Private Thoughts Made Public

Last night I had one of the most vivid dreams I’ve ever had in my life. It was so vivid that I can remember it now. Usually I’m aware that I’ve dreamt something, but it’s usually gone from my memory about 10 minutes after I’ve woken up.
This dream was set in New York, a place I’ve never visited. It’s evening, and the streets are fairly deserted. I have a very strong feeling that tonight is going to be the end of the world, and for some reason I want to spend it in a music shop, listening to cd’s and chilling out with the other customers. But the shop is closed (unusual for New York, even if the end of the world is nigh), so I reverse a bus into the doors to get in. A lady tries to stop me getting into the shop, but I tell her the world is going to end tonight and she can come back and arrest me in the morning if she wants to. She seems happy enough with this line of reasoning, and walks away. A few people follow me into the store, and since I don’t know how long we have until the end of the world, I suggest that we all pick a couple of favourite cd’s and listen to a few songs off each one. While I’m choosing cd’s I look around and see that some prople have items they wish to purchase and are queueing up at the tills. I notice a box set of dvd’s on the shelf labelled “World Sporting Events 1950 – 2050″.
Sometimes I’m inside the shop wandering round, and sometimes I’m the square outside, watching the skies and waiting for the apocalypse. I can see other people in great detail, also wandering round. I’m aware of the clothes they are wearing but not the expressions on their faces. Some people are in black and white, including a small group of soldiers. As I walk past them I get the feeling they are World War I soldiers, and I overhear someone saying “He looks exactly like he did in his self-portrait.”
At one point I’m back in the record shop and I look out of the window to see volcanic lava and molten rocks leaping into the air on the other side of the square. “This is it,” I think, “it’s ending now.” Very calmly, I walk out to the square to watch. Some people are driving away from the eruption, and I briefly think about throwing myself in front of one of the cars or trucks to avoid getting burned up. “Ah well, time to have a cigarette,” I say to myself.
So there I am, sitting on some steps which lead up to a statue of someone or something, in the middle of this unnamed square in New York, watching a volcanic eruption take place probably less than half a mile away, calmly smoking a rolled-up cigarette. It’s getting light now, so maybe my estimation of the apocalypse was slightly off.
I look around and see two guys dressed in batman costumes on the roof of the record shop trying to get people to dance along to an old Sweet record.
The volcanic eruption ends. There is carnage and desruction everywhere, although the world still exists. And at this point, I woke up.