The printer and the bee

I woke up early this morning and after going to the loo and getting a drink of water I drifted off back to sleep.

In my dream I was in an office. I got talking to a lady who looked like Annie from The Smoking Room about time management systems. She was using a system that I had seen as a possible add-on to our Wallchart system and I asked her about the sort of reports it could produce. Her screen was tiny - no more than four or five inches across and I couldn't focus on it, so I asked her to print a copy for me to look at.

At the other end of the office were a couple of laser printers and a large line printer. I looked to see which printer the report was going to come off of and a green light started to flash on the printer in the corner behind the line printer. As I squeezed past the line printer chuntered into life, but the fan fold paper slipped and jammed with the top sheet tearing sideways into the mechanism.

Somebody that looked like Sally (also from The Smoking Room) came in for the print and started getting angry, so I offered to unjam the printer as it was similar to an old C-Itoh printer that I had used. I opened the case and tried to collect the torn bits of paper, being acutely aware of the smell of paper dust and ink.

As I delved further into the mechanism I felt more and more lethargic - the sun was shining through the windows and it was a hot morning. My eyes started to close and I lay down on the boxes of paper under the printer to go to sleep.

I was aware of somebody saying that I couldn't go to sleep there as a large bumble bee had flown in through the window and I would be stung if I didn't move. I was aware of the bee flying very close to my face but I could not move - I was paralysed. I felt as if I was being suffocated by the heat and the smell of the paper dust and I realised that I had to wake up somehow.

I struggled for a while, starting to panic, and then I pinched my forearm in effort to try and escape. I could feel my eyes opening slowly and I surfaced from the dreamworld, lifting my face from the pillow that had been obstructing my breathing. I had a strange moment of transition from sleep to wakefulness, not being entirely sure of where I was, but that passed and I could breath once more.