Dreamlife March 19—Leslie

Dream 1:

Type: medieval adventure
People: no one I know in waking life
Featured: a castle with fighting, a pub, and some beer

I’m involved in some sort of battle with bows and arrows and swords—a bit like a scene from The Lord of the Rings. But it’s not scary; I’m just fighting, as if it were the most natural thing in the world (dream sign!). I don’t remember anyone dying or even being injured.

The scene shifts to after the fight, and we’re at a pub full of ancient timber beams and large oak tables. One of my fellow warriors buys me a beer. I’ve never had beer before (dream sign!), and watch with amazement as the glass is filled with the pale amber liquid. The beer looks really inviting; I’m really thirsty after all that fighting. The whole thing feels surreal, like I’m an actor playing out a role.

Annotations:

Not much to say about this one, except that I do love what the Brits call “real ale,” i.e., cask-conditioned beer. And I have been known to frequent pubs while in the British Isles. I’m also a fan of The LOTR, but would be hopeless—and hopelessly frightened—in any sort of battle.

Oh, and I did read a review of the new Hunger Games movie yesterday, in which I gather there’s lots of archery.

Maybe feeling like I’m an actor playing a role is a precursor to realizing I’m dreaming?


Dream 2:

Type: travel dream
People: Robin, Laura, and Doug 
Featured: Paris, a bus, and a restaurant

I’m in Paris with the above-mentioned people. We’ve taken the bus to somewhere in the outskirts of town, and it’s time to head back. We go into a shop—I remember lots of scarves for sale—and are looking around when Doug comes running in from the street. “The bus has been waiting, but you didn’t come so it’s left,” he tells us. We consult a map and see that we’re a long way south of the river and have a long walk back. We start walking, hoping that a bus will come by.

The scene shifts to a restaurant. I don’t remember much about that part of the dream, because I was awakened by an early phone call. But I do remember that as we’re leaving the restaurant Laura mentions that Robin and I probably should have changed out of our Alaska clothes. I notice for the first time that it’s warm there, and that I’m feeling kind of hot. I look down and realize I’m still wearing my thick blue coat and white snow boots.

Annotations:

Robin and I have spent lots of time in Paris, often with my sister Laura (though we’ve never been there with Doug). The French do adore their scarves. The map we looked at had a river running east-west like the Seine, but the rest of the map did not look much like Paris.

Last night Robin and I watched several episodes of Nurse Jackie, which took place in NYC during the summer. I thought several times as we watched the show about how the characters were all in short sleeves, even at night, and how different that was from the zero degree weather here in Fairbanks.

Both these dreams seemed more vivid than ones I’ve had in recent weeks. And I slept longer and better than I have been of late. In addition, there was that feeling of playing a role during the battle/pub dream. So maybe those dream pills really do work!