I’ve had a couple of recurring dreams for many years now and one of them is particularly strange and centres on tornadoes. While the main theme stays the same, the dreams themselves tend to be different – sort of in the same way as a TV series like Miami Vice. In each episode they’d drive around in a Ferrari wearing expensive suits, chasing some bad guys around who were wearing linen suit-jackets with their sleeves rolled up. Mid-way through the show Castillo (their stone-faced Lieutenant) would be in his office looking at the floor while telling them to “take Mendoza down” and they’d proceed to do exactly that. Sometimes Switek would get involved, sometimes not. But it was basically the same theme every week. Just like my recurring tornado dreams.

If I take the example of the one I had it’ll illustrate what I find strange about them. I was in a house. It was a wooden house. I was sitting in front of a fire in the wooden house. Come to think of it, I’d have thought a fire in a wooden house would be a no-no but in the dream it seemed fine, but I digress. So I was in this house and I was aware that there was something going on outside. I walked over to the window and saw a really big storm brewing and stepped outside. At this point I saw a tornado forming and thought to myself (in the dream) “finally, after all these damned recurring tornado dreams I’m going to get to see one for real!”. Of course I didn’t get to enjoy the spectacle for long because then I woke up.

I’ve had dozens of these dreams and whether I’m in a car, a boat or the school corridor on the day of my final exams in my pyjamas, I always think the same “finally, I get to see one for real” thoughts and it’s always a dream. I’ve often pondered why my brain keeps dreaming about tornadoes but more so why it enjoys tricking me into thinking they’re real by making me remember that I’ve had them before. Does it laugh at me when I wake up feeling cheated?

I find myself treating my brain as if it were another person because to all intents and purposes it is. When I hear someone calling my name, it’s only because my brain has heard it and decided to tell me about it. When I’m in a crowd of people and I’m not really listening I can pick out someone calling my name but not when someone’s calling out to Fred or Dan – my brain is listening to everything and only letting me hear what it thinks is relevant to me. It feels like I’m calling all the shots, deciding when to open a can of irn bru and drink it, but am I just a pawn being told what to do by my brain?

So when I dream of tornadoes and I think it’s real I’m sure it’s my brain that’s playing a joke on me – and the annoying thing is that I fall for it every time! Maybe I need to read up on lucid dreaming and take control next time…

2023 Update: You’ll never believe it but I actually saw a tornado for real! Read all about it here.