Shadow Dreams

My dreams keep taking me back to the house of my 1950s childhood - which appears in a couple of my books as 5 Disraeli Crescent. It worries me a little bit.

The other night I dreamt about Shadow, the lovely golden retriever from our expat days.  So here is a photo of him, in the desert, the only environment he ever knew.  And while the dream started in our flat here, it ended up in the front garden of Disraeli Crescent, in the rain. In the interim two lions turned up in the flat/house of my dream. I wondered where they had come from and what to do about them, but they seemed OK.  Then I remembered I had to let Shadow out. We hadn't had a walk as it was pouring with rain, so I opened the front door and let him into the large front garden at Disraeli Crescent, having first made sure that the front gate was securely locked so he couldn't get into the road.

I do remember wondering if the gate would still be there, so at some level I was aware that 5 Disraeli was in the past.  The gate was there, but I had to make an effort for it to be, I had to sort of dream it into existence.

Then I was looking for Shadow, not finding him, and realising that he was out with the door closed, went and got him. The rain had stopped and he was cuddled up to a large and fluffy cat, the like of which was never seen in the Northern hometown of my 1950s.  That reminded me I needed to feed him. And the lions!  But the lions had vanished and just as it dawned on me they must have gone out while I opened the door for Shadow, I woke up - feeling guilty that I hadn't fed any of them.

Our heatwave continues, It was a Bank Holiday weekend too, which usually guarantees rain.  I had never seen beach and Green so full as it was on Monday - and when I looked out in the morning, nearly every one of the many guest parking spots in our block of flats was already full.  Things are getting scarily crowded.

There was a recent news item showing a tiny village in the beautiful Italian Tyrol which has become so full of coach parties that the locals were having a problem getting out of their front doors which opened straight onto the narrow tourist-packed streets.

So I am wondering why people want to travel anywhere on a Bank Holiday, however sunny.  Yet clearly they do.  The heat, the hassle, the traffic jams, the parking problems, the public loos (aargghh)... the crowded beaches. Though admittedly we do have acres of sand down here.

Col left the Archeological site early on Tuesday, as it was so HOT.  And he was Mr. Desert Dweller (for 25 years)! 

Today was very hot too, but the car situation in our block of flats had eased as the Bank holiday is over.   And we went to spend the morning with our Bible student - the Flower lady - finishing the chapter on Why do Evil and Suffering Exist.  Next week, all being well, we start on How Can Jesus' Death Save Us?   

We were taught at school that Jesus died for us.  But what does that mean - and why?   The Inspired Scriptures, from Genesis to Revelation explain it clearly and logically, and I hope that our student is going to see that.