{Dream: Of a Military Exercise}[4th May 1990]

[Redbook7:132-133][19900504:1421]{Dream: Of a Military Exercise}[4th May 1990]

19900504.1421

A curious dream last night: I was back in the T[erritorial] A[rmy],* with my friends(?) gathering for the start of an exercise. The exercise – for us in H.Q. – involved simply passing across a piece of difficult country: the achievement of this was not merely of administrative significance, but of central importance, although it involved no weapons (so far as I saw, anyway).

I discovered that the exercise was due to last, not three weeks as I had thought, but 7-8 weeks, maybe more; I was concerned about telephoning my family (not [W] and the children, perhaps, but my pre-marital family?)** to tell them, but did not in fact manage to do so.

We were waiting for the C[ommanding] O[fficer] to arrive. We were, it seemed, in a private house. As we moved into the first floor front room, there was a collection box on the side of the doorway, outside the room: the old lady*** who owned the house(?) said that I had not put money in it;**** I said that I had; after a little repetition of this, I exclaimed at her: (?) ‘Silly Cow!’ Inside the room, I regretted saying this: not because it was wrong, but because I thought the C[ommanding] O[fficer] would be angry. As we moved out of the room again and up the next flight of stairs, I realised that the C[ommanding] O[fficer] (whom I might or might not have seen at this point) was not angry at all.

In this dream there was none of the tension which dreams of the T[erritorial] A[rmy] usually (I think) engender; nor was the C[ommanding] O[fficer]# a man to be feared: more, respected.

*[The voluntary military reserve]

**[The writer left the Reserves before marrying and starting his own a family.]

***{cf [[Redbook7:137][19900519:1545]{Dream: Of an Urban House}[19th May 1990],] 137;

ref [[Redbook7:139][19900520:1524]{Dreaming of the Old Lady’s House}[120th May 1990],] 139

****(I had been concerned about under-payment to the Church, which I later put right with a cheque. <900519>)

#{God? Or the Archbishop?}

[PostedBlogger28042021]