THE DREAM I was in the town centre and had just got off a bus. As I got off the fumes from the bus went right in my face. I stopped breathing for a second to avoid breathing in these fumes. A German man also got off the bus at the same time. I explained to that I hated these fumes. He did not understand very well and so I said it slowly and then allowed him to his friend to discuss the bits of English he did not understand.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION The dreamer was generally a loner with few friends. The previous evening he had been very outgoing. The German in the dream reminded the dreamer of his time at college when he knew several Germans who were in his country to learn English. He got along with them very well - this was probably the time in his life when he was most sociable and outgoing. He went out virtually every night during that period.

THE INTERPRETATION Dreams are not easy to interpret. One of the hardest things is to know what is a symbol in a dream. This dream features Germans so you would expect the symbolic meaning of Germans would be relevant. However, the German was in the dream to link to a period in the dreamers life when he was most outgoing. During that period he went out all the time.

In real life the dreamer was especially out going and sociable - in fact unusually so. So this is a strong link to the dreams meaning. It revolves around the theme of the dreamers personality and his tendency to be out going or introverted.

Overall the dream captures this feeling - "I was especially outgoing yesterday. That's unusual for me."

So really the dream just noted this especially sociable mood. Dreams will detect changes in our behaviour. They monitor how well or badly we are doing.