Here is this morning’s dream which is odd both for its subject content and the way the dream unfolded. It felt odd.

The dream opens on an inland beach. It is next to a large fresh water lake surrounded by woodland and verdant countryside. It is clearly summer. People are boating on and swimming in the lake. There is a smell of barbecues in the air. The wife and I are sat in deck chairs a little back from the beach in partial shade. Nearby is a group of five women. They are dressed in expensive bikini like swimwear, with expensive designer sunglasses and by the side of their chairs are expensive bags. They are five powerful women on a break together, a girls’ weekend. They are high maintenance and used to getting their way. They emanate a very European vibe. I can hear that they are speaking high German and comment upon this to the wife. The women are late thirties / early forties. One of them hears what I said and asks me in German if I understand what they have been saying. I respond that I can understand a very small amount of German and that this improves quickly with exposure. She says that she thinks I have a slight accent. I explain that I learned German in Bern many moons ago. She works out that we are British. The gang comes over and makes a big fuss, now in English, of the wife and I. They say that they don’t often get Brits at this lake. They are very sociable and welcoming. I can tell that they are highly skilled in people skills and are consummate professionals in some field or other. They are slick. It is a bit odd being professionally fussed over as if we were somehow “important”. It seems incongruent with my self-perception. “What is going on?”, I ask myself.

The dream changes and I am now in an isolated lodge or house also in the middle of a forest {wald}. In the grate there is a wood fire and the mantelpiece is large and carved out of wood. It is a bit Hansel and Gretel, a Germanic or Bavarian forest house. I am with a man and a woman, both seemingly Germanic. The man is forces or ex-forces. He has a very military bearing and is athletic and lithe. The woman is dark haired and clearly the boss. We are anticipating an important visit. I go over to check the fireplace. One can swing the fire forward on a hinged mechanism to reveal a secret compartment behind the fire place. I do this. I look at the framing of the compartment and decide that I am too large to get past the “portal” into the compartment as it stands. My shoulders are too broad. The man and I remove some of the frame and at a push I can now get into the compartment which forms a core to the house and has entrances into the lounge where we are, the kitchen and the cellar. It has viewers behind ventilation grills to see into the room. I can fit in and out. I leave the compartment and swing the fire back into place. We are a bit apprehensive as to who might come and if the meeting might go ahead. I have stashed the necessary documentation in the secret compartment.

We get into a car and look for an alternative. We go to the train station and the man and I go to the ticket barrier to get me a ticket to Cardiff. The next train is not for several hours. The ticket schemes are ludicrously complex. In order to buy a ticket I have to show my French driver’s licence. The man chats to me about being Welsh and that we all share an orientation and a mindset. We buy a ticket and I go down onto the platform.

Instead of catching the next train I can wait for another one. So I cross the train tracks illegally on foot and hurdle a fence onto the road to get to the car where the woman and now the man are waiting. I open the door to the back seat and get in. I say that we should go back to the lodge to see what if anything transpires. We will check the fire hiding the compartment and view the approach roads through the wood. The moment we see any approach I will go into the compartment. The woman in particular is pleased that we are going to try this. Implicit is one more time. Both the man and the woman feel somehow familiar.

The dream ends.