Dreams: A View Into Another World (Part 2)

The Dream Location: Outdoors



Commons

Let us start the description with the large commons, an open field of green grass. LC1 is the designation.

Along the back of it (right of the image) are a line of 15-20' tall trees, leafless, either dead or the season is fall (I suspect it is late in the year, the weather is mild, but not hot as it turns out, maybe a bit damp). Beyond the tangle of leafless branches is another field designated LC3.

I have no idea what would border the commons to the bottom - never saw that view.

To the left, the commons are bordered by a row of dark-coloured block buildings, apartments presumably, set close together. Uninviting, I would say. I would guess the buildings at 1970-1980s from architectural style.

To the top of the image, we have a section of grass on which the vehicles park (the two greenish areas), split only by a single large tree (T1) - well over 30' high, probably an oak or the like, with a trunk at least 24" across, maybe more. Under the big tree, facing leftwards, is a big, old, dark hardwood desk, complete with massive wooden drawers and missing a chair. This appears to factor in during the narrative.

Beyond that section of grass, running in a distorted L across right to left and then down towards the bottom, is sidewalk. Above the sidewalk at the top, is a row of houses of various sorts, a chain link fence, a two-lane suburban road, then a park or other green space which gradually rises to a low ridgeline about where the LC2 label sits.

Houses on the Top of Map

The houses are an interesting mix. I'm guessing at how many there were and I even suspect I'm short a few.

A1 and A2 - Detached homes with what looks like painted board siding with small covered entry porches, reminiscent of something from the early part of the 20th century, two-storey sloped roof, not cottage roof.

B1 - Detached home, blue board or vinyl siding, reminiscent of maybe 1950s or 1960s style architecture, a bit more squarish than the first two. Front door not covered by a porch. Possibly 3 storey with perhaps a flat roof.

C1 - Skelton... floors, parts of walls, weathered wood and exposed pipes. Don't know if it was the victim of fire, abandonment and demolition, or what. Seems oddly out of place in the neighborhood.

D1 and D2 - Multistorey (possibly 5 storey) block of flats. Red brick with concrete under and over windows and that concrete painted a bright pastel green. A bit hard on the eyes, but much more inviting than the blocks of flats on the left side.

I'm sure there was another abandoned building but it may have been out beyond D2 to the right.

General Observations

The neighborhood seemed to be reminiscent of something in the 1970s or 1980s - I don't think I recall a vehicle parked on the common in detail, but there were 6 to 8 of them and at least one was a pickup I'd vintage as the 1970s (mid to late).

The road at the top saw occasional traffic, but it wasn't remarkable, aparently.

So I'm going to temporally peg this at the late 1970s or early 1980s. The whole place had an aura of calm about it. It felt like the area was economically not that rich - working class. No expensive cars. Most cars not new. The kind of place where people would work on their own cars to keep them running because they can't afford a mechanic or a new car.

The Neighbours

I recall meeting in passing a few of the neighbours from the accomodations on the top of the map. I seem to recall one was a single nurse of youngish age, not striking but pretty enough - I think she might have lived in B1. I seem to recall a very nice elderly couple, both white haired and wizened, who may have lived in one of the Ds, but I suspect may also have lived in A1.

The Dream Location: Indoors





Bedroom

The indoor map appears to be that of a house. At one point in the dream, I wake up in the bed in the bedroom, either a low bed with no box spring or else a futton. The floor in the bedroom and down the hall towards the bottom is heavy varnished hardwood, board or tongue-and-groove flooring, very last century (too expensive now!). The flooring show enough imperfections to indicate it has been some time since the house was built.

The bedroom has a small hardwood side table. Daylight shines in from the window at the top and through a screen door from a porch or deck or front step at the top left. The hallway towards the right is dark and I never find out where it leads. The style of the windows is older single or dual pane style with aluminum or steel frames, not the modern triple pane with vinyl.

I walk downwards on the map, through the door at the bottom of the bedroom. This leads into a wide hallway or perhaps dining space that is floored in hardwood.

The walls in the house are all a bright lime yellow colour, lively. No light but natural light appears to be functioning; I cannot say if there are electrical problems or if I just don't turn them on. I don't see any fixtures, so I assume they are either not of note or are missing. I get the impression I may be doing some work on the house.

Dining Hall

Daylight shines in through a side window. Around 1 on the map, I have tools scattered around - an odd mix of hand and power tools, with the power tools all looking like 1970s or earlier. 1 itself is a built-in bench. 2 is a built in storage cabinet. These are both the same bright lime yellow as the walls. Apparently there was a sale on that paint...

The dining hall lacks any furniture, a further suggestion I'm new to the house and working upon it. Either that or I'm very spartan.

Kitchen and Work Area

The region in green is raised one step and is tiled in a white tile with green inclusions.

The topmost section on the left side of this area labelled kitchen is just that. The pink sections are cabinets which are roof mounted over the countertop. There is a sink in front of the window and dayllight streams through the window.

The bottommost section on the left, labelled work area, is similar in appearance, but having a countertop where the other side has a sink. Lights shines through this window as well, as it does from the window across on the rightmost wall.

The cabinets in this area look hand built, not mass-produced, further suggesting the era of this house is older, perhaps in the first half of the 20th century before everything went to mass-produced looks. Sturdy and enduring are words that come to mind. Lived-in is another.

On the small southern wall, at 5, there appears to be a door painted lime yellow which one thinks might lead to a basement, although this is never proven.

The Rest ?

There is a dark corridor down toward the bottom, floored in hardwood, with a number of obliquely glimpsed closed doors. The only light comes through a screen door at the end which one tends to think opens outside.

My guess is the house might be at A2 located on the outdoor map. Maybe.

Dream Narrative

When we join the story, I appear to be working on a vehicle in the commons. Not sure what I was doing. I think it was the truck and the hood was up.

I have flashes of meeting a few of the neighbours - the old couple and the nurse. The day is nice, sunny but a bit cool, and with a breeze. I suspect it is fall. Clothing styles suggest latter half of the 20th century and working class. This again helps pin the dream at the late 1970s or early 1980s.

Somewhere along the line, someone is helping me look for my new house. For some mysterious reason, I've forgotten where the keys are. It seems, at the time, I may not be sure which house I bought. Why I think this is never clear. This is where that big old wooden desk under the tree comes in. It appears to be a storage place where people in the commons keep stuff. I don't appear to have a key, but someone does and we find the paperwork (I think the deed/real-estate papers) and my keys. I am relieved when this occurs.

I don't recall standing in front of the house or walking into it, which is why it is a guess to put it at A2 on the map. I'm basing that on interior appointments (and their age) and from the different degrees of light admitted in from outside.

The next snippet has me awaking in the bedroom, looking about, getting up, going into the dining hall room, looking over the collection of tools on the bench (obviously some work in progress), looking up into the kitchen and work area, down the hall into the dark corridor to the screen door (side door?).

And then the narrative ends... a feeling comes over me like I've just realized this isn't right, that I'm seeing into someone else's life or into a life that isn't mine, and some part of my brain has just realized that this is not my actual life and is alarmed.

You'd almost say that the vivid reality of the whole thing lulled my brain for a time, and then it woke up and shouted 'Alarum! Something Rotten In Denmark!' and thus, with a start, I awake, at 4 am.

And So What?

I doubt I've captured the level of detail in any way sufficient to do it justice. The drawers moved like hand-made wooden drawers move. The light was very natural. The whole place felt like someplace in the latitudes of Pennsylvannia or southern New York State in September of some time in the late 1970s, in a sleepy and not financially well-off neighbourhood.

I don't read much into dreams. The mind needs to churn to power the imagination, to work out things while you sleep, to sluice away stresses, and so on. I don't think of dreams as messages - they rarely seem that way to me. Mostly they seem like movies or videos and sometimes like a first-person visit to someone's life and their world. Those last are the most vivid and kick me away. I recall one in high school that was about me fighting in the US Civil War and I came to a bad end from a cannon fusillade in that one and that woke me up breathless.

I don't know what grand conclusions to draw. Likely, none are appropriate or have not been spoken by others more erudite than I. I do know dreams are a source of wonderment.

And I can't help wondering if, every so often, I'm seeing echoes of another life, from someone, somewhere, somewhen....