Assorted weirdness

Of course, I forgot to write about my latest weird dream... Not sure which night I had this one - Saturday or Sunday - and I don't remember much in detail.

It started out as a TransFormers videogame, using the models from Galaxy Force/Cybertron. The part I was playing involved Galaxy Convoy/Optimus Prime flying around a human city, above a canal with roads either side (which reminded me strangely of Acton High Street). Decepticons flew past as targets to be shot down, and it was all rather repetitive... Initially, it seems, I was flying backwards (out of the screen... or was that the right way? As I said, the details are rather hazy now), but switched direction and suddenly found it far easier to play.

For a while, the 'game' switched to first person perspective... I was Optimus Prime... and then I came in to land on one of the pavements by the canal, in amongst the people, and realised that I was back to being me again, because I was the same height as everyone else, rather than a massive robot. But I'd flown in... and no-one batted an eyelid, except in irritation that I was suddenly in their way.

It was night time, and I was pushing my way through neon-lit streets, in a rather shady part of town (I'm still thinking Acton), and I was on a mission... I had to find the back alley people go to when someone has gone missing, and they want them found.

My old mate Paul, it transpired, had been kidnapped - and not for the first time - because he'd fallen for the wrong girl. This kept happening because, no matter how many times he was captured, warned, roughed up, and released, he'd still go straight back to her. I felt that she liked him as well, so that was kind of alright... I just wanted Paul found and returned safely. For some reason, this time, I'd left it alone for two weeks (teaching him a lesson? Trying to make him think I wasn't going to help him this time? Who knows?) but was starting to think that might have been too long... perhaps he'd normally have been released by that point.

Anyway. I found the back alley, and tried to talk a man into helping me. He directed me to a box on the wall (kind of like the information points on the Underground, but dirtier) which was actually the doorway down to the gang hideout. The way it worked was that you put in money (minimum of 20p, using a variety of coins according to the labelling, but it worked like a phone, so the money counted for so many seconds, and you had to be sure you put enough in to get your message across) and then someone would 'solve your problem'. My first problem was trying to find the right change... by the time I'd settled on a £1 coin, the guy I'd talked to had become so frustrated with my ineptitude, he decided to open the door himself, so I ended up giving him the money (much to his confusion, I hasten to add).

That's about all I can remember clearly, but I think Paul was released... and ran straight back to the girl.