Death

And now a question for you, the reader of this autobiography, who now knows more about me than anyone on this earth except my immediate family. Do you believe that it's possible for someone to predict the future? Are the premonitions of Nostradamus an elaborate hoax? If you dreamt of a plane crash the night before you were due to fly, what would you do? Would you think twice before catching that plane? While I was a student in Stafford in the Midlands in the UK, I woke up one morning in a cold sweat. The dream had been vivid; I'd seen myself in focus within the space of what seemed like ten seconds. It must have been somewhere in England, or perhaps an ex-British colony. There was screech of brakes and my whole body reacted with the adrenaline rush of the person for whom death is imminent - the hairs on the nape of my neck stood on end and if felt like a lead*² weight was dropping through my stomach to the floor. This occurred in milliseconds then came the impact - a bone crunching thud! Before the impact, I'd just had time to glimpse a double-decker bus which had escaped my awareness until those terrible few seconds before the end. It was a dream, but..............???? Do you know how you're going to die? I think I do.... but at the end of the day... who knows?!!!

Perhaps a contributing factor to the vivid nature of this dream was that the analysis of dreams had come up as part of my sociology degree course at North Staffordshire Polytechnic, and I'd started writing down what I'd dreamt of the night before as soon as I woke up. If you do this, the content of your dreams begins to become clearer and dreams are no longer forgotten immediately on regaining consciousness

Alternatively, what might have sparked the afore mentioned premonition was something which happened to me when I was going to Sandown Park Comprehensive School near Tunbridge in Kent. I used to get a double-decker bus to and from school every day, and one day, I'd just got off the bus, and was daydreaming - walking home on autopilot. The bus had stopped to let other passengers on and off, so I decided to cross the road by walking in front of the bus. I was carrying a leather school bag in my left hand and it must have been more or less parallel with my body as I emerged from behind the bus, completely hidden from any oncoming traffic. Everything happened in the space of a gunshot - my school bag and left arm were knocked away from my body and then the bag was wrenched from my hand and went flying through the air, landing about ten metres further down the road. Simultaneously, I felt the toes on my left foot being pinched - not painfully, but it felt like someone had stood on the end of my shoe. A car had been overtaking the bus at the exact moment I emerged from behind it; it had run over the end of one of my shoes and knocked my school bag out of my hands. I had been very, very close to serious injury* if not death!

Another question for you, dear reader. What is the meaning of life and what awaits us after death? This is a problem that has intrigued philosophers since philosophers existed! From my point of view, since life was fused*³ in the first single cell organisms on the planet earth, later to develop into plants, fish, birds and dinosaurs, the same cycle of life and death has been evolving. The only thing that makes humans special is that they are arrogant enough to believe that for them, and not the billions of other life forms existing on the same minute planet spinning round a small sun in a remote corner of the universe, something other than the same cycle applying to all other life forms exists! :-) However, at the end of the day, if whatever you believe makes you feel safer and more secure - for goodness sake go on believing it. Life's too short to waste time worrying about what we have no control over! Don't forget, nevertheless, that each day you live will be the last day with that particular date. What you don't do on that day, you may never again get the opportunity to do again!

* Other danger, or near death experiences are mentioned in my Barcelona diary, Yemen, Saquarema and Pembury.

*² Entry 2 - noun, a type of metal

*³ Entry 2 - transitive verb, to join

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