Dream 390

'Ipswich, America & Possession With Intent to Deny'

Dream date: 20 March 2015

I was in an outside environment, by myself. It was sunny and I was unsure of where I was. I walked down towards a seafront promenade. I looked downwards (I was on an elevated concrete path) and could see that beneath a long, concrete wall there was a lower walkway, and below that the sea. It appeared to be like the seafront at Sheringham, but I knew I was not in Sheringham. On the lower level, there was a concrete platform, which jutted out, towards the sea. On this was a colourful (blue and yellow) object, which looked a little bit like a sign, but also like a traffic cone or buoy. I thought: 'This must be America'. I went into a small cafe, which was very dark. I sat at a high, circular table by the wall. Apart from a male and female dream character (both old and white) who worked in the cafe, it was empty. On the corner of my table was a circular glass display case, with a till receipt in it. I could not touch the receipt as it was contained within the case/cabinet. I tried to read it, to see if the prices were in pounds or dollars (to give me some indication of whether I was actually in America or not). I thought the receipt said '$69' in relation to the cost of  cup of tea. I got up from the table and walked a very short distance to the door which led to the kitchen, hoping to speak to one of the dream characters. The female came to the door. She was small and wore her grey hair in a bun on top of her head. I asked: 'Am I in America?' She flung her arms out either side of her and said: 'No, you are in Ipswich' which surprised me at first, and then made sense, because the seaside appeared to be very 'British'. However, in real-life, Ipswich is not on the coast, it is on the River Orwell. I did not question this, and accepted what she said. 

I was the walking along Cromer Road in Sheringham, close to the turning for Pine Grove. It was daylight. There was a row of houses, which did not look like the ones which are on this stretch of road - although they looked very familiar. I think they were houses which are actually in Sheringham, but located near the sea-front. They were small and narrow, with brightly coloured doors - they looked like holiday homes. I then realised I was with a female uniformed police officer. I saw a group of young male dream characters a few yards in front of us - two black males and one white male. They entered one of the houses. I then saw a male police officer (in full uniform) appear, suddenly as if out of nowhere. There was also a police car outside the property - one of the older versions (with orange/red, yellow and blue detailing, rather than the model with the contemporary design of blue and yellow squares - this was a police car like the ones in service during my youth, in the 1990s). The police officer did not appear to have driven up to the property in the police car - both appeared instantaneously and separately. The police officer used a key to open the door of the house into which the three males had entered. The female police officer looked at me, as if she knew I was about to object. She said to me: 'It's a legitimate search...' and seemed apologetic for the fact that the male police officer was using a key to open the door to the property in a sneaky way, rather than knocking on the door/ringing a doorbell to announce police presence. I thought using the key to enter the property was very wrong. I knew they were trying to search the property for drugs and that the three males had possession of cannabis with intent to supply. I said: 'But I'm a defence lawyer...' The three males were arrested and brought out of the house by the male police officer. He had apparently found a large quantity of cannabis in the house - I just knew this, without actually seeing what was happening in person. 

I walked off with the female police officer, along Cromer Road in Sheringham, her holding my left hand in a friendly way. I then realised that I had a large quantity of cannabis loose in my right hand. I grasped it tightly, hoping that she would not realise. I feared getting caught with it. 

We entered a pub (not one with which I am familiar in real-life) - I was behind the bar, and the female police officer sat at the bar on the other side. There were old-fashioned brass beer pumps on the bar. I was looking over them. There were other customers in the pub, but I did not know them. The female police officer was saying - to everyone in earshot - how she wanted to arrest anyone with possession of cannabis. She seemed proud and smug about the fact and I felt resentful towards her. The cannabis was still held tightly in my fist and I wanted to leave her to put it somewhere safe and discreet. I walked towards a doorway which led to a staff area. There was a glass cabinet and I wrapped the cannabis in a piece of plastic bag and locked it into the cabinet. I felt anxious - more than I think I would if this was happening to me in real-life.

I was then in my nan's house in Sheringham, sitting on the sofa. I had the cannabis again and my nan was telling me that I was a criminal and should not have it in my possession (in real-life, my nan does not have such strong views on cannabis and knows I smoke it and have done so while I was living with her). She kept shouting at me, in a very angry way. I started wrapping the cannabis in a number of different things - plastic, cloth etc, and then finally in a circular cardboard box, like the kind Dairylea cheese triangles come in - I think it was a Dairylea box. I then put the box - and a metal 'space case' grinder in a duffel bag and then got up. Where the dining table is normally, was a glass cabinet. I put the duffel bag with the cannabis and paraphernalia in the case and locked it. I knew my nan could see me doing this, but I also thought I was hiding it from her. In real-life I wouldn't hide cannabis possession or smoking from my family - various members of my family sometimes indulge and most have liberal views about it. In the dream, it seemed like more of a big deal to me.

Potential Day/Dream Residue:

• The day before this dream I had a discussion with DL about the attitude of Norfolk police, lawyers and judiciary towards black males from London who are arrested in Norwich for possession with intent to supply drugs (i.e. there used to be an institutionalised racism which made it more likely that black males would be stopped/searched, charged and sentenced heavily). As a defence lawyer, this used to concern me.
• I had a desire to smoke some cannabis in real-life, but did not.
• I used to go down to the beach to smoke cannabis when I was a teenager (before I was honest to my family about it and wanted to avoid being caught). I had thought about these memories a couple of days before this dream.
• A few days before this dream I had told DL that I thought the older design (orange/red, yellow and blue) of police cars was better than the contemporary ones (yellow and blue squares) because they were more aesthetically pleasing.
• I heard a story about a search of a property in Norwich, which resulted in the arrest of someone for PWITS - the police had arrived at the property with someone who had a key to enter the residence.

Waking Thoughts & Emotions:

I found this dream interesting, but also was confused about the strong feelings of anxiety I had experienced when in possession of a relatively small quantity of cannabis. In relation to the location which I had assumed was 'America', which was in fact 'Ipswich', I was quite amused, and had to actually check Ipswich isn't on the coast, because I was completely persuaded that it might be on the basis of this dream and my waking recollection. Upon waking, I realised that the location of 'Ipswich' which I had mistaken as 'America' was in fact a memory of Sheringham promenade/seafront. This also explains the 'holiday homes' I saw later on in the dream. This was a very vivid dream.