'Treelands'
Dream date: 21 March 2015
This is a very hard dream to describe. It was so vivid and realistic, but it was more of a 'mentally vivid' dream as opposed to one which relies on the senses.
I was in a house with a female dream character. At some point I became aware that this female was the TV personality, Melanie Sykes and that she had a twin brother (not in the dream, and not true in real-life) who I also knew. I had a 'flashback' - a memory within the dream, that I was standing in the square at my university, thinking about the fact Melanie Sykes had Indian heritage. Melanie showed me around her house which was on one level/floor. In the dream she had two daughters - one who was 8 years old and the other who was 5 years old (also not true in real-life). Both of the girls were blonde haired and blue-eyed. The youngest daughter was ready for bed and in the top bunk of a set of bunk beds in one small room. Melanie kissed her 'goodnight'. The elder daughter was a problem-child and very naughty and precocious. She was in hospital for a minor operation, and I saw an image of her in a hospital bed - shouting curse words (at an unseen doctor) in an abusive way.
Melanie showed me the eldest daughter's bedroom, which was a large, square room with a dressing table against the wall, next to the door. The rest of the room was furnished like the typical bedroom of a young girl, with toys placed neatly on shelves. On the dressing table was a huge quantity of cannabis. Melanie was not pleased about this, but also not overly concerned. She said something along the lines of: 'Oh dear, she shouldn't have that!' I took a handful of the cannabis secretly, for myself, and crushed it in my hand until it compacted into an easily concealable amount. This was done easily, and I was quite surprised. Melanie led me out into the living-room which was the lounge of my mum's flat in Sheringham (my mum lives above her workplace, which is a private residential home for the elderly). She gave me a clear plastic cannabis grinder and some king-size Rizla, but when I produced the cannabis, she realised I had taken it from her daughter's room and she chastised me, telling me I had stolen too much and should replace it. I thought she was weird for wanting her daughter to be in possession of such large quantities of cannabis at such a young, tender age and thought I had been doing her a favour in taking some of it away from her, even if it was essentially theft.
I left the room, with the cannabis (which was now somehow in a clear plastic baggy) and the grinder, intending to 'pretend' to return the cannabis to her daughter's room, but in fact keep it for myself and perhaps steal some more while I was alone. There had been several ounces scattered over the dressing table. As I walked around the house, I became lost. The house was decorated in a bright royal blue, although when I awoke, I realised it was actually 'International Klein Blue - the colour formulated by the artist Yves Klein (1928 - 1962). However, despite this, the building had an institutional feel about it. The doors were all grey varnished office-type doors with small white signs on them, with various combinations of numbers in black Helvetica typeface. I could not find Melanie's daughter's room, so I thought I would look for the bathroom, and perhaps roll a joint while hidden in there. I eventually came across what seemed to be a bathroom, but it was not Melanie's bathroom. I quickly became aware that Melanie lived in the lower part of a three-storey building - this explained the institutional feel to the corridors, which were luxurious and simplistic in the way they were decorated, but appeared to belong in a non-domestic setting. I cannot describe what I mean, other than the house seemed to be more hotel-like and used by other people in addition to the Sykes family. The lower part (Melanie's area) was a normal domestic flat. The upper parts seemed reserved for something clinical, therapeutic and exclusive to those who were 'members'.
I entered the bathroom - it was large and completely white and very clinical. There were counters all around, with medicines and potions on them, and several toilet stalls.
I then became aware that Melanie lived in a building which was also used by a company/organisation called 'Treelands' (although at first, the word 'forest' was in my head, until I 'remembered' the correct name). This organisation was a place where elderly people came to live to recapture their youth. They were given spa treatments and therapies in order to stay functional and sexually active. This bathroom was part of 'Treelands', not Melanie's house. No-one except 'Treelands' residents were allowed in this part of the building.
Some elderly dream characters entered and used the bathroom. They did not question my presence, but I knew I should not be in that part of the building. In fact, I had a strong notion that part of Melanie's tenancy stipulated that neither she nor her guests could access the 'Treelands' part of the building and there would some form of penalty or punishment if anyone found that I had gone here.
I looked around the bathroom. I saw a door, which I knew led to some stairs. I was on the first floor (even though I had not climbed any stairs to get to this part of the building). The top part of the building was part of a secret society run by Treelands. This was the true reason why the elderly people joined the organisation and lived there. It was some kind of society which provided a spiritual therapy to the old people, in addition to the general therapies and activities organised there. The secret society seemed to have some kind of negative vibe - I felt uncomfortable about knowing this, although I did not have a clear indication of why I felt this way. On the door, I saw there was a poster, showing a number of happy, smiling elderly people dressed in white robes. The background of the image was of blue, cloudy skies. I did not dare open the door or go upstairs. I suddenly had a very clear memory of my mum once telling me that her friend MFZ had lived in this building (before Melanie moved in) and had ventured upstairs to peek on the secret society. MFZ had told my mum this story when he and my mum both worked in the Two Lifeboats Hotel in Sheringham. The spiritual therapy had some kind of religious connotations and ritualistic practices. The elderly people did benefit from what was on offer for them, but there was something sinister about it. This was an intense knowledge and memory in the dream. It was very clear to me that 'Treelands' was located in Sheringham and had been for a very long time. I wondered (in the dream) how I had forgotten my mum telling me about this. It all seemed so obvious to me.
I left the 'Treelands' part of the building, and exited the entire place, through the front entrance, glad to be departing from this strange location. It was now night-time. When I was standing out on the street in the dark, I looked back and saw a grand entrance, which blue carpeted steps, leading to double glass doors and an exquisite blue, gold and glass decorated foyer. It looked like a super-posh, upmarket hotel and other than the blue colour (which had also been present in the interior) did not suit the rest of the building I had seen. I wondered if Melanie would be angry with me for going uninvited into the 'Treelands' part of the building.
A racist comment was written about a black male dream character on the internet. I was discussing it with my stepdad, saying how I disapproved of this.
I was then with DL watching a movie, but it seemed like we were in the actual space where the action took place, rather than watching it on screen. The location was a New York loft-style bar with exposed brick walls, lots of glass and bright white lighting. It looked very luxurious. I soon became aware that the movie was based on my time working as a stripper/exotic dancer (this is something I did in real-life). I questioned why the set was the expensive looking bar, when in reality, I had worked in a very dark and sleazy-looking club (a typical strip club!). There were some male dream characters - either owners/managers or customers - they were older than me and had moustaches and beards. One in particular wore a denim shirt, a waistcoat and a cowboy hat. I told DL: 'Those men are playing themselves in the movie' (so, these were apparently actual people I had met when working in the strip club - although it wasn't actually true, as I have never seen them in real-life). I then saw myself - or rather, the actress employed to play me. 'I' was in conversation with a smaller girl with curly black hair (who was a dream character, not someone I remember from the strip club, although in the dream I 'remembered' who she was - she had the same first name as my mum does in real-life). My character was wearing a long red dress, which was strapless, very sparkly and low-cut, although almost floor length.
The actress playing me had larger boobs than my own and she was touching them, adjusting the dress. I could see a generous amount of cleavage on show. However, she looked quite a lot like me - perhaps slightly prettier, but you could easily tell she was supposed to be me and her features were very similar to my own. I told DL that I was angry that a movie had been made of my life, without my consultation or consent. I felt that it was wrong that 'I' appeared in the movie, since it revealed to the audience that I had worked as a stripper/dancer and I might not have wanted this to be public knowledge (in real-life I am not ashamed of the fact - I made money to pay for law school and cover my bills at the time, and I have been quite open about it). I saw a long tracking shot of a small white ball rolling along the bar in the club, and eventually falling into an empty champagne glass. I saw this happen in close-up and what appeared to be slow motion. The 'movie' of my time working in the strip-club continued, but I cannot remember all of what happened/what was said.
I took a lift (an elevator) upstairs. I needed to use the bathroom very desperately. I was wearing white panties, which I saw when I sat on a toilet and started to pee. The feeling of needing to pee did not subside even though I felt like I was peeing for ages. I began to worry about the fact I could not stop peeing. I woke up, desperately needing to pee in real-life and glad I had not wet the bed!!!
Potential Day/Dream Residue:
- Melanie Syke's daughters in this dream appeared to be very similar to the young daughter of one of my school friends - he had posted a photograph of her on Facebook, the day before this dream.
- I had a dream about cannabis (Dream 390) the night before this dream took place.
- I had been engaged in a number of debates about spiritualism and spirituality (I am an Atheist Humanist, who favours scientific empirical evidence for phenomena and is sceptical - or critical - of anything labelled pseudo-science or based around faith/religiou, which might explain my attitude towards the secret spiritualist society called 'Treelands'.
- A while ago, I watched a documentary about 'Heaven's Gate' (a religious cult which led to the mass suicide of many of it's followers). As I commented on the Youtube video, whenever another user comments, I am reminded of the documentary. In this dream 'Treelands' seemed to have some kind of strong connection to 'Heaven's Gate', although I cannot say specifically what this connection or subconscious link was. I just woke up thinking that 'Treelands' was similar to the 'Heaven's Gate cult' and felt uneasy about it.
- 'Treelands' may have been inspired by the fact my mum lives above a private residential home for the elderly (instead of below it, like Melanie Sykes in this dream) and she had told me a few days before that I might have to stay over (in her lounge) if I attended a family function in Sheringham.
- I had read an article which featured a bar/club which was described as a 'New York loft-style conversion' in a newspaper a few days before I had this dream.
This dream left me feeling really confused and uneasy when I first woke up. Even a few moments after waking I was convinced that 'Treelands' - as recalled from the dream and described in this Dream Diary entry - did really exist in Sheringham and that my mum had told me about it, based on what MFZ had told her (therefore the 'memories' in the dream were real). I didn't 'believe' that Melanie Sykes and her daughters lived in the same building - I recognised that as being a fiction created by the dream, but 'Treelands' seemed so real to me. It took quite a while for me to process the fact that 'Treelands' was just a very vivid aspect of my dream and that the 'memories' of it I had were also part of the dream, not real-life memories. The rest of the dream appeared to be just slightly amusing or banal elements which did not affect my waking thoughts and emotions on the same level. I liked the fact that my dream had incorporated a scene where I desperately needed to pee in order to rouse me from sleep so I could really pee in real-life and it confirmed to me that the popular notion that if you use a toilet in a dream you will wet yourself during your sleep, is not true for me!
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