Bristol Dreams.

Do you have dreams in which you know that you are in a certain place, even though the scenes in the dream bear no resemblance to the real and actual place?

I have three such dreams, each of which (with slight variations) recur very often.  They are about.
 places in or near Bristol, U.K. -  my home City.  The references will make some sense to Bristolians.

 

1.  Clifton.

 

 

Clifton is an upscale residential, and student flats part of Bristol.  It has some lovely old Victorian and Edwardian homes, some fine terraces and small parks, and is right next to our treasured Clifton Downs and the Clifton Suspension Bridge.

 

In this oft repeated dream I am walking down a steep hill. On the left there is a super terrace of Victorian homes in front of which there is a footpath and an urban garden.

 

I walk down the footpath, which dead ends. So I have to walk through various homes (which miraculously have access one to another).  These all lead to an small but upscale shopping mall which often terminates with a lift/elevator.

 

I take this lift down one floor, and then I am in the Cotham area of Bristol near to Coldharbour Road.  I am trying to get to Cheltenham Rd., but every turn I take leads me in the wrong direction.

 

In a variation on this dream I am trying to get up to Clifton Downs via Constitution Hill or Sion Hill, but I cannot find my way.  But I pass many beautiful old churches which are clearly shut down.

 

2. Easton

 

Easton is an old blue collar area of Bristol, much destroyed by urban renewal  (The M 32 motorway and part of the Inner Circular Road).  My mother grew up in Easton.  She would sometimes quote a Labour Party City Councilor who once said  "Easton will rise again".  It never did.

 

I grew up in the adjoining area called "Whitehall".  We were a cut above those who lived in Easton (or Lower Easton).

 

I often dream about Easton. In those dreams I am usually somewhere between Stapleton Rd  and Easton Rd (near where St. Gabriel's Church once stood),  I wander around all the while seeing big old and derelict Churches, lovely ponds, and new flats.
 

 

I am trying to get home, but I find myself on Stapleton Rd near the old railway Station, or at the intersection of Easton Rd and Clarence St.  In either case I get scared 'cause I know that my walk home will be through "bad areas"

 

(I had a variation of this dream the other night.  Within the dream I said "so this is not a dream, Easton is truly like this. And then I woke up!)

 

 

 

3. Chipping Sodbury.

 

 

Chipping Sodbury is a lovely little Cotswold town some ten miles east of Bristol.  I worked there in the Westminster Bank between 1961 and 1964.

 

The third of my recurring dreams often begins there.  In these dreams I am always with dear friends  (last night, 26th Sep 2013, it was my seminary classmate, Les Harman.)

 

 

In the "Chipping Sodbury" dreams I am usually trying to drive to yet more beautiful Cotswold towns.   But some of the roads are cul-de-sacs or dead ends, other roads are blocked off, or lead in the wrong direction.  I can never reach those  gorgeously beautiful towns.

 

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Indeed these are frequently occurring dreams. 

 

I know that they are not about Clifton, Easton, or Chipping Sodbury.

 

 

They are about me!    (All of our dreams are about we the dreamers)

 

Care to take a guess about the "meaning" of my Clifton, Easton and Chipping Sodbury dreams?