'Building Society Suicides & Dusty Clarinets'
Dream date: 28 May 2015
I was looking at a series of images - or perhaps in the actual dream scene, but as a passive observer, this was unclear. In every instance, I was positioned in front of - or looking at - a window. From the view outside the window, it was obvious I was in - or looking at an image of - the interior (a sort of hallway) in a very tall building. In every image - or location - I was looking at a photograph of/standing a few metres away from the window, which had different views in each instance. The window was at the end of a corridor/hallway, which was quite narrow and plain - with no decoration. The window was smallish (i.e. not floor-to-ceiling) and in some cases had an arch at the top and white frames.
To the right of the window, was a door (closed) next to which a man in a business suit and a couple of dream characters (a male and female) were standing. I think there were other doors leading off from this corridor/hallway. The building I was looking at (or standing in) was always a building society and I was aware that there had been a number of 'building society suicides' - where customers/clients of the building society (the dream character couple) had jumped from the window of the building and fallen from a great height. This was a phenomenon which was under investigation. The final image I saw (I saw about 5 or 6 different versions of the same scene, with little differentiation other than the clothes of the dream characters, the colour of the carpet in the building society and the shape of/view from the window) looked like a drawing - the kind you get in leaflets or textbooks, so devoid of stylistic detail and drawn simply, yet realistically. The male in the business suit was standing as usual, to the left of the window, which was a short distance away from my perspective of events. The dream character couple were dressed smartly - the woman was wearing a white blouse and a long yellow skirt. The interior of the building society had a very 1970s institutional feel - the carpet was beige. Out of the window, I could see other tall buildings, which were white stone and derelict - crumbling and falling into disrepair. I was aware that I was looking at an image - or present in - my 'Dream Town'. I then saw the outside of the building, which was also very institutional-looking and situated in a street in a 'rough part' of the 'Dream Town' city area. I wondered why the town planners would put a building society in such a run-down part of the city.
I was then in a room which resembled (only slightly) my primary school cafeteria. An orchestra was practicing. I was sitting at the side of the orchestra, holding a clarinet. I was supposed to be standing in for one of the clarinet players who was unable to perform that evening. However, I had no idea how to play the clarinet or where to place my fingers to make notes. I realised that my right hand was on the first set of air holes, but there were two more sets, and I was not sure whether to use my right or left hand for these. I blew into the clarinet and made a tuneless noise. I kept trying different combinations of fingers on air holes, trying to make tuneful noises, but I could not work out how to play and I was losing interest in trying. There was an unrecalled dream character (a friend in the dream sitting next to me) and I was complaining about being expected to play the clarinet. This dream character told me: 'This isn't an orchestra, because anyone is allowed to buy tickets to come and watch.' I asked what this meant and (s)he said: 'A concert is open to everyone, but an orchestra is only for the elite'. This seemed to make sense to me. I looked at an older male clarinet player who was sitting with the rest of the orchestra. His clarinet was really dusty. My mum - who I saw sitting at a long table a short distance away, watching the rehearsal came over to speak to me. I said: 'I don't want to play the clarinet!' She told me that if I didn't want to, then no-one could force me. I then also said (pointing at the male clarinet player): 'His clarinet is too dusty for him to be a professional!' I wondered where the conductor of the orchestra was - and then saw him in my mind's eye - the conductor was a pink carrot-shaped object, wrapped in plasters (band aids). I felt relieved to know there was a conductor present.
To the right of the window, was a door (closed) next to which a man in a business suit and a couple of dream characters (a male and female) were standing. I think there were other doors leading off from this corridor/hallway. The building I was looking at (or standing in) was always a building society and I was aware that there had been a number of 'building society suicides' - where customers/clients of the building society (the dream character couple) had jumped from the window of the building and fallen from a great height. This was a phenomenon which was under investigation. The final image I saw (I saw about 5 or 6 different versions of the same scene, with little differentiation other than the clothes of the dream characters, the colour of the carpet in the building society and the shape of/view from the window) looked like a drawing - the kind you get in leaflets or textbooks, so devoid of stylistic detail and drawn simply, yet realistically. The male in the business suit was standing as usual, to the left of the window, which was a short distance away from my perspective of events. The dream character couple were dressed smartly - the woman was wearing a white blouse and a long yellow skirt. The interior of the building society had a very 1970s institutional feel - the carpet was beige. Out of the window, I could see other tall buildings, which were white stone and derelict - crumbling and falling into disrepair. I was aware that I was looking at an image - or present in - my 'Dream Town'. I then saw the outside of the building, which was also very institutional-looking and situated in a street in a 'rough part' of the 'Dream Town' city area. I wondered why the town planners would put a building society in such a run-down part of the city.
I was then in a room which resembled (only slightly) my primary school cafeteria. An orchestra was practicing. I was sitting at the side of the orchestra, holding a clarinet. I was supposed to be standing in for one of the clarinet players who was unable to perform that evening. However, I had no idea how to play the clarinet or where to place my fingers to make notes. I realised that my right hand was on the first set of air holes, but there were two more sets, and I was not sure whether to use my right or left hand for these. I blew into the clarinet and made a tuneless noise. I kept trying different combinations of fingers on air holes, trying to make tuneful noises, but I could not work out how to play and I was losing interest in trying. There was an unrecalled dream character (a friend in the dream sitting next to me) and I was complaining about being expected to play the clarinet. This dream character told me: 'This isn't an orchestra, because anyone is allowed to buy tickets to come and watch.' I asked what this meant and (s)he said: 'A concert is open to everyone, but an orchestra is only for the elite'. This seemed to make sense to me. I looked at an older male clarinet player who was sitting with the rest of the orchestra. His clarinet was really dusty. My mum - who I saw sitting at a long table a short distance away, watching the rehearsal came over to speak to me. I said: 'I don't want to play the clarinet!' She told me that if I didn't want to, then no-one could force me. I then also said (pointing at the male clarinet player): 'His clarinet is too dusty for him to be a professional!' I wondered where the conductor of the orchestra was - and then saw him in my mind's eye - the conductor was a pink carrot-shaped object, wrapped in plasters (band aids). I felt relieved to know there was a conductor present.
TIME: 22:30 - 03:00 hours (I woke up from this dream)
LUCIDITY: None
SPECIAL NOTES: I smoked cannabis several hours before I went to sleep
Dreamsigns:
- I seemed to be present in the dream scene or looking at photographs/drawings - my perspective and participation was unclear. The fact I also saw 5 - 6 images or scenes which were all similar and depicted the strange phenomenon of 'building society suicide' was also a clue that I was dreaming (IA - Inner Awareness/F - Form)
- I was in/saw my 'Dream Town' (IA - Inner Awareness/C - Context)
- I cannot read music or play musical instruments (IA - Inner Awareness)
- The 'conductor' of the orchestra was an impossible object (A - Action/F - Form/C - Context)
Recurrent Dream Themes:
- Looking out of a window of a building and realising from the view that I am actually in my 'Dream Town'!
Potential Day/Dream Residue:
- The day before this dream, DL and I had discussed building societies.
- The day before this dream DL and I had discussed a contestant on a cookery contest (Masterchef Australia, season 2) who was a professional musician in an orchestra.
- The day of this dream I saw a photograph of an injured dog with pink plasters (band aids) on it's front leg.
- The day before this dream I had been walking (or running!) through the city with DL (see *Recalled Dream Scene, below). To briefly explain the context, I had gone into the city before I was due to start work (from home) because I needed to meet my friend, JD. DL had previously left me with some cash which was owed to JD because it was likely I would see JD before DL would. JD had told me he would try and get a lift to my house, but was unable to do so, so I agreed to go into the city quickly before my shift, as I also wanted to retrieve an item JD had on his person and I had asked him to let me have. I saw JD and as I was running for the ATM (as I didn't have enough money on me to pay for my bus ride home), I rang DL to tell him that I had paid JD the owed money. DL asked where I was and I said I was in a rush and couldn't stop to wait for him to leave work and meet me - at that point, I then saw DL a very short distance from me, walking through the city. We were in the location which appeared in the dream scene - Gentleman's Walk/market area of the city. DL said he would join me and come on the bus to my house, so I asked him if he could pay for my bus fare (which he did) as I had only taken the enough money for a one-way ticket and to pay what was owed to JD. 'Food' is an old form of street-slang for cannabis. DL and I had discussed wanting to buy some cannabis prior to attending a forthcoming festival. This conversation took place while we were waiting for the bus.
Waking Thoughts & Emotions:
This dream was short and weird, but did not inspire any particular waking thoughts or emotions, other than a recognition that I had seen another part of my 'Dream Town' which is always a positive dream experience.
* I'm not sure if I have recalled everything about this dream, but if I remember anything else, I will record it below.
* Recalled Dream Scene (31 May 2015, 19:10 hours)
I was with DL - we were somewhere in Norwich city - I think it was on Gentleman's Walk, near the market, walking. It was daylight and sunny. He said to me: 'You still owe me money for buying food' and I agreed that I did and would pay him back.
Memory Trigger: It wasn't that I 'forgot' this dream scene, it was more like it seemed so natural and realistic that the memory of it happening seemed to be a 'real-life' waking memory rather than a dream one, and I forgot to include it in the dream report because it did not seem to be part of a dream. However, I was in my room, about to run a bath and I 'remembered' the conversation about owed money with DL and how I needed to pay him back when I received some cash from my family during the week. The 'memory' of the conversation seemed to be from a weekend day, and at weekends I eat dinner with DL, so the reference to food was also 'realistic' (even though DL would never ask me to pay him back for food he has bought/cooked for us and vice versa, since we take it in turns to make dinner for one another a couple of times a week). I then questioned why I would actually owe DL money for food - and this led me to realise that the 'memory' was from the dream, not reality! I was also able to determine that it definitely didn't happen in real-life as I had seen him in the city the day before when I had gone to meet my friend JD and we had engaged in a completely different conversation about money and also cannabis (the street-slang for this being 'food' - although we do not personally use this phrase in relation to cannabis) - see Potential Day/Dream Residue, above.
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