This week seems to be one of weird dreams. Obscure moments of unnerving strangeness that I can barely remember but that leave me with an unsettling feeling for the rest of the day…or just random weirdness that makes you wake up and go, “wha?.”
For example…
I’m on some kind of televised archaeology expedition/competition. It’s almost night and we’re scurrying through dark passages in derelict, crumbling, skeletal old buildings. We’re just about to give up on one, when I uncover a rough wooden panel beneath the crusted grime that coats a corner of the room. I tug at the soft fibrous timber and it splinters in my hand to reveal an opening, a door which leads into a room filled with the relics of another time. Floral embossed tea pots. Antimacassars. Gas masks. Photographs.
In the middle stands an old bed. Large ornate lamps stand sentry on either side and everything is grey. And I’m thinking, “Why would someone just completely board up a room in their house? Why would it be left untouched yet full, as if life stopped one day and when dust began to gather they drew the heavy curtains, turned off the lamps and tiptoed away?”
It is an odd mixture of stifling Victoriana and World War II pipe, slippers and ration books. As I sift through doilys, soft silken scarves, marcasite rings, a cameo brooch, I rest my hand on something cool and familiar. A velvet swathe covered in hat pins of all shapes and colours, from a crisp delicate rose to a single pearl. And I realise I am in the room of my Gran Dillon, and her husband, my grandad, who died when my Dad was just four.
My Gran Dillon was widowed young and never remarried. I always remember her as distant, stern and a little bit aloof, not in a ‘looking down her nose at the four boisterous grandchildren who had descended on her,’ sort of way, but like she was from another time, another world, and she found us puzzling and a little unsettling.
And that’s how I felt when I woke up.
Weird.
Today’s was different though.
I was driving a big red double decker London Bus, and had parked it in my children’s school car park as it wouldn’t fit in my drive. Then I went to view an old house being sold by Hinge and Bracket . It went on and on from unfathomably structured room to unfathomably structured room and it was filled with children doing various arts and crafts projects.
It seemed the women had forgotten I’d come to view the house but just wanted me to admire their collages and pet their innumerable small dogs. When I finally decided to take control of the situation and go in search of bedrooms, I discovered an amazing roof terrace that was edged by a vast ocean held back by a wall of ice. It was quite beautiful. The sea had taken on the glassy hue of the ice and you could barely tell where it met the sky. As I reached down to touch the frozen sea wall I remembered I was late picking Miss E up from school and needed to get to my bus within the next 10 minutes otherwise all the children would be late home.
Then I woke up!
So come on? What’s it all about people. Any ideas?
Because I haven’t got the foggiest. I mean if I was dreaming about my kids running around saying ‘oink’ a lot and playing in the mud I’d understand, but this lot just strikes me as odd.
Maybe my head is about to implode?
Or maybe I’ve been possessed by a ghostly war veteran bus driver who had a secret yearning for the sea and a penchant for ladies jewellery?
Or maybe it’s just my blumming hormones again.
Tsk.
I’m off. I think I need some wine.
July 15th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
William looked like he was about to fall asleep last night, but then he opened his eyes wide and went “oink!!”…
Anyway what beautiful dreams. Unfortunately I don’t know anything about analysing dreams but perhaps they ought to be left as they are, undissected.
July 15th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
No idea.
But, blimey, do you remember these vividly, or describe them that way. I can never remember the details of my dreams. Not even the ones involving Girls Aloud. So disappointing.
July 15th, 2009 at 3:40 pm
Hinge and Bracket! I used to love Hinge and Bracket! Re interpretation – Hmmmm. What about something to do with connecting with or discovering hidden cultural/artistic potential in yourself (locked away rooms, things of beauty in the rooms, uncovering things…), that also maybe has some historical precedent. Not so much ‘inherited’, but connected to women in the past who are strong and who have or had stories to tell…The bus? Something about commitment / responsibility that also needs to be appeased, that sometimes feels like it is pulling you away from the locked rooms…well you did ask! (And I may just be projecting here! Particularly vis-a-vis the bus…) x
July 15th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
I like the icy wall and vast sea beyond, and this is how I interpret it:
The only thing holding you back from the vast sea (world? fish in the sea?) is the icy wall you’ve built up. The good part is, ice melts, and you can have both the kids and the world – when you’re ready.
July 15th, 2009 at 6:53 pm
Weird dreams? Welcome to my world dear! I suffer them about three and half weeks of every month. I finally get some real rest when I am exhausted! The worst thing for me is that I’ve taught myself to wake up in the middle of them to get out of it, so sleep is very deprived.
July 15th, 2009 at 7:00 pm
Okay Ill take the last one…..
Your life has been extremely busy lately, you are rushed off your feet and really do not have time to stop and smell the roses, so to speak. Your dream is reminding you, that even though life is so busy, you need to “chill out”. Take a few moments, even if it is literally a couple of minutes! STOP!! And breathe! Sea air is full of life, just by breathing it in, you cleanse your soul a little. You are also being reminded to appreciate the beauty in all that is around you. Small things like the children’s artwork is far more important than looking at a house.
Miss Beaufoix, it is time you went outside to PLAY with your girls! Go have a jump on that trampoline and when you fall off, take the time to admire the grass. Just lay down and take in the amazing complexity of something so simple.
July 15th, 2009 at 11:16 pm
Best stay off the drugs, me thinks!
July 16th, 2009 at 3:31 am
Hmm. I just wrote a really deep and meaningful reply then read it back before I posted it and thought better of it. Apparently, it’s the emotions in your dreams that are important and the area of your life e.g. health, work, family,house creativity etc. Your dreams reflect back how you are really feeling about the important things in your life…
July 16th, 2009 at 7:47 am
I’m not going to try and interpret your dream, an outsider can’t do that unless they know about dreams analysis and about you and your life. Maybe you can do some interpreting yourself. Look at the bits and pieces and try to find some meaning or importance in them, it doesn’t have to be very mysterious. The most obvious answer is probably it.
July 16th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
Hmmm. Well, at least your sleep-time is very entertaining!!!
July 16th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
Have you been eating cheese just before bedtime? (wink)
July 16th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
Wow – and my husband thinks I’m weird because I remember my dreams in so much detail. And as for what they might mean – the common theme in both is prior times and houses. Actually that’s two, but… Your life has just turned itself upside down, and you’ve made a major house move. Or is that a little too obvious?
July 17th, 2009 at 4:10 am
LOL at Rosie! Hey she may have a point there! But seriously I am interested in knowing what “Part mummy part me” has to say! Hello, what was your take on this? Seriously, I held back a little on my one and gave you the basics! Im behaving myself these days! Don’t want to scare you all off and all! But seriously, intuition on anyones part can be quite refreshing! Part mummy, as you lost the post, it obviously was not meant to be heard but I am SO curious! Please come visit me and tell me your scoop! I am always interested in others interpretations to see a different outlook on what I see myself!
July 18th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
I love the idea of the televised archaeology expedition/competition. I think you should copywrite it before some reality show producer makes it into a show for the fall season…