 feet high above the ground.
The groove was a sports rock climb, which ended at the horizontal crack.
On the wall beside me was a small green steel plaque giving details of the climb.
It was called 'Hangman's Crack' and graded Extremely Severe, not a UK sports climb grade.
The plate had been placed there by the 'Climbing Pixie' and there was a cartoon drawing showing this intrepid individual.
Apparently in elder days, people were hanged from the battlements down the line of the groove.
An atmospheric line.

Dog with no name.

A new puppy, 7 weeks old, house training in progress, that's the reality.
He has been sleeping in the kitchen.
The dream was that several people were taking care of him around 8 am. Cleaning up any mess, letting him out, feeding him, morning papers etc.
I thus relaxed into a bit more sleep, fully justified.
Waking up, reality kicks in, as it does for everybody.
I crept though to the kitchen, fearing a terrible mess before tea and toast would be permissable.
No worries, pup still fast asleep, any mess done, he must have cleaned up himself, perfection.
Wagging tail, pleased to see me.
Good doggie.

Self Destruct

I was up to my waist in sea water and wearing a stainless steel helmet.
In front of me was a mortar launcher.
I plopped a mortar bomb down the vertical barrel and watched as it launched upwards for several hundred feet and come straight down onto my head.
I repeated this procedure a number of times and got increasingly impressed by the qualities of stainless steel.

Triple Redundancy Tower System.

I was living in a three tower system which was absolutely massive.

Standing between them they often could not be 'seen' due to their unnatural size. They went up to the edge of space.

Lifts went up inside them but took all day to get to the top. People strapped themselves in and it was worth getting to know your fellow lift travellers to pass the time.

The towers had everything that was needed to survive. Each was similar to the other. I remember running through a church at one point so I could find a lift going up to the heavens.

The towers were constantly getting built higher.

A job for life.

Thief

I asked my mother if I could steal her purse.
She seemed surprised but agreed.
I asked if she could some money in it first, no point in stealing an empty purse.
So, in went a £10 note.
She then lay the purse on a chair.
I swiftly picked it up and ran off.
Success!

Sometimes a Pencil is only a Rocket

In this dream I was alternating between being a woman and a man and lived in a seaside town.

As the dream progressed I knew I had done it all before.

I designed rockets.

I built and launched a white rocket with a red nose cone and launched it into space. It divided into six smaller rockets, each of which returned to my garden although one went through a neighbours window. These rockets all brought back information from space on how to build another, smaller rocket with unusual properties.

I built this small rocket and prepared to launch it from the glass pleasure dome on the front.

But the residents of the town heard about the launch and surged onto the front to stop the take- off. At this point green sea creatures emerged from the surf and duck taped everybody except me. Nobody else could move or speak. I had disguised the rocket as a pencil and held a bunch of them to hide the rocket.

The rocket took off from my hand on schedule, soared up through a sky light in the pleasure dome and out into space.

It then returned and entered the body of a person in a glass case near to where I stood. The person then reanimated, got out of the case, walked over towards me and merged.

The whole episode then started all over again.

The cycle of life and death continued.

Nice Steam Engine

A familiar dream.

I go into an underground toy shop with my son and find both my parents sat on a park bench. There are various shops around all selling toys down the ages.

There is one open area where a toy steam engine is runnng around a track in a large room. Sort of has a Christmas atmosphere.

I point the engine out to my son and the engine leaves the track and comes over to us like a pet dog. We stroke the engine and it seems pleased and rolls back onto the track to continue its circumnavigation of the room.

I know that some reality law has been broken but decide that its not too weird and the world carries on.

Submarines

I was a crew member on a submarine, probably British. We were being chased by a Russian submarine. Our boat surfaced and we all got out onto the deck. It was a grand sunny day.The Russian submarine then surfaced about 100 yards away. It was really sinister looking, very dark and covered with green slime and seaweed.

Their crew came out on deck as well and the boat slowly cruised alongside and then in front of us.

I waved to one of the Russians, he gave a tentative wave back.

They all seemed so young and I couldn't believe that they may try and kill us all.

It all seemed so pointless.

Could that wave have made a difference?

Surfacing from sleep, I never found out.

Lunch Time Adventure

A recurring dream I have had since childhood.
Its lunchtime and we all file into the dining hall.
There is a rush for the large tables and all my class end up round one of them.
I am left out and have to find a space at the table of another class.
That is the usual scenario.
This time I end up seated alongside a young guy from the year below me.
Then, oddly, the entire roomful of people follow me out of the dining hall and over to a derelict building.
I lead the way up a crumbling wooden staircase and along a dangerous corridor.
Sounds of distress behind me as various schoolchildren fall through the rotten floorboards.
Then in front of me, over a large gap, I see a red canoe.
I know this to be some sort of salvation for us all.
But how to reach it . . .

The School Train

I had my childhood train set laid out on the floor of a big barn.
It ran from a station uphill to the door at the top of the barn.
Powered by clockwork, it looked good and worked well.
As I was looking at it I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye. It was a tiny child running to catch the train. More followed and boarded the train. All wore school uniform and had schoolbags.
Then, without me touching it, the train moved off and trundled along, up to its destination. I watched as the children disembarked and run out of the top barn door.
The train waited at the top station presumably for the schoolchildren when they came out of school.
The whole episode didn't seem that odd and I was pleased that the train set had some use.
Then the barn filled with wasps, not so pleasing.
Some balance law had asserted itself.

The German Shepherd

I was going to get a new dog.
It was an alsation, belonging to a German butcher in Perth. I believe there was a butcher's shop in my town, owned by a German (Kumerer?) in my childhood.
Of course they are now and probably originally called German Shepherds although I think the word 'German' was dropped after the war, but its now back again.
Anyway, the dog was brought to me by the German and it hid behind my back.
He told me it was an old dog but I was welcome to keep it.
The dog's face seemed remarkably intelligent and looked at me as if it had a lot of stories to tell.
I thanked him and gave the dog a crust.
Woof.

Terrapins and Eggs

I am looking after 3 terrapins.
It was Easter time and I had a large chocolate egg filled with foil covered mini eggs, around 50 of them.
I ate half of the big egg and decided to hide the remaining half together with all the mini eggs. Predators in the house you see.
But where?
Of course, float the half egg and contents in the terrapin tank.
Then I got hungry again.
Off to the tank to find the terrapins had scoffed the lot, 50 mini eggs, silver paper and all.
Only a fragment of the half egg floated forlornly.
A wreck.
Their owner would be furious, how could they survive eating all that armoured chocolate?
I got up and rushed through to the terrapins.
They were all alive and were still hungry.
No trace of the half egg either.

The Car Journey

Driving home in the rain, really heavy and getting dark.
The road was beginning to flood. Torrents were coming off the fields and surging across the road.
Eventually I safely arrived home and reversed into the driveway.
I sat listening to the rain drumming on the car roof. Soon I would go into the house and put the kettle on.
Then I found myself driving out onto the road again.
This is not what I wanted to do. Who was driving the car, me or it?
But, it had stopped raining.
Instead of rain the weather had decided to freeze solid.
The pools and torrents were frozen hard.
Tree branches, heavy with ice lay across the road, now an ice rink.
The car slithered and crunched its way along.
After several miles the car turned back.
But it had turned to snow. Impossible to see where we were going. We would never get home, the road seemed impassable.
But I awoke and the car had carefully deposited me in my nice warm bed.

Climate Change

Walking towards my old council house to visit son R.
As I approached the air grew colder. Then I saw the house.
It was covered in snow and ice. White ice, green ice and some pale blue ice.
I picked up two ice covered bricks from the driveway as a present for R (house warming?).
I knocked and R answered. He too was covered in white hoar frost.
Seemed happy enough though.
I peeked into the hallway which was also snow covered. Also some pale grey ice on the walls for variety.
Relationship not cooled as one may think.
Went home and discovered Woody the cockatiel had been left outside, on the pavement, in the rain.

Just a Dream

Disturbing dream night before last.
I was really ill and lying on floor on Ninewells Hospital, Dundee. I was going to get 'put down' later on the same day. Son C stood with his hand on my shoulder. A crowd had arrived to say goodbye. I only recognised two of them which was odd. But one of the men, that I did know, came up and held my hand. It was very moving. No women around, perhaps understandably.
Then I woke up and prowled around the house a while.
Then I fell asleep again and dreamt it was later on the same day, near to zero hour.
I was in my house, son C was again there and said he would try to be more like son R. Not sure about that.
C had also taken over my house, bits of engines, watches, cigarette lighters lay neatly around. He was puffing away at a pipe.
I said that it was nearly time for me to go.
C said he was really sorry and gave me a hug. I asked him to keep in touch. He said that he would love to but he didn't know how.
Exactly, and we left it at that.

First Day

First day at my new school last night. It was a new school too, brand new, made mostly of pricey hard wood, beautifully varnished.
We were getting the new boys tour.
I noticed however that it had been snowing inside the building, odd.
Even more peculiar was that the snow had been given a coat of matt white.
This made it even more slippy and ruined a lot of the woodwork.
Our tour leader paused to wonder at the mess, but we carried on and entered the staff room. Big mistake. A teacher raged out at us, jumping up and down on the painted snow.
For "****'s sake lighten up," an anonymous pupil retorted.
This of course didn't help.
A grand start to the term.

Memorable Flight

I was carrying out a peat survey of the Tay valley with a guy named Bill. Not much had been used in the area around Dundee, I wondered why.
I then asked Bill if he remembered how to fly. He replied by soaring up into the air, clutching his clipboard.
Remembering the correct mind set I, more slowly, flew up to join him.
We looked around at the Tay estuary far below. Incredible.
Gradually we descended and flew into a cave.
Alone now I peered around. I then saw two or three women in the shadows.
Suddenly I realised that all the things I had forgotten I could now remember.
I knew that all along but could not access the information.
Even more than I thought I already knew was accessible.
Like an internal Google.
But, of course, I now forget what I remembered.

Man's best friend

Its been quite a few months since Max died so decided to get a new dog.
It was black and large, of indeterminate type, but seemed to be able to change its shape into a black bear.
It was terrifying.
Never managed to put a lead on it and it was just free to roam the house and garden.
Every time it saw me, it snarled.
He didn't like me and I didn't like him.
In the end I decided to arm myself with a crowbar 24/7.
Nice doggy.

Paid to shop

I was in an old style shopping mall looking for a toy shop. When I found it, it was surrounded by a crowd, paid to shop and increase sales figures. I couldn't get near it. They were buying to music and seemed to be controlled by electricity. An electrically controlled crowd.
I found the panel with their power switches and switched them off.
I was then pursued around the shopping mall by two hit men paid to despatch me.
It's all about money.

Ice

I had lost my car and trailer.
The trailer was carrying blocks of ice. I was worried that they might melt.
Then I saw, in the distance, where it was parked. In a car park behind a glass screen.
I tried to find the entrance.
I walked round and round, no gates, no entrances, no way in.
Just occasional glass partitions and buildings.
I stood watching the ice melt.

The bullet, bus and bull.

Last night's dream was a bit of a mixture.
Discovered I had been shot by a small calibre bullet in my left pelvis. My white shirt was covered in blood and I asked my long dead mother for a clean one. But she hadn't done the washing.
My dead dad examined the casing of the shell that wounded me (how did he get it?).
It was much larger than I thought.
I then stood, in my dirty shirt, watching a small van facing up to a large bus.
The van playfully nudged the bus.
The now infuriated bus then charged the small van.
The van promptly changed into a bull which jumped through the windscreen of the bus, killing the driver.
Makes perfect sense.

Back Again

Loads of dreams to catch up on but will do with one from last night.
Was queueing up to get into my house with son C.
Oddly enough was no one else in queue and can't think why I should even bother.
Suddenly the sky darkened and an alien space ship hove into view.
A death ray or something lanced down from the sky and slowly cut up the pavement between C and myself.
"Pay no attention," I said.
True enough, away it went.