"These aren't the dreams you're looking for"

Sunbury-on-Thames yesterday.



'Let me see your identification.'
'You don't need to see his identification.'
'We don't need to see his identification.'
'These aren't the dreams you're looking for.'
'These aren't the dreams we're looking for.'
'He can go about his business.'
'You can go about your business.'
'Move along.'
'Move along... move along.'


This post was going to be all about how since I finished treatment for Hep C back on the 7th Feb, that I just haven't seemed to have had any real dreams......ones that I can remember or even make any sense of once I wake up (& you know I Love a good dream eh). Normally if the dream is any good, I will jot down a few key words and these usually give me what I need the next day to relive the entire dream in my head. But these days I can't even manage that! But then I dreamt in the night (last night) and actually remembered a few things to write as key words. Still quite vague and bitty.....but dreams nonetheless. They will do for now. I guess my normal, vivid and highly detailed dreams of piss, death & decay will return in due course;)

My pretty useless dream...

Miniature Dolphin & Crocodiles accurately dive from the palm of my hand into smooth and crystal clear water.....no sound as they slip under. Strange Ewok type creatures sitting on tree branches spying on me! The dumped and burnt out shell of a car resting in thick snow by the side of a public footpath winding it's way through London by the Thames. The car had several men inside whom were all naked except for their socks, shoes & watches. They were engaging in a practice not too dissimilar to the act of group sex. Passers by watched as they trudged through the creaking snow by this vehicular male orgy. The car was glassless and some of the men called out for people to come join them. The whole area stunk to high heaven of wet ashes, damp, distorted metal and melted rubber. The snow was cold and piled up quite high at the edge of the path in places. I was walking my bike along with two strange women who seemed to know me. I was trying to keep my tyres inside the tracks of previous cyclists. I felt a little left out, as the women had just met each other, one having noticed some dark blue veins on her new friends chest/cleavage, she said that she new what it was and should go and get it looked at asap! Then, as I was contemplating cycling home, looking up at the sky to see whether the clouds looked liked they were going to split open and drench everyone in the whole of London, I spotted a man crouch down further up the street, his trousers were down by his ankles and he began to take a shit! A Policeman saw him and having quickly donned his hat started to run over to the pooing man to presumably offer to wipe him clean?
The dream ended with Lee, his Brother Mark and I crouching down beside the bank of the River Thames, looking into the fast left to right churn of the light green/brown water. Dead fish began to float by.....I pointed to one, a very big and rotten Bream! It was half submerged & black with death. It soon disappeared. Then as we were looking for more fish, something seemed to gather up around our backsides and slowly started to push us into the water! It felt very much like a giant gathering of duvet, soft and white. We looked at each other and had nowhere else to go but into the cold river.

I am pretty sure what triggered my new dream off. It was almost certainly my 35 minute paddle in my new kayak last night in the swollen, colourless, speeding Thames.......well a little back water off-shoot right next to the main body of the angry river! I was very nervous....mostly about tipping upside down and freezing to death & swallowing the actual water too. The water was freezing and my feet soon went numb as I stepped into the water to enter the tiny boats cockpit. This new kayak is tiny and as I learned, you can turn the thing on a sixpence! With one hardish stroke of the powerful paddle I can spin on the spot for over 360 dgrees! The tiny sliver of a back end disappears under the surface of the water and the shark nose front end skims the surface just like a thousand year old weathered pebble. I was absolutely Loving it. Lee was with me in his 14ft'er and paddled out into the main part of the Thames like know ones business.....that is how stable my other boat is. I cautiously followed and fought against the fast & determined current to a still spot that Lee found just around the corner. We took up our posistions side by side and watched the relentless flow of water gushing past us on it's watery way perhaps to flood the entire City of London! Thank goodness for the Thames estuary and the North Sea!
We took leave of our little glassy haven and headed back out into the main part of the flow only to be taken along in it's pull and swung back around to the off-shoot and hopefully to saftey. Almost no paddling required, just dibs and dabs to keep it straight. Don't look up too quick from the rising swells and currents to the waters surface or you can lose balance and your bearings! The water and the land are moving at two completely different speeds and you're right in the middle of both of them.....you just don't realize how quickly the water grabs you!
Back in the saftey of our learning strip and in amongst the wildlife......a family of ducks & a nest which belonged to a family of fishing & diving Great Crested Grebes. Amazing creatures who often disappear under the water to catch dinner of escape from a fast approaching bright orange kayak! It also started to rain and we were soon wet but didn't feel the cold again until we eventually got out. It had got dark too! Not the best place to be I must admit.....so we got out and sat in 45 minutes of awful traffic in the pouring rain! But I was happy with my new boat and can't wait to get out again.....When the river looks a little more inviting;)

As for today.........I off out on my bike to get a little filthy!



Jason







(C) JPT 2007.........584.03 miles.