Sunday 31 August 2008

Blog Dreaming

Something strange happened in my dreams last night, and I pass it on in case any other bloggers have had a similar sleep experience. Don't worry, this won't take long - my memory for dreams is very poor...
It began as one of my familiar dream sagas of endless frustration, events (if that's not too dynamic a word) looping round without getting anywhere, obstacles springing up at every juncture, complications ramifying - yes I really don't enjoy my dreams... The setting for this one seemed to be some large, old-fashioned seaside town, full of large grey old-fashioned hotels and broad roads with many a slope and curve. Heaven knows (memory certainly doesn't) what was going on in terms of narrative, but the thing is - the strange thing is - the structure was largely verbal (often the case in my dreams - I write too much), and it began to take the form of a discussion on my blog, among my blog regulars, some of whom seemed to be shadowily present and active in the dream (though in waking life I have never seen them). It was at once a dream and a blog discussion. Don't ask me how - or how such a thing could accord with any kind of narrative structure - but somehow it was and it did. And that was how it kept going till I woke up and memory promptly began its work of self-erasure. All very odd. Perhaps I should get out more.

10 comments:

  1. Sounds like that spirit-calling group Bryan once wrote about. The shadowy presences of beings who are real, yet otherworldly to you.

    For example, Nige, I have a very distinct impression of you based on your personality, though I have never seen you. I do think you must be very tall, however, due to remarks the Bry has made. And obviously you're a clothes-horse, based on your eBay addiction. So, I see you as rather Wildean. A tall, well dressed fellow, writer and bon vivant.

    If you want to see me, just go to Facebook and plug in my name. That's me and my dog, Callie. I need be shadowy for you no longer, at least in one way.

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  2. Got me in one, Susan! Though of course Nige is not the person who writes Nigeness.
    I've got a superstitious aversion to Facebook, so I think I'll stick with shadowy presences...

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  3. Reading your blog, but never (before) contributing to it, I would imagine that the fact that you are 'out' as much as you are, among the lawn-mowing classes of Carshalton,is one of the joys of your life. Your nocturnal adventure perhaps highlights the real truth; that, like most of us, you find it difficult to surrender to pleasure and joy. That you are always aware of the connection between happiness and despair, freedom and anxiety, life and ruin.

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  4. ...“my blog regulars, some of whom seemed to be shadowily present and active in the dream (though in waking life I have never seen them).”


    See it from my point of view, Nige. Saturday night may well have been the thirteenth of fourteenth time I’d tried to tune into the dream of someone (anyone!) on Mullholland Drive, the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, or Laguna Beach - and guess where I ended up: Carshalton...!!

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  5. Nige, a very vivid dream for me too last night and much as you described. I think there's something ominous going on. Would I be right in saying that I appeared in your dream wearing Wellington boots and wielding a cottage cheese sandwich? If so, I'm sorry about the incident with the radish. It was meant for Selena.

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  6. Radish?

    What's this about radish? I'm still chewing on Bryan's celery...

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  7. Blogdreaming is stage 3 of the blog addiction arc.

    Stage 4 involves feelings of guilt and fear when you don't post. Stage 5 is full-blown madness.

    As a formerly prolific blogger, I got out just before stage 5. I think.

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  8. You should listen to Brit's wise words, Nige. I'm deep in stage 5. Deep, deep into stage 5... Mallards!

    Selena, you know all about the radish. I don't understand why you're suddenly so coy. We've talked about it before and as grown adults I thought we had agreed to explore our vegetables in a safe way.

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  10. Thanks for the warning, Brit and Dick - I'm certainly at stage 4, got there before 3. I await stage 5 with interest. But note - yesterday I did not blog...

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