I am not a believer in dream analysis. I don't accept that dreams are filled with meaningful symbols that must be pored over and intrepreted. I don't believe that a dream of sheep means you are weak and unable to protect yourself.

If I dream of sheep, I have probably been watching Bladerunner. My deams are movies played out in my head for my own enjoyment. They are filled with people I know or have known and things I have recently seen, or have been been thinking about. If I watch a film like Rear Window just before bed, chances are - as happened one night this week - my dreams will have a voyeuristic quality. This doesn't mean I am secretly a Peeping Tom [OK, bad example!].

However... sometimes you are confronted with what appears to be hard evidence. If I were to relate the dreams I had last night, you'd be very, very worried. Especially if you knew me personally - you'd be afraid that you'd wake up in the middle of the night being murdered by me. Surely such a violent dream - filled with stabbings and poisonings and drownings and suicides - must reveal the unbalanced nature of my subconscious?

Then again, I did watch The Man Who Wasn't There just before bed.