Sielna

A dark, grey/green washed out industrial environment. We are hunting (supposedly!) Aliens. At times this activity feels utterly real and at others I feel I am reminding myself that this is just a very realistic computer game, making mental notes about aspects of the gameplay and how I have perhaps been injured or died(?) - a single Alien springing, arms wide, from behind a wall mounted ducting or pipework feels less like an incident and more like a looped replay. We're patrolling inside generic concrete corridors with a sort of soft earthy gravel underfoot. The whole place seems to have been designed with Aliens in mind – hence the unreal sensation - as there's plenty of air conditioning ductwork criss-crossing on the walls and ceiling and what looks like very fine – but solidly built – square wire mesh structures, almost like airing(?) ducting. Some of this material has been fashioned into lid-like covers for openings in the wall and ceiling too. Myself and the other marines are gingerly investigating all these features by torchlight, anticipating an all out attack at any moment. We come across a network of this mesh ducting that takes up a huge amount of space. I watch, trying to follow with my torch, what looks like a greyhound pace and race back and forth within one of these horizontal lengths-

Myplud

In a room which I sure belongs to my friend Dee Bee. Seems to be a hotel. There's myself, Dee Bee and few other guys there. We're just sort of chatting when the atmosphere suddenly becomes very serious. There's a curtain pulled over the (near square) main window and as it hangs you can see to the outside about 5 inches to the right and two inches to the bottom of it. What happens next, and the cause for our alarm, is all framed in this 'L' shape. A bunch of Latino(?) guys are emerging from the sea. They all have toned bodies and are wearing long bermuda shorts. As they near the shore they begin to slowly pelt the room/window with smallish stones. The window has no glass as I can recall stones showering into the room – they really pick up the pace and we are all panicking and ducking for cover-

Next I know I'm standing on a timber decking built over the sand and looking onto the beach (situated below the overhang of the hotel building, maybe 2-3 storeys below Dee Bee's room). I watch anxiously as the guys from the ocean leave the water and continue their slow, zombie-like advancement off to my left-

I'm up at the very top of the hotel now, talking to my mother's older cousin, Emm Arr. I am concerned for her safety in light of this frightening invasion from the sea. We discuss something about her room and she says she doesn't give a shit, laughing that everything is in Monty(?)'s name-

Norcsoph

Aboard a steam engine. I am in the cab and the driver is my father's friend Jay EmmCeeEmm. The engine has a huge, bright red, thickly ribbed plastic(?) 'coat' along the (considerable) length that covers the entire top and sides, of the boiler. I am sure the engine belongs to my father. I ask Jay if he has seen or driven the engine before. He has, reminding me of a time...? I vaguely do recall this and accept his reasoning. We start to steam, not on a track but on a road, driving a little too fast (for my liking). Country road with fields and grass verges (sometimes fenced) to either side. My view is straight ahead, not as if from the cab but right at the front, so nothing in front is obscured. The road seems a little tight as we speed past the occasional car coming in the opposite direction-

Soon the surrounding landscape has become (to my concern) more like winter, with sprinklings of snow and visible tyre tracks on the road surface. We then begin passing women on horseback, often speeding by them uncomfortably close, so much so that the panic of the horses is clearly visible. Jay is not bothered when I voice my concern. At one point a woman rider on a horse with a smaller pony behind is approaching. The pony panics and flits momentarily in front of the engine but we narrowly miss it as it takes to the steep (fenced) verge on our left, thrashing about and and shying away in fear. The very next horse and rider suddenly divert into our path at the last minute and, as I brace for a collision, they leap into the air to jump over us (as if showjumping). I very much doubt they will make this leap, even at the speed we're going, and ask Jay what he thinks. He says they made it and though I am not convinced the image of the retreating road in my mind's eye offers up no clue. On our final pass we whizz by a carriage, drawn by four horses and with a sort of trailer in tow-

My friend Pee Dee and I are going to see the band Cornershop in concert at Glasgow University's Queen Margaret Union. It is the first time I will have seen him in around twenty years (and in the back of my mind I am anxious that our evening goes well). The gig starts at 7:30 and I expect the support band to be on stage around 8:00. I am in a shop planning to buy beer for us. I am sure I have 4 cans of Tennent's Lager at home so am a little puzzled as to why I need more – with time feeling tight I doubt we will have a drink at home before the gig. I make my way to the far left corner of the shop where there are two shelves adjacent to one another, one on the left hand wall and the other on the back wall. I look at the beers selection on the back wall. On a more thorough inspection these are not fancy foreign beers like I thought, but instead small jars full of pickled mushrooms. I turn to the shelf on my left which does have a more eclectic selection of foreign bottles. But the strange bottle I inspect – stubby, half full, with a long thin neck – is in fact open. A similar looking bottle behind that also appears to be open and empty-

Yuggle

At the Glasgow Film Theatre watching the film Boogie Nights (which I have not seen). Some pals seated on my left, 'Sporty' Spice then 'Posh' Spice to my right. I had a shoe 'Posh' had given me in my bag and delighted in showing it to 'Sporty'-

The screen curtain on the right kept drawing and obscuring half the screen, much to everyone's dismay. Two usherettes eventually appeared to calm the audience outbursts. As the curtain drew across the screen for the third time I went ballistic, only to be collared by an usherette. Oddly, her having decided to throw me out, the exit was only accessible by being marched to the front of the cinema and ascending a metal rung ladder that would take me up and in amongst the ceiling lighting above the stage - visually more reminiscent of the theatre at this point - then over and down another metal ladder to where the exit was. About halfway through my negotiation of the overhead lighting – in between stage and spotlights – that I went mental. Another furious outburst. The usherette's response was one of equal venom and I went quiet, going down the other ladder and towards the exit where the other usherette was waiting. Just as I was about to leave I suddenly remembered I must have left my watch and, rather than going back over the screen, I raced back through the audience to get it. This was a scary moment as I blatantly disobeyed the furious usherettes. However, I retrieved my watch – which was more like a stopwatch in shape – and made my exit sharpish-

From this point on things got rather confusion. I was certainly being pursued for my life by white clad figures that I suspect were Imperial Stormtroopers, but the vibe was very Tom Baker-era Doctor Who, another childhood favourite-