dream fragment

I've been lazy about editing my journals for posting so I've got a bit of a backlog now. Four more dreams waiting to be posted - including this morning's journal! Nothing lucid yet but it looks like my recall is improving, so that's good. Perhaps I'd better move on to trying some lucid techniques soon.

I'm abroad in a different city. I'm sure this is some mainland European country, though it somewhat reminds me of English country towns. The buildings and walls are built of large irregular cobblestones while the streets are paved in the uneven way that's so common in Corsica (to the detriment of my shoes). I catch sight of a large set of wooden double doors, black, wide but not as high as those I see in Italy and France.

I'm guided to the house where I'll be staying by two men. They both wear glasses and seem nerdy, I think they are a gay couple. In retrospect, I'm quite sure the two looked exactly the same - that, or I saw only one and imagined the second. The two are friendly and I remember them talking and laughing with me. They have brown hair.

I meet two more people later on. One is a businessman - broad-shouldered, black suit, cold expression and an office full of heavy dark wooden furniture, thick books and leather upholstery. He reminds me greatly of a character from one of my favourite series. I don't remember the other.

At one point, I'm wandering the streets in the evening, light spilling out of restaurant windows which display scenes of people leaning towards one another talking, cutlery resting loosely between gesticulating fingers, red wine swilling about in glasses, unfinished dishes on the table. I can almost hear the hubbub of hundreds of conversations jostling to make themselves heard.

Day 3 (Tuesday 31.10) is not one I'm comfortable sharing, and I also remember very little of it. I experienced the dream as an invisible observer and played no part in it. Today's I remember a little better, but it is still two fragments. I believe I unexpectedly became lucid at the end.

A white, pink and grey house. It's a modern bungalow. A relative (grandfather?) of mine lives here. In the large kitchen-living room is a counter, black granite on top, pink sides. A variety of kitchen utensils on top of it include a shiny silver, tall teapot. Full-length windows wrap the side of the room that faces outside. It's snowy out there, some shrubs and spiky winter plants peeking through the snow under a blank white sky. I see that there are two small steps down from the glass door in pale beige stone. I remember running in and out of the house, hiding some objects or my own self in black and grey halls and behind doors. However the dream was overall a calm one. I remember sitting curled on the floor, reading. I remember modern white metal baskets and filing cabinets, supermarket bags full of clothes, and some piles of clothes on the floor. I remember conversation and a casually dressed man with longish dark brown hair and a small beard on his chin. I remember cooking, walking on a snowy road to get here. All the other recollections are too vague to be put into words. Faint fragments of emotions, flashes of images and indecipherable, tenth-of-a-second beeps of sound and glimpses of movement. I feel sorry to have forgotten what I feel was an eventful and interesting dream.

Later. A white box room, no windows or doors. Someone is in here with me. Suddenly I become aware that I am dreaming. Elated to have achieved lucidity, I want to test the limits of the dream and see what I can do. I think: 'how about flying?' and move my arms a little away from my sides. Then I am spiralling up into the air towards the ceiling of the small square. I can look down at the same time as I see myself from above, looking upwards to the ceiling. I feel an incredible rush of joy and lightness while my companion is looking up at me. But it's short lived. As I'm about to go through the ceiling I feel the dream slipping away from me. The scene itself seems to break away from my consciousness and spiral downwards into blackness until it disappears.

While losing my dream I saw my bedroom, with lights on, appearing. I don't know now if I woke up or fell into a deeper sleep. I remember waking up later, to the sound of my alarm, in darkness.

I rarely remember a dream as long as this one, with so many details. I can still visualise the dream scenery quite vividly. Currently I'm working on increasing my recall, since I'm a beginner, so I may not have any lucid experiences to note for quite some time.

1. School day?

Remember a lecture earlier, at school, in the pool. The bottom of the pool is raised to floor level and we are all sitting on it. Swimming teacher (IRL) tells us her belly is fake (attached by some permanent procedure, who knows why) and that's why she's fat. There will be more lectures, by others, in the future, and one has already happened - I know this thanks to a paper stuck to the wall, with a list of lectures typed in blue, Times New Roman.

After it's over, I leave, I'm in the school building. Exams are either coming up or have just finished. The school (not IRL, but a squarer, more industrial-looking, white building) is empty. Hallways seem like endless white square tubes, with blue noticeboards on the walls. The carpets in there are blue - IRL they are red. I leave.

I'm standing on an unfamiliar street corner, outside a food shop of some sort. The air feels fresh and cool and the area seems lit up by almost blinding white light, as if a faded white photo. The buildings opposite me are white and glowing. There are cars on the road but they don't seem to move or make a sound. I get the impression I'm near my local library.

A girl runs up to me, I know her IRL, though we aren't as close as friends. She grins and greets me with my name. She has a cup of bubble tea in the left hand. We chat a while about school and I have the impression I'm doing quite well in my exams. We're still talking when quickly, she says she has to leave. She runs across the road, between the cars, and jumps in through the already-opened door of a shiny, sleek black car. Then she's gone, leaving our conversation unfinished.

2. Chase

Fragment: my brother chases me through the streets around my house. IRL geography. I run past the pharmacy but don't remember where I go next.

My (?) cousin (blond) arrives. He wants to see my brother and they enter the bathroom (?) together. I stand outside eavesdropping and feel frightened by what I hear. Cousin touches brother's shoulder and a whitish-yellow light glows. As the door begins to open, the landing lights turn off and I dodge and tumble down the stairs to curl up in the corner of the next landing. My brother descends as I'm pretending to be asleep. I fidget a little, and feel myself shaking in fear, wondering if he'll see through my act because of the trembles. He walks past.

Then I am in the living room. (It's mine IRL). My aunt is here. We talk - I don't remember the words, but she knows they are after me now that cousin did something to my brother. Speak of the devil - my brother suddenly races into the room and makes a beeline for me. Aunt intercepts him, grabbing him by the shoulders while telling me to run. I run out of the house and turn left, racing across the road and into the nearest street off mine. I know I need to quickly get around some corners to make the most of my head start - hopefully, this will confuse my brother since I'm not taking the route I had before (in fragment above). I run through several streets and around corners and the architecture shifts from almost-real to a cartoon-like candy land. The houses have uniform pointed roofs with cherry-pink candy borders.

Soon I realise this isn't the fastest way for me to move and I start bounding, somewhat like a four-legged animal, putting both hands on the ground and pushing, propelling myself forward in great jumps. My whole body lifts off the ground as I jump. The scenery is blurring around me as I'm moving so fast.

Suddenly I can see from my brother's point of view. He's looking for me, running through streets of beige gingerbread houses. The streets are lined with heaps of giant, golden, caramel popcorn piled up steeply against the walls. He throws out his arm and scatters a heap of popcorn as he turns right to keep running. It seems my cousin is speaking into his mind. He makes several left turns. I feel relieved at this since I've been turning right and seemingly heading in the opposite direction.

My point of view again. Suddenly, I see him turn a corner and come towards me. I skid and hurl myself backwards. This time I feel like I'm soaring up into the air, flying on my back, as if I'm floating in a swimming pool. My brother soars up as well and slows to float above me. I hear a conversation between my cousin and him, to the tune of 'about time, do it'. He unfurls a huge flag, in blocks of colours: red, yellow, green. It's made as if of many round beads close together, forming a flat (flapping in the wind) surface, yet with nothing obviously joining them. It billows out against the direction of the wind. I'm still desperately trying to propel myself away.

I hear 'NOW!' and brother comes down on top of me, flag gone. We fall to the floor. I fear my cousin controlling my body, as he is currently controlling my brother.

Then we are sitting in the road, as if we've been dropped from above (I suppose we have) and my cousin and aunt reappear. They cry out: 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY!'. A surprise? My brother has returned to normal, unaware of what's been happening. The dream ends.



Note:

- The first dream had familiar but not quite real landscapes
- The girl who approached me was someone I actually know
- The second dream took place partly in my IRL house
- IRL I don't have a brother, or a male cousin
- I didn't remember any sounds of speech or particular words, nor any faces. Make this a goal for next time!