Have spent much of the day being tense and irascible. So what else is new, you may ask. Thing is, I mean cantankerous even by my standards.

It's all to do with my night of anxiety dreams. Not one, but two. Slightly unfair, I feel.

The first was the standard exam stress routine. You know the deal:

Buggerbuggerbugger, my exam's tomorrow, I've done no revision, I've no idea what it's about and I'm stuck in the most inappropriate location (centre of Paris this time) with absolutely no access to any study material, and I'm going to fail and be a failure and be cast out by society. How could I have got myself into this situation yet again?

Breathe, Benjamin. What are you talking about? You haven't been asked to sit an exam in almost ten years. Calm down.

But my mind decides that's not enough stress for one night, and rolls out the Bizarro Angst Deluxe model.

Picture two women on a millionaire's superyacht planning a wedding. There are fountains of water arcing around and across the boat - somewhat akin to what you see when fireboats welcome back a victorious naval vessel from a warzone. The women are discussing what kind of socks should be worn at the wedding.

Intercut with their discussion, there's me - first person perspective - desperately trying on pairs of socks. But none of them are right. Either they're too small, or full of holes, or none of the pairs actually match - one green, one black; one patterned, one plain; one grey, one blue; one large, one small. And all the time the women are planning this wedding and my frantic attempt to find a matching pair of socks has to succeed or else something very bad will happen.

Fortunately I woke up before finding out what nasty fate awaited me. Of course rather than being relaxed and rested, I was tense and knotted. And even now, just thinking about the injustice of these dreams, I can feel my blood pressure rising.

Thomsk says it's because I've got issues about feeling out of control as regards my life. Maybe he's right. Either way, they're not welcome.