![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Frunk! Klunk!
Jul. 21st, 2018 12:23 amI dreamt that I had gone to London. I'd done so on a whim, and consequently was ill-prepared, with no place to stay, etc., so I was just walking around. I realized that it was just after New Year's, and resolved to acquire a rare type of British Christmas light^1, which would probably be on sale now. There was a Woolworth's across the street, where workmen were clearing out the "Christmas Room" ^2. I talked to one, but he told me that the Christmas lights had already been put away. There was, however, a place about a mile west that still would sell them. It was situated beneath a large statue of King Arthur. On my way, I passed a museum advertising the display of an important medieval artifact: the "Jews' Carlalie". This was some sort of a jeweled box (looking vaguely, I now realize, like my idea of the Ark of the Covenant) which had been held in common by the Jews of medieval England. I was saddened that I had no time to stop and see the carlalie, but kept on looking for the statue of King Arthur. Someone told me that the statue was actually of King Arthur in disguise, so that it didn't look at all like him, but I'd recognize it anyway. That's about all there was. A weird, inconsequential dream, but it stuck with me enough to write it down.
^1 Coloured light bulbs are one of the great fascinations of my life. I love them as much today as I did when I was a toddler. I want to hug them, eat them, be inside of them, merge with them. In a more practical vein, I can hypnotize myself by staring at them and letting my eyes slowly defocus. Coloured lights obviously have direct access to one or more of my core psychological processes, but I don't really want to deconstruct the fascination. Judging by how often unfocussed shots of Christmas lights appear in movies, etc, this probably isn't anything peculiar to myself. It's difficult to imagine, though, how something like that could evolve to be a hardwired behaviour. I suspect it's some sort of redirected behaviour, if not actually learned.
^2 A small, square white room with a raised round platform in the middle, and ledges along the walls, especially for the display and sale of Christmas decorations. I've dreamed of this place before, for years. I have to think it's based on something I saw as a child, and have no conscious memory of. It is a *very* attractive place, that cries out to be entered.
*****
Gun control is now officially wrecked, permanently and irrecoverably. Now as to whether I'd ever be brave enough to attempt to shoot a plastic pistol (homemade, even), that's another matter altogether.
*****
Bit of a disaster in Missouri with the DUKW capsizing. I should prolly ride one of those soon if I'm going to, before they get banned. If I understand correctly, they had 29 passengers and 2 crewmen on that thing, which, if not actually excessive, was probably at the limit. During the War, they were rated for 2.5 tons of cargo, or 24 soldiers with assault packs and gear, with one crewman in either case (two if the boat was equipped with a machine gun). From the pictures too, it appears that the passengers were riding in seats, which is understandable, but raises the centre of gravity - soldiers sat on the floor of the boat, more than likely hunkered down as low as they could go.
The captain is probably toast for telling people they'd not need the life vests, although I'm sure he was just trying to reassure them, and almost certainly believed that himself.
^1 Coloured light bulbs are one of the great fascinations of my life. I love them as much today as I did when I was a toddler. I want to hug them, eat them, be inside of them, merge with them. In a more practical vein, I can hypnotize myself by staring at them and letting my eyes slowly defocus. Coloured lights obviously have direct access to one or more of my core psychological processes, but I don't really want to deconstruct the fascination. Judging by how often unfocussed shots of Christmas lights appear in movies, etc, this probably isn't anything peculiar to myself. It's difficult to imagine, though, how something like that could evolve to be a hardwired behaviour. I suspect it's some sort of redirected behaviour, if not actually learned.
^2 A small, square white room with a raised round platform in the middle, and ledges along the walls, especially for the display and sale of Christmas decorations. I've dreamed of this place before, for years. I have to think it's based on something I saw as a child, and have no conscious memory of. It is a *very* attractive place, that cries out to be entered.
*****
Gun control is now officially wrecked, permanently and irrecoverably. Now as to whether I'd ever be brave enough to attempt to shoot a plastic pistol (homemade, even), that's another matter altogether.
*****
Bit of a disaster in Missouri with the DUKW capsizing. I should prolly ride one of those soon if I'm going to, before they get banned. If I understand correctly, they had 29 passengers and 2 crewmen on that thing, which, if not actually excessive, was probably at the limit. During the War, they were rated for 2.5 tons of cargo, or 24 soldiers with assault packs and gear, with one crewman in either case (two if the boat was equipped with a machine gun). From the pictures too, it appears that the passengers were riding in seats, which is understandable, but raises the centre of gravity - soldiers sat on the floor of the boat, more than likely hunkered down as low as they could go.
The captain is probably toast for telling people they'd not need the life vests, although I'm sure he was just trying to reassure them, and almost certainly believed that himself.
