Dreams

Congratulations to yeowatzup, who, according to this message from the other day, has completed his solo walk of the Nakasendo. And best wishes to Dr. Bad, who is about to set off on a solo walk along the same route (albeit at a slightly more leisurely pace). And, just in case I don't get the chance to post again before I leave, good luck to me, too.

I had a strange dream last night. I was on the plane on my way to Japan to start my walk. Sitting on my left was an older woman, and on my right, next to the window, was a younger, very clean-cut and well-dressed man. The woman looked over and did a double take, having recognized the man as someone famous. He looked only vaguely familiar to me. I think he was some British comedian I've seen once or twice on the telly.

The woman made a fuss and insisted the man give her his autograph. He then turned to me and introduced himself (I don't remember his name, unfortunately). He asked me my name. "I'm Matthew," I said, "otherwise known as the Walking Fool." I handed him one of the Walking Fool business cards I've made especially for the trip. He seemed a bit puzzled, so I explained what it was I intended to do in Japan. And then, as they say, I woke up.

I had another dream before that, or perhaps it was part of the same dream. I was playing tennis against a couple of female opponents. It was a close match (the scores were tied), but then without warning the umpire suspended the match. A new group of players was invited on to the court to replace us. When we complained, the umpire explained that we weren't exciting enough and the crowd was losing interest. We decided to take our protest to the players' representative, who was someone famous like Steffi Graf. That's as much as I remember.

Distance walked today: 3km
Total distance walked since Tokaido training began: 340.7km
Days left until departure: 3