I had been condemned to death by hanging or it may have been guillotine. The executioner was someone I knew. There were six people ahead of me, but he might get to me first. On the other hand, the waiting went on and on, the thought coming back to me again and again: soon I will be dead.

I woke up shouting.

For weeks, when I have woken in the middle of the night, my brain has buzzed with morbid thoughts. I told friends it was if I were processing stuff that might be parts of an undreamt nightmare.

Well, last night I dreamt one of them. I woke myself up - and fell asleep again.