Monday, September 23, 2013

Strange dreams

What strange goings-on happen in the mind when one is asleep? You wake up and know you have been dreaming but unless the dream is exceptional or very vivid you don’t remember no matter now hard you try to recall it. On the other hand if the brain is trying to tell you something very important and you need to wake up quickly it will produce the most bizarre dream imaginable. For example the other night I dreamt I was in a small room. There was a single bed and an old lady lying in it. As I stood there she looked at me and said. “The river has farted. Rivers don’t do that very often.” I made a dash for the adjourning bathroom and immediately was wide awake with a burning throat that showed in my sleep I had suffered an oesophageal reflux, something that hasn’t happened for years, more years than I can remember as I have never had one in Crete and that is going on for eighteen years. During the time I suffered a hiatus hernia, something else I haven’t suffered from all these years, I nearly choked to death in my sleep more than once and I always made sure I ate early in the evening so that the food had time to settle somewhat before I went to sleep. The burning sensation caused by the acid in a reflux can be truly distressing but fortunately this one was minor. Still it took a good six or seven minutes to clear before I could go back to sleep again. I still like to eat early in the evening so I have no idea what could have brought this on.
“The river has farted. Rivers don’t do that very often.” What a truly weird thing to say. Sounds like a haiku except it is already one syllable too many.
Golden Dawn – there’s a misnomer if ever there was one. Dark Dawn would be more appropriate or, even better, Dark Twilight. For those not up to scratch with the situation in Greece, thanks to the recession history is almost being replayed with the founding of a right-wing fascist party named Golden Dawn who, although they have garnered eighteen seats in parliament are, with their black uniforms, flags and almost swastika insignia nothing more than street thugs claiming to be the people’s friend. The Greek people that is, no one else, hence their parliamentary gains. They have tried to make a show of distributing food  to those in need but only Greeks. However the mayor of Athens put an immediate stop to what was only a gesture currying favour although, god knows there are plenty in desperate need. The ultra-rich have taken their money (most of it ill-begotten) and fled the country to purchase expensive properties in Britain and France leaving the poor to carry the can.
The latest outrage by Golden Dawn was the murder of a left-wing singer. It has created a backlash throughout the country (I should think even with those who voted for them) and, at last, the government appears to have woken up to the threat
The case files of 32 incidents involving Golden Dawn members are to be investigated using legislation designed to combat criminal gangs, the public order minister announced on Thursday.
In a letter to Supreme Court the chief prosecutor requested that 13 cases from Athens and 19 from other parts of the country be investigated as the continuous acts of a criminal organisation under article 187 of the penal code.
The first case dates from 6 June 2012 and involves an attack by 25 Golden Dawn members on a man in Veria and the last concerns the murder of Pavlos Fyssas in Athens in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Among the cases is a September 2012 incident when a Golden Dawn gang, led by two MPs, attacked non-Greek street traders at a local festival.
Reporters were told that as the constitution does not allow for the banning of political parties, "everyone will now be taken before the courts and this will reverse the activities of this particular party".
Each chapter in the Rattigan biography is headed with a quotation. I was particularly taken by, “The young have aspirations that never come to pass, the old have reminiscences of what never happened.” Saki.
How true, how true.


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1 comment:

lewis said...

Greece's bureaucrats make up half the population, consume more than half the country's income and contribute zilch. But they are the one's protesting and striking. Let them strike; they administer only themselves. You'd all be better off without them.