I remember on one occasion feeling like Sandra Bullock. I’m sure I’m not the only man to have said that at one time or another in his life but, for the purpose of this account, I felt like her because, a few nights prior to my feeling like her, I saw the film “Premonition” in which she plays a character who has extraordinarily vivid and disturbing dreams that foresee her husband’s death and the aftermath (the beforemath as well, actually) of it. As it happens, I found it a quite entertaining film.

At that time, I, too, had been experiencing dreams (at last, the point!) which, although they chronicled slightly less important issues than my husband’s death (you know what I mean), still induced a strong feeling of unease at the time. These are the ones I can remember: I lose a large encyclopedia which I borrowed from the library and which is due back that day – a train drives over my glasses and I have lost my spare pair – I arrive at my local pub and it has been demolished – I suddenly find myself in a totally unfamiliar location (possibly in a foreign land) wearing only swimming trunks – I wake up suddenly, thinking I have overslept and missed a very important appointment, but it is only 5.45 a.m. I realise the latter is not strictly speaking a dream but have no doubt it is the consequence of some unconscious thought processes occurring during sleep. Of course, I then can’t get back to sleep.

I got a bit fed up feeling like Sandra Bullock after all that.