A trip to where?

I am the first person to admit that my dreams are quite bizarre.
Way out there, right at the furthest extremes of the most radical definition of the word ‘odd’ would probably be a more apt way to describe some of them. Can you tell where this post is going? That’s right… I’ve had a dream.

An odd dream.

It started off perfectly normal as well. I was on a cruise ship, as you are. Or was it a train? I think it was a train, as I was sat beside a large rectangular window looking out to sea. I was actually out at sea, so I was on a ship that looked like a train. It was also getting late.

Luckily, I had a large pillow with me, so I propped it against the window frame (the window was one that opened by sliding it downwards, and it was fully open) and rested my head, ready to go to sleep. I had to raise the window slightly to close it a little, as it started to feel cold. Before I went to sleep, I closed the window fully.

I always think that is a bit odd, dreaming about going to sleep. I had a dream once where I couldn’t sleep. That messed with my head a bit, I don’t mind admitting!

When I woke up (in the dream), I looked out of the window and saw that we were now in the middle of a very busy street, On each side of the road (I presumed as I could only see one side!) there were tall, old-style buildings, with stone or brick walls in front of them. A pavement was in front of the walls, and then the road. There were trees inside the gardens, but none on the road itself. And there were hoards of people either walking in any direction possible or just milling about. There seemed to be far too many people for the street, if that makes sense. It actually felt quite foreboding, but I chose to ignore this feeling.

The ship / train / bus thing I was on pulled into a building, as they do, and it was time for us to disembark. There were a few other travellers with me, some who I recognised, but didn’t know them. One of my cousins was also with me, but I hadn’t seen him (at all, throughout the whole dream, so how I knew he was with me I have absolutely no idea!).

We were ushered through a corridor, and given a leaflet which I quickly glanced through. I noticed a photograph of a street that turned off at a right angle toward the right. In this corner there was a bar or coffee shop or something. People were sitting outside, and there were other old looking buildings on the left hand side of the road. On the right hand side there was a red brick wall. I couldn’t see any further what this building was. Beneath the photo was a caption, Unchanged since 1944.

There was a double door at the end of this corridor, and outside of it were half a dozen stone steps that took us out and down onto the road, where we met our tour guide, who was waiting to lead the way. It was obvious to me now that I was going on this guided tour. Sometimes, not knowing really helps with nice surprises!

The tour guide asked us all to keep together – there was about fifteen or twenty of us in this group, not including my cousin. The tour guide then asked us to follow her and she started to walk away up the street. A few seconds later, she said that it is common practice for these guided tours to hand over some loose change to one of the street entertainers in the area. Today’s selected entertainer was Brad, a guitarist from England. Northern England somewhere, but I couldn’t make out his accent. I had about £1.50 on me in loose change, so I handed over the fifty pence.

We were then ushered around a corner, into a very large, very overgrown area, which also went up a very large hill. I knew that we had to get to the top of this hill. There were strange sport-related monuments and statues dotted around, including a medal podium, that was now covered in grass. Goal posts, javelins, and even a small group of stadium seats were in the same state. It was also very quiet. Very eerie. I had to ask where we were, and was told we were in the old abandoned Olympic Stadium. Of course, I should have known!

We eventually reached the top of this hill, walked a little further, and then arrived in the street that was in the photo in the leaflet. It was exactly as it was in the photo. I’m sure the people sitting outside the coffee place were the same ones too. On one of the buildings before the coffee bar, a run down building had an old poster on it. Very yellowed paper, it seemed to be warning of something, but I couldn’t make out the words. Very strange. The red building was over the road, and I still don’t know what it was. And then, the most surreal thing happened. An air-raid siren. People running, including most of the tour group, the sound of bullets filling the air, and explosions from beyond the red building. Then, a small army marched menacingly around the corner, and passed us, into the Olympic Stadium.

I didn’t like that one bit, I don’t mind admitting. One of the group said that if this was part of the tour it was in bad taste, and if it wasn’t, well, what were we doing there anyway? Apparently, it was all part of the tour, and this street, and the coffee house, had played a major role in defending something or someone during the war. That was why it was unchanged since 1944; they were keeping the victory alive.

It was now that I realised I needed to know where I was. Someone in the group said I was in Bangladesh. Shortly after this, we returned back to the building, back up the steps, along the corridor, and back onto the ship. It was a ship again now.

I don’t know anything of the history of Bangladesh, I’m sorry to say. I’m not sure they have hosted the Olympics, although I may be wrong. My knowledge of sport is extremely limited. I don’t know if they had anything to do with the war, but they probably did. And I have absolutely no idea why I would dream of going to Bangladesh. But dream it I did. The odd thing, I now have a need to find out more about the country, and it’s history… similar to the feelings surrounding 1642 but not as intense.

Will I find some answers in Bangladesh? And more to the point, will I find the questions to start off with???

Like I said at the beginning. I’ve had another dream. An odd dream…