Birmingham City Walk - a lucid dream (night of 29/09/2025)

 I realize I am dreaming. This feels more like a dream of lucid dreaming, than actual lucid dreaming, but getting there. When I realize I am dreaming, I decide to see how long I can keep the awareness of the dream going. I am in a city in the day - I think it is Birmingham. I walk the busy city streets looking at people. Some kind of glitch in the dream, making me feel I am awakening, but I do not. I continue walking. I walk up some steps. I am surprised to learn that I am slightly out of breath - I can feel physical exertion. This pleases me. My body feels real. My post-dream notes say 'should I go to Woodstock Drive?'. I can't remember this now, so maybe I was thinking about it in my dream.

Flat Haunted By A Rose Bush (night of 29/09/2025)

I am in a flat - atmospheric - dark wood. Pleasant. I am in the toilet, and see in the window opposite, rose bushes fluttering in the wind against the glass. With other people on the landing, possibly Jon from work There is some kind of discussion over whether or not the flat is haunted - connected with the rose bush fluttering against the window. I exaggerate the effects of the rose bush, and feel slightly guilty doing so, but I want the flat to be haunted. Jon agrees with me about the rose-bush. The flat might be haunted after all.

(Later) I am talking with Heather at a bus-stop. I explain how exorcism is a bad idea; 'imagine if you are living in a house and someone attacks you with a hammer - you would attack them back'

Agent On A Boat (night of 29/09/2025)

I am some kind of agent, working for an organisation like the FBI. I am involved in some kind of investigation on a boat - the boat is like a huge cruise ship, though with a lot of dark wood. I am in pursuit of a drug-runner.
Entering into some kind of hold in the ship. A lot of other people about. Something dark comes at me - like a shadow, but it is some kind of illusion and I am unbothered.
I have found the person I am after, and am sat at a table with him. He is silent - somewhat sulky. Though he is a drug runner, I am concerned that he makes the most of his time in prison - I ask him what he will spend his time in prison doing. He ignores me. Alice says something about 'I haven't been in this room since people-' unfortunately I cannot read the next word in my post-dream notes.
With Alice. On the edge of a shower / bath kind of thing - the drop into the bath / shower is quite deep - maybe something like a swimming pool shower? Alice is walking around the edges of it. I am near the edge. I slide along the slippery surface - the way that you might slide along the ice when I was a kid. The sliding makes the surface slippier - becoming mud-like in consistency - a green / black kind of mud?
I am winding Alice up about falling into the pit, albeit in a light hearted way. I am a bit concerned we will fall, but then see the drop is not too deep, and isn't really a problem.

A Holiday In Malta (night of 27/09/2025)

 I am on holiday in Malta, unsure if with friends or family. I need to return to the flat we have rented. The key in my hand. Walking up steps to get to the flat. The flats - like holiday villas - are all in a long row.

I go to the bathroom but when I look out of the bathroom, down a long corridor, I can see other people returning to their own flats. A man with a moustache. How can I use the bathroom in privacy? I realise there is a curtain I can draw.

At some point I have put my foot in black mud. Leaving black mud in the flat. On the stair landing inside the flat, I see that the black mud has attracted loads of flies. I look closer and realise they are tiny lizards eating the mud.

I walk to the conservatory area at the front of the flat. On the glass window I see a strange slow moving insect. I realise that if I move to the balcony area I can shut the door and the insect will be on the other side. I do so and move to the balcony area. I watch the insect from the other side of the glass.

My sister is possibly here.

Outside on a city street. Walking up steps. A number of black crows fly down around me. I say - to presumably Alice 'Look! Maltese crows!'

The House That Cannot Be Let (night of 26/09/2025)

 With Gemma and other people. There is estate agent showing us all to a terraced house. She says the house is not yet sold or let - she can't understand why as it is quite cosy looking. Pethaps it is because it is empty - no-one is living there. Something is wrong.

We enter the house - it still has furniture etc  I look through an internal window. I see a chair in a darkened room, up against the wall. I say to the others 'look! Someone is sitting in it!'. Someone calls me out on my bullshit.

We are now in the garden of the house. It is a long garden, a concrete path running through the s has ort grass. Someone says something about the previous owners. I reply, saying something about how the old owners must have 'aged decades' trying to walk the length of the very long garden.

On the left of the garden is the back wall of another house. We have reached the last part of the garden. I think there is always this odd space at the end of all gardens that no-one comes to. I imagine - briefly - what it would be like to play here as a child.

A small tree, a watering can, paving stones set in small paths - maybe a shed to the right?

Next, I am walking alone up the corner of Battenhall Road at night. I am rushing to get up to London Road  I look to my left into what seems to be the small grounds of a school. I see two people there walking towards me. They have the feeling of dog walkers. This momentarily concerns me. I realise they are ages away, and I have nothing to worry about as long as I get as move on on.

Threatening The Ticklers (night of 25/05/2025)

 I am at work in the call centre. Everyone is going to tickle me. I hate being tickled. I grab a Yorkie chocolate bar and smash it against the wall where it smashes like a bottle. I warn everyone I will kill them if they touch me. I am not being serious but everyone leaves me alone.

I walk out to go to the shops. I walk down a corridor to another room - it seems more a house than a call centre. I hear Cat saying to everyone 'he said he was going to kill me yesterday!' I am angry at being gossiped about this way.

I head back to the room to confront Cat, but before I do, I enter another room. There is a bed in the centre of the room. A man and a woman are there, taking their belongings out of their bags. They are two of the new employees.

I go back to the call centre and say to Cat 'I can hear you all the way down to the other room!'. I am stood at the door to the call centre talking to Cat and one of the other new starters. I say 'lets make sure this is a nice place to work for everyone!' Cat and the new starter agree with what I say.

I leave to go to the shops again. I walk down the corridor, and see, over a low bannister, three of the new starters. One of them, a long haired student type, says a rhyme to me, something about making a god. I go back - should I be friendly and ask if they want anything from the shop? The new starter who said the rhyme is pretending to look at a noticeboard. I start to say something about the rhyme but can't quite remember what it was. They look at me blankly. 'Which one of you said that thing to me about a god?' They all shake their heads, teasing me.

Fantastic Journey TV Episode (night of 24/09/2025)

 Watching an episode of a TV show, possibly called Fantastic Journey - this has nothing to do with the actual TV show of the same name from the 1970s. As well as watching the TV show, I am also experiencing it as real - though vaguely aware it is also a TV show. Confusing narrative drifts.

A group of people - headed by an older masculine man, reminiscent of 1970s TV / action film characters. They / we enter a building. The building has a portal to another dimension in it. Some kind of futuristic car lies hidden beneath sheeting. The car is revealed - it does not look that futuristic though - kind of orange in colour - a bit Starsky and Hutch-esque. I know the car will have lots of buttons on the interior which will be used in our fantastic interdimensional adventures.

A room in the building - kind of a hallway corridor - empty of things. This may lead to the portal? The man says something about how this is different from last time.

Some connection to a flooded watery landscape. Huge rocks - rectangular blocks sticking out of the water. This landscape feels VERY familiar. Has this happened before? Something huge passing through the sky.

A car chase through a village at night. A slippy road. I am an observer here. I know that the car will crash because this always happens in TV shows like this.

Some kind of old looking university campus. Students in gowns walking around a square. One of them is Charlie, looking very unhappy. Something to do with her boyfriend. My viewpoint drifts around the square. I am there but also watching it on TV.

Speaking about this with Gail from work -calling her 'Gee-bo' or 'Gaybo' - some kind of dream nickname. Bounding up a set of steps in a flat to talk to Gee-bo. Should we phone Charlie and tell her we have seen her on TV looking unhappy?

Back in the building. The man is in the car  I look through an interior window, through an empty room, through another window into another room. There are what seem to be plants in this room that start to bubble into spheres. 'Look!' I shout to the man and to whoever will listen. 

These bubbling spheres will somehow enable us to take the car to have adventures in this other dimension.

Zombie Invasion (night of 23/09/2025)

There is a zombie invasion. I am in some kind of hospital with Emily. We are armed only with brooms. The zombies, it is said, have some kind of allergy to chairs. There has been a trap set up on one of the stairs. I am on the other side of the stair-trap. I see a zombie come along, but the trap does not work and he pulls off the chair.

I am with Emily in a flat that is in the same building as Andy's old flat in Hove. Looking out of the window. We are safe here. I am speaking to Andy on the phone - he is heading up north to his parents and says 'It looks like I will be seeing a lot of them in the future'. At least the flat is barricaded.

I am worried that Andy and Emily will get together. He tells me that they met while swimming.

Angus Scrimm is Angry with Me (night of 23/09/2025)

In the paper there is a story about people being involved or killed in a car crash - a man and a woman. They are somehow conencted to the actor Angus Scrimm, who played The Tall Man in the Phantasm series of films. I ring Angus Scrimm to talk to him about this - his phone number is on his Facebook page. Angus Scrimm is very angry with me and hangs up. I feel very regretful and call him back to apologise but he does not answer.

An image of a roundabout at night - the island of the roundabout is covered with small objects. The master has left these objects as gifts for his girlfriend.

The Horror At Wet Hook (night of 16/09/2025)

 I am at work. I take two boxes, full of old comics to put somewhere safe. I think I leave them at the end of the huge room where the old call centre was.

Later, I go looking for them, but I cannot remember where I left them. As I walk down the side of the old call centre I look up and see a man look at me. He says 'you're not one of the people I trained'. I wonder if I should say hello, but decide to ignore him and walk to the other side.

The old call centre is now a warehouse. Different levels. I see a girl jump down from a level above to the level I am on.

There are lots of new people who have just been trained to work in the warehouse. I think that Saturday's and Sundays used to be so quiet.

I continue looking for my comics - this now has a greater impetus as there are more people in than expected. Are they in the admin office? They must be!

When I enter the admin office I seem to forget about the comics. Instead I gave a few copies of a fanzine in my hands. One of them had a poem by Paige in it called 'The Horror At Wet Hook'. I hand a copy to Kafy, and also Gemma, and Paige herself who has joined me. I explain that the fanzine has a poem by Paige in it, and wonder if I should read a few lines of it to get everyone interested in it. After all, it is hard to get people excited by poetry.

I say that Gemma's husband (partner in real life) photocopied them. This raises a knowing laugh. What gave I said? Is it because I referred to her partner as her husband? I think it is because Gemma's  husband is a bit dodgy and has probably photocopied them illegally.

Angry With Phil Collins (night of 16/09/2025)

 Something to do with a review I am studying in a magazine. Phil Collins is angry with my conclusion. I am angry with him for swearing at me. This is not acceptable.

Prisoner Cell Block H Episode (afternoon of 14/09/2025)

 An episode of Prisoner Cell Block H. There is some kind of attempt to break out of the cells, sawing through the bars with a saw. This must be done before the other prisoners return from recreation. They stop - it is too late. I am confused - the other prisoners have not returned - why don't they continue?

I am surprised to see the character Myra - I didn't think she was in an episode with another character - I thought they had never met 

Dining Room Spider (night of 13/09/2025)

 I want my copy of the novelisation of Lucio Fulci's The Beyond. It is in a large dresser in the dining room - it appears to be the dining room of Woodstock Drive. In the dining room is a large spider my sister has bought. I am in the room with Mum and Dad, possibly Alice and some young men.

I am outside running into the house with Nicola, my old girlfriend from when I was 14. I am giving her a piggyback. I am holding her sweaty hand.

Where is the spider? It is on the wall with another spider my sister has bought. The larger spider falls onto a table or bed, on its back. Though I am afraid of it, I am concerned the spider may hurt itself.

Looking out of the window. On the windowsill, a movement. Is it a crow? I look again - or is it a lizard? I am excited by this crow / lizard. I call out 'crow!' to Alice. Eventually, she goes outside to look, and confirms it as a lizard. She is not as excited by the crow / lizard as I am.

Back in Andy's Old Flat (night of 11/08/2025)

I am in Andy's old flat, trying to sleep on the floor. Andy is in the bathroom. Light from under the door. He says to me, from the bathroom, we might as well accept we are living together again. He says something about Joe's old place smelling like some 'half eaten pet shop'.

Standing up in the dark room, thinking how strange that Andy has moved back here. Strange noises and shadows stretching by the door.

Super-Mannequins TV Episode (night of 11/09/2025)

 An episode of an old TV show. Two characters - some kind of super powered mannequins. One good, one bad. They run and move in an odd fashion, bumping into each other. Seems to be set in the grounds of Abbots field School. The mannequins start flying by walking into the sky. I find this pleasingly absurd.

I come across Em and Andy in some kind of hut. It seems they are attracted to each other. I am jealous.

The Fairy Door (night of 09/09/2025)

 With Dad? Steve B? I am a passenger in a car. I tell the driver to turn down The Drive in Ickenham. Outside the window is black. Headlights do not pierce the night. The road peters out. Mud and grass verges - blocks of stone. Some kind of roadworks?

An archaeological dog - with Dad again? Certainly Alice amongst other people. A square door with carvings on at the bottom of sloping grass. This is some kind of Fae artefact. There is a plaque to the left of the slope that says 'With a cast of cross-dressing Dads, and members of the modern Fairy society...'  Other words In do not remember. As I jump down the grass, Alice blows some kind of powder over me. I think I hear the sound of bells. I think aren't bells connected with fairy folklore?

Was the excavation in an earlier part of the dream in some kind of cellar?

Passing by a cottage I used to go to family holidays on. Extra extensions built on the cottage? The feel of Findhorn? Then just the space and no cottage. Marvelling at the fact this is the space I used to sleep in as a child.

With Alice on a long summer project - connected to some outdoor stove building? A man turns up who is sexually interested in Alice. I am jealous no-one is interested in me.

An image of myself skipping through grass towards some overgrown bushes 

Dinosaur Footprints in Stone (night of 07/09/2025)

 I am on the road up to Stone church. There are huge dinosaur footprints on the grass verge, filled with water. This is some kind of practical joke. I am trying to take photographs of the footprints, trying to focus the camera. There is a family by a river. There is a building here too that is 'open'. (I wrote these notes when I woke from the dream - I cannot remember this section of the dream now)

I show my parents the footprints. There is a huge ship, the HMS Destroyer. The ship will leave from Stone - what time does it leave though?

Jealousy In Brighton (night of 08/09/2025)

 I am in Brighton with Charlie and another man - possibly Gareth, he real life boyfriend. I am in a bad mood, and feel jealous and ignored. It is nighttime, a cosy wintry darkness.

I am in the book section of a charity shop. There is a book of old ghost stories, beautiful illustrations in full colour. There is some kind of plastic sleeve on each page, causing the pages to crinkle. This puts me off buying it. The woman I am with feels the same.

A room with lots of other people. One of them is a woman I went to Langley College with 31 years ago. I think it is odd I have known her for 31 years - but then I think I don't really know her that well. 

Charlie needs to take a bath - I need to leave. Light under the door from the bathroom. An image of Charlie in some kind of nightie. A large room dominated by some kind of gargantuan dresser. The surface has small cube-shaped spaces. I think if I lived here in this house it would immediately turn messy. An image of putting something in the cube space - perhaps a piece of paper?

Talking to Flick about the charity shops on Brighton. I refer to one as 'The Sydney's - a colloquial name. I say it is good but a bit overpriced.

Outside again with Charlie and the possible-Gareth. I want to communicate with Charlie I am jealous and unhappy - I am not sure I am jealous and unhappy because of their relationship - but because I do not have one. I think, what would be the point of talking to Charlie about this? I have talked to her at length about being terminally single before, but nothing ever changes 

The wintry night is mysterious.

Rachael and Tony's New House (night of 08/09/2025)

 I see from social media that Tony and Rachael, whom I knew from first term in Worcester in 1996, he ave moved into a new house. I see this on the news, or social media.

I walk by their house which seems to be in Stanklyn Lane in Stone. There is an extension lead outside their house. I plug in my own extension lead.

Three children, about 10 years old, on bikes come out - in waking life their children must be adults now. One says ' he's stealing our electricity Dad!'. I say 'it:s just an extension lead' but then Tony is there - I have not seen him for 27 years.

Next I am in the house but where is Rachael? A woman comes into the doorway holding a plate of what looks like mashed bananas. She looks old + I assume this is Rachael but it turns out this is her mother.

New Tarot Issue (night of 08/09/2025)

 I am in WHSmiths. I see in the magazines section a new tarot part work magazine. I thought they had finished? Is it a new part work? I do not want to buy them again - I thought I had finished my collection. I look at the numbering, trying to work out if this is a continuation of the old series, or a new one. The number is something like 64 or 65, indicating that it is a continuation of the old series.

Found Footage Horror Film (night of 01/09/2025)

 A found footage horror film, rumoured to be terrifying. Or is it a Halloween type of spooky house? Approaching the door. Two figures welcome me. I am with someone else. I explain that they are there to increase the tension. I am unimpressed.

A character in the film explains that the house is under invasion from 'shooters' - invaders who get into the house.

Images of dark hallways.

Wilson (afternoon of 01/09/2025)

 I am in what looks to be a communal entrance way on the floor if a block of flats. I am with a man and woman, and a child. It is unclear if the boy, called Wilson, is their son. I am in some kind of capacity as the child's caretaker.

Wilson is about seven years old. He kicks a stone to me. It lands at my fight. Wilson is pushing the boundaries. It is important that Wilson - and I - know which stone is which. We cannot do this as it has landed amongst other stones at my feet.

Wilson runs off to hide around the corner.