Wow..... what a night!
Excuse the amount of words..... I couldn't get any shots of my mind!
Don't think there was anything wrong with me. I've been quite content of late - without too many emotional traumas. Nothing that would affect my sleep. But, did I have a dream and a half last night!
I used to live on the Isle of Wight and the I of W ferries played a big part in my life for 38 years. So - please picture this scene as I relate as much as I can remember of it.....
My late, departed father was driving us to catch a ferry. Nothing odd there, except it was raining heavily to the point of severe floods with cars crashing off the roads and into ditches. And dear old Pop was.... reading a magazine whilst he was driving! The weather cleared up as we approached the ferry terminal but we were now having a race with a coach which was carrying cricketers to the Mainland. It was something to do with Shanklin Cricket Club, which Dad seemed to have a thing against in real life. I think he thought they themselves had the impression they were a 'cut above the rest'!
Nothing too odd so far!
Now it starts to get weird! There were kids everywhere on the ferry (not all mine or related to me) and there was nowhere for my family to sit all together. Now, that included Marianne's children as well. Strange? Yep! Marianne had never met my father, he having died in 2001. Now it gets deeper. A man who had alighted from the cricket coach occupied a seat (or two, the memory is a bit vague) and I argued that if he could move (as he was alone at it wouldn't matter where he sat) all our children could be together.
"What's in it for me?", he asked. "Could you get me some chips?" He'd heard me say I would get 3 portions of chips, one with tomato ketchup along with a Steak & Kidney pie! Why it was only 3 portons when there were 11 of us I can't fathom. I said he had a bit of a nerve. "Well, if you want the seat, I'll have some chips.... and I want mine with Marmite!" "Hmmm, I'll see what I can do".
Meanwhile, my mother had been to visit the ladies room, to powder her nose. When she returned to us she said, "That's the guy who made me buy this
Baby Burco boiler!"
"What did you buy a water boiler for, you don't need one. Not on this car ferry". "That's what I told him", she replied.
So, in glorious technicolor, in my most imaginative brain (still sound asleep) there are eleven of us scattered around. My mother clasping onto this, newly acquired, Baby Burco. There were all of them saying they were hungry. But you only asked for three chips and a Steak & Kidney pie I mused to myself! An idiot demanding chips and Marmite in return for a seat, my mother still grappling with her boiler whilst trying to sit down ..... absolute, total chaos.
All the time the ferry is getting closer to Portsmouth so the time was running out to purchase all these items and get settled in our seats.
Now, in all the history I know of Isle of Wight ferries none are, or have been, amphibious. But this one decided it would be quicker if it hauled itself out of the water and drove us all to a fish and chip shop! So now there is this huge car ferry driving around the streets of Southsea! All the passengers are saying, "This is a lot quicker than sailing on the water. Why don't they drive the ferry like this all the time?"
We passed all sorts of things. Some quite normal, some less so. Neighbours fighting each other over barbecues is one thing I distinctly remember! Every other house had a police car outside of it. All the men were wearing vests - a few were wearing knotted handkerchiefs on their heads! Curious.....
Then the car ferry stops outside Martins the Newsagents. "You can get your chips here", shouts the Captain over the tannoy. Fine. At long last I can get us fed!
When it came to my turn all I could get was one, very small portion of chips and the pie. "Can you make sure the chips have got Marmite with them please?" "We've only got Marmite tablets" was the reply. "Fine, that'll do" and I promptly put the pill in my shirt pocket.
"How much do I owe you?"..... "£49.50p". "How much?" I shouted. "You heard me, £49.50p". "But steak and Kidney pies are only 38p in Tescos. I refuse to pay that much"
Now, all of this lasted in "Dreamland" around an hour, by which time all the other ferry passengers were showing their impatience. I still refused to pay that amount. They told me I had received the chips, which I do recall giving to the man along with his Marmite tablet. I actually requested they call the police and have me arrested. They seem to comply with this.
As the Police arrived all the employees of the Newsagents left .... in a rush. All of them were in exotic cars. Bentleys, Ferraris etc,.
"No wonder you can afford to drive around in those if you charge £49.50 for chips, pie and a Marmite tablet!" I shouted after them.
Don't know what happened after that..... I woke up!
There were other bits to all this, equally as strange! Somebody could have a field day with my mind. Marianne was in hysterics when I related all this to her this morning. "Your sleeping mind is more confused than when it's awake." Not too sure I know what she meant by that.
Anyway, make of this what you will. I'm frightened to fall asleep now! Dread to think what might happen at an airport.
