I Open The Doors To My Dreams

Even though I've been retired for over two years, my former employer - a global pharmaceutical company - has invited me for a brainstorming session. It will take place in a local bar, not in the office building where I've worked for so many years. When I arrive I recognize a lot of my former colleagues, of whom A serves as the sole bartender. What surprises me is that no-one is ordering any drinks. No-one seems to recognize me either. When the session starts it appears that not only am I unable to participate, I'm also unable to hear what's being said. Not that it matters much, because within minutes the brainstorming session morphs into a meeting of the Council of Leiden, the Dutch city where I live. Subjects being discussed are bicycle routes, parking regulations, construction permits, etc. And though I can hear what's being said, I can't talk back. Well, I can talk back, but nobody hears me. After the meeting, when people start to mingle, the situation norma...

The Randstad job agency has communicated that they will start to accept submissions of people's home-made inventions. They will pitch them to companies, and when a company accepts an idea it will hire the inventor and help him or her to commercialize the invention. I have invented a Living Map. My prototype is a large piece of cardboard that shows, in miniature and in real-time, everything that is happening in my city, Leiden. Because it is raining I wrap my investion in plastic, and get on my bike to go to the Randstad office. However, it has been raining so heavily that the bicycle tunnel on my route is flooded. I have to get off my bike and wade through 30 centimeters of water to reach the other side. Just when I'm getting off my bike a rook lands on the front fender and punctures the front tire with its long, sharp beak. Now I'm in trouble. Not only will I miss my appointment because I have to walk to the job agency, I won't even be able to find my destination becau...

It's late afternoon. I'm at the bus station in Leiderdorp, waiting for bus 100 to take me home to Leiden. The Leiderdorp bus station is a large square in the center of town, a busy regional hub where countless buses come and go on their way to destinations all over the country. I've been here many times in previous dreams, even though this location doesn't exist in the real world. One of the people waiting at the bus stop is a young man with a dog. He explains that he needs to deliver his dog to "number 62", but he doesn't know where that is, and he has very little time. I tell him that it's not far from where we are, and that it wouldn't be any trouble for me to take the dog there. He is very grateful and hands over the dog leash. I leave the bus stop with the dog. It's a friendly, brown, long-haired animal with long ears, who is happy to be with me. Because the destination is nearby I go on foot, but at the same time we find ourselves inside ...