When people say they don’t dream, I think “half your life is over man” but I just say “really? I dream almost every night…and in colour too”. Sometimes it is about real situations and people. Sometimes the characters are unknown and unforgettable. Those of you who dream often will know that if you don’t write it down immediately after waking, you will forget it. Not only that, sometimes by the time you wake up, you forgot that you had a dream until later in the day someone may say something or you might be doing something when you remember “hey, I dreamed about that last night”.

I’ve grabbed my Blue Mountain Coffee to sit down and tell you about last night’s dream. 

Sleep came at 1 am, shortly after I finished reading my Twitter feed, which is a nighttime ritual. There was nothing in particular that was eventful about my day on Thursday. I also didn’t eat any naughty things late at night, which is sometimes a trigger for a meandering dream. Last night, there were several un-related dreams, like vignettes.

Vignette 1

I was on foot, with my knapsack on my back, when I walked past a lady parking her dark green Honda station wagon. She was an older lady and when I looked closer, someone I knew. *Digression*

(In real life, she is the widow of a man who owned a piece of land next to where I lived in Grenada  a few years ago. I turned into an investigator, looked up the deeds, searched the telephone directory, drove around Grenada until I found someone who knew how to contact her. I called her on the phone one day, we got talking and I used to go visit her regularly and carry Ackee & Saltfish because they used to live in Jamaica and said she liked it.)

Mrs J greeted me warmly. I went up to the car and noticed that she was looking a lot younger than she should  be looking by now. (Hmmm. Did it mean I was also a lot younger?) While talking to her at her car window, I noticed a friend (nickname Mr Heavy in real life) walking by. He had on a lovely blue shirt and khaki pants. I waved, he went along his way and I continued talking to Mrs J.

I’m not sure how the conversation reached to us talking about me not having my car that week, hence why I was hoofing it. By a stroke of good luck, she said she had several cars and would lend me one. This meant I could keep my old jeep in the car rental pool (in real life, I rent it out while I am away).

The conversation evolved into an invitation for me to go by her house for dinner later as her children and their families were visiting from the USA. (In real life, all her kids live abroad and she rolls around in this huge house with only the Housekeeper).

Fast forward to later, and I am sat at a large dining table. I spot two daughters and some of their kids. Next thing I know, Mrs J is telling them that I have experience in hotels so she is going to employ me to give advice on their hotel. Had no clue they ran a little guest house type operation. One of the grandkids responded positively, while her daughters were somewhat silent, looking at me skeptically as if to say “where dis girl come out?” (That’s a Grenadian expression. Jamaican translation for me would be “where dis girl come from, to be so close to my mama?”)

And there that dream ended because of singing. Not my singing. The neighbour’s kid, who fancies herself as a Soprano and often wails early in the morning. So before it was time to be awakened by my alarm, I heard the out-of-tune noise. Time for the ear plugs and Dream 2.

Vignette 2

Picture this. You remember the movie Shrek? Take a look at the lead ogre and his ears. That’s what I look like in real life, with these orange things in my ears. Well, just so, I now found myself in the front seat of Beenie Man’s pick up truck. Apparently I was his friend, not in a romantic way. We just used to go out often apparently. The conversation was easy, all the while me thinking “he must think I look like Shrek”. Yes, I had in the ear plugs. Thankfully, that dream ended soon after.

Vignette 3

I found myself driving along Downtown Kingston towards Marcus Garvey Drive (No I don’t know the name of the street…..Port Royal maybe?). Next thing I meet up on road works. They are re-tarring the surface so traffic came to a crawl. “Not now”, I’m thinking, as I was on my way to either a meeting or a training session. The road looked different. I saw tunnels and slight undulating roadway. Out of nowhere, one of Mummy’s friends (a ‘Ministry’ person, i.e. used to work with her at the Ministry) walks by the car and says hello. Hi Mrs F. I crawl along, only to find more people standing and sitting around, including my Uncle! Turns out that the road works people had got Volunteers to be along the route to keep people informed and calm. And yes, Mummy was in charge of them, though I didn’t see her along the route.

Driving along further, I spot a food station. My first thoughts were “who’s in government now, to bring in such luxuries?”. I scanned the eats and took a small cookie (was either Shortbread or a Scone-type thingy). As I scanned further, there were Tuna sandwiches on Whole Wheat bread. Shucks. Shoulda eaten that first (in real life, I don’t like eating sweets before savoury because my stomach rebels).

A few crawls more and I am on my way…like Speedy Gonzales.

Vignette 4

Somewhere in between the other Vignettes, I found myself walking along with a Consultant who was working on a project to improve the physical facilities of schools in Jamaica. It was worth $30 million.  I had to ask what currency to know if that was significant. Canadian. Good. “Is my High School included?” Darn. It is only for Primary Schools, so I hoped that my alma mater Downtown was on the list (in real life, I just was at my High School, took a look at the furniture and thought “it looks just the same from 36 years ago!).

The Consultant was heading to a building somewhere (destination unknown). We were walking through some buildings and he had a small dog on a leash. Typical. We had to go down a stair well with a winding metal stair case where you could see straight down to the bottom. Don’t look down. Was funny to see the dog navigating it. When we got onto a flat walk way which connected two buildings, we were joined by a young girl who in real life, works from home on the internet. She was telling me that she was hired for a Virtual Assistant job and that it turned out she had to go to Kuwait. But it was to help on this Education project. Hmmm. Things mixed up. Not sure what the Kuwaits and Canadians had going on. There ended that story.

The last Vignette was very short.

Vignette 5

I was at the gym. It was a small gym and I am not sure what island it was in. I’d guess Jamaica. We had done cardio outside in an open air room. I had used a machine. Next it was floor work inside. So I picked up my mat (come to think of it, it might have been Spartan because it was  a blue thick mat like what they have had for years) and went into the small room. Even though I hurried, the floor space filled up very quickly. Darn. I got upset and took up my mat and walked. Before the teacher try and figure out how to re-arrange the gymgoers to make space, she says “you should come in the evening when there are less people”. I looked outside,  saw darkness and thought “what world are you living in? Yuh nuh see say is evening now?”

True to how I know how to exercise on my own, I decided I would head home and do my own floor work. Silly woman.

There you have it. The dream life of Yamfoot.