The Laughing Seagull

Being a four-day intensive programme, we got little time to sleep; we were in bed after 12 every night and we had to get up at 7 in order to make it in time for breakfast. It didn't help, therefore, when we discovered that the Ligurian coast was inhabited by a healthy population of seagulls.

They did indeed take great pleasure in chatting to each other at 6am outside our window. Being a heavy sleeper these mutterings soon found their way into my dreams. I don't really mind seagulls in my dreams, but there was one in particular that sounded a lot like someone laughing. I tell no lie.

Breakfast chat at the hotel usually began thus:
'Did you hear the laughing seagull this morning?'
'Yeah, something must have really amused it this morning.'

By far the strangest thing was that the laughing seagull never appeared in my dreams; I did, however, think the noise belonged to my roommate. In the moments of exhaustion-filled surreality I thought she was sitting up in bed, laughing. I recounted the story to her the following morning at which point she seemed greatly relieved. She replied that it was good to hear such news as she had had the same dream about me...