C'est le South Africa...

"Don't ask me why I'm running out of laughter
There's tears in these eyes, not happy ever after.

While we're sitting comfortably in that white winter city,
How can there be happy ever after?"

Sometimes dreams tell you very strange things about yourself that you don't realise in your waking moments. Sometimes dreams take you places that you've never been.

I was in South Africa last night. I was a ranger, and guided people through the remotes of South Africa, through land made raw and beautiful as nature intended. We walked, ran, flew... until for some reason, we came to a precipice, a raw and open cliff side. On one side, land. On the edge of another, swirling blue beautiful ocean as far as the eye can see. Beyond this point is very far away.

There were lions and wolves around us, but they were friendly creatures. We were lost, having reached the ocean with no further way forward. The travellers did not want to go forward, they wanted to turn back. Finally I suggested following the wolves and lions, whose natural instinct owned the land, for surely they knew the way.

Strangely enough, it dawned on me that I'd wanted to interpret this dream of all the rest of the dreams I normally have during most nights. And how apt, and how strange?

To dream of a vast, expansive ocean means that you might be going on a long journey, or may symbolize your need for space or freedom.

Lions typically represent dignity, intensity and valiant energy. To dream of a lion in a positive light means that you need to call on courage within yourself.

Wolves represent aggressive, instinctive urges and cravings. Seeing a wolf is a warning of false friends.

On the edge of the ocean, there was such a temptation to jump in, float and drift across the water with nothing at all. Except that there was nothing there. There was nothing beyond the sea, that was the edge of the world, the end of everything.

The lion chased the wolf, who wisely stopped and ran off back into the wilderness. I thought for a moment, and followed the lions and the wolves back onto safer shore.