The Birds

I slept very badly last night, to the point where it was just ridiculous. I had a nice relaxing bubble bath before bed which left me feeling nice and sleepy but as soon as I got between the sheets, bing! my eyes were wide open. So despite plans for a nice long run first thing this morning, I decided it would be more useful to sneak back to bed for an hour or so once my son had gone to school. So I did that and I did get some sleep. I know this because I had really disturbing dreams! It was one of those dreams where it takes a while to realise that you are still asleep and it's not real. Some folks say there's nothing more boring than hearing about other people's dreams. If so, look away now :)

In the dream, I heard noises in the kitchen but was too lazy to investigate (see how real this is already?) They weren't big noises like something catastrophic was happening, more scritching and scratching and rustling. I guess I assumed that a mouse had found his way in. Imagine my surprise then when I finally went out into the hall and there was a pigeon sitting there. Then, in the kitchen itself, there was a whole gang of them. One bird might have accidentally flown in but not a whole flock. I saw that they had in fact hatched in the space next to the washing machine (the horror, the horror). The mother was nowhere to be seen and I was now stuck with seven or eight pigeons milling about my kitchen. I did what I had to ... I legged it out the kitchen, closed the door firmly behind me and went back to bed.  Alas, I had forgotten the bold one in the hall. There's a gap under my bedroom door and I could see a little birdy shaped shadow beneath it. An inquisitive beak appeared round the door so I went over and prodded it back out again, only for it to reappear. Apparently proper action was needed to deal with curious pigeon. I threw some clothes on and prepared to take him outside. I opened the door to our flat and he followed me out into the close. When I got to the front door (he had dream-morphed into something the size of a seagull by this time), he refused to go out so I grabbed him by the beak and carried him. For reasons unknown, there were lots of workmen in the front garden and there I was, ill-dressed and dangling a large bird by the beak. I thought that if I just threw him into the air, he would get the idea and just fly. I threw him, he thudded to the ground, got up and shook his head and then started to try and come back inside. I grabbed him and threw him again. Same deal and all the while the workmen were laughing and blatantly not helping. I threw him one last time and made my own bid for the door, slamming it shut behind me. I realised then that I still had the rest of the birds in the kitchen to deal with and my heart just sank. Thankfully I then woke up before I could fail any harder.

I hate dreams like that. I woke from it feeling stressed and distressed and frankly a little sick. It seems to me that it's an anxiety dream (which would totally make sense) but I would rather sleep be my refuge in times of stress. Ick to all that.