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                                                                                               Day 91: Safely Insane

My social life is very active at the moment. In my dreams. No, I mean, literally – in my dreams, I am out and about and partying most nights, often with famous people. Film stars, former presidents (so far only Democrats), and sportspeople, with Posh and Becks appearing with disconcerting regularity.

Why Posh and Becks? No idea. I’d rather Johnny Depp were a regular nighttime visitor (!), but he’s been keeping a low profile dream-wise. Also people from my dim and distant past – schoolfriends and former colleagues I haven’t thought about in years unexpectedly dropping in at random to say hi.

And, of course, many of these social gatherings involve food. LOTS of food.


I dream a lot when I’m at sea. Waves wake me up many times during the night either by crashing noisily into the side of the cabin or by shaking me into wakefulness. So I’m often in the dream phase of sleep, and can usually remember quite a lot of what I was dreaming just before the ocean interrupted me.

I suppose it must be my subconscious making up for what is so significantly lacking in my life at the moment. It’s quite fun, really. I look forward to my sleep for so many reasons – giving my body a chance to recover, getting away from the oars, a time to be dry and (relatively) comfortable – but the thing I look forward to most is the dreaming. As I fall asleep, I never know quite what might happen or who I might meet over the next few hours. Or what I might get to eat.

And luckily, so far, no nightmares. Like, that I’m stuck on a tiny rowboat going around in circles and doomed forever to wander the oceans alone…

Other Stuff:

Actually, I seem to be breaking out of my circles of doom. In the last 24 hours I’ve made a whole 19 miles, which although rather underwhelming is nonetheless my best mileage since 10 days ago. I’m not getting my hopes up – I’ve learned from hard experience that getting hopeful is a sure invitation to disappointment – but it would be really nice if this heralded a period of better progress. Happy August!

Thanks for all the jokes. Aimee is keeping them coming to me along with the daily digest of blog comments, rationed out so I can appreciate each and every one to the full.

Quote: “Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be quietly and safely insane every night of our lives.” (Sleep expert William Dement – and with a name like “Dement” surely he is well qualified to comment on insanity!)

Latest Podcast now available.

(Photo: Rita takes entire responsibility for choosing the picture of Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean, found on the internet.)

Sponsored Miles: Thanks today go to Beverly Wu, Bonnie Sterngold, Sylvia and Darrell Vice and Ugo Pistacchio. Good forward progress.