I think it's now safe to explain the 'trust in your dreams' picture.
So there I was going about life as usual when one fine day Conrad writes to me saying Mrs Lessing will be speaking at the Cheltenham literary festival and ha ha you're going to miss it. Suitably riled, I replied back: Ha ha that's what you think. That sowed the seed. I made him book a ticket for the talk (which turned out to be an early birthday present, thanks C) and a month or so later I was on the plane looking down on London in autumn.
It gave rise to a lot of jokes at my expense, the most common one being "See you in four months". And as I was running (as usual) for my plane back and as I huffed and puffed my way to the counter at Heathrow and found the door of the plane closed I panicked. The man was unruffled and told me to go sit down and catch my breath. "But..." I said. "The plane's been delayed," he said. Relieved, I started to walk away when another man at the counter said, "I remember you. You were running the last time too."
I didn't know whether to be mortified or to be pleased.