Dream and childhood memories

[ionelv]

I dreamt that I was on an errand to buy something at the market. I had a small child in tow (5-7 years old). I remember bumping into M at the market despite me leaving her home and driving there. Apparently she drove too after I left to get something herself. We met inside this market that looked a lot like the central square market (hala centrală). At some point, I went to the post office and I found all these stamps on the floor. I started picking them up and I eventually realised that some of them had actual prices and this Asian dude that was lurking around, was actually selling them. I put back all the stamps that were not free and I quickly ran to the car to get some money. I came back, left the child in the lobby and started to pick up stamps that I had to pay for. I found out that he was also selling video tapes of kung fu movies which for some reason he had covered up as if they were smut or something.

Childhood memories: Hala centrală is related to many shopping memories: 

* the outside NW corner tobacco/newspaper shop where I would buy my first 3L and 5L stamp envelopes or the old Gazeta Sportului issues which I collected and used to track stats on the Romanian Football Leagues.

* the outside NE corner where I would wait in line almost every morning for fresh bread (pe cartelă).

* the outside SW corner where I would school supplies once in a while since their foot print and choice were very limited.

* the outside pretzel shop just North of SE corner where I would buy covrigi de Brașov.

* the many inside food shops where I had to wait in line to buy milk, eggs, vegetables, fruits, "televizoare" and "adidași".

This market was also, right next to piața mare (to the East) and the book store (to the West). I spent a lot of time at the book store (librărie) where I bought my first Jules Verne novel, many BPT books and my first LP (George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue). The only other inside non-residential places I spent more time were the general store on str București (between 13 Dec and Rădulescu, where a child could find almost everything from school supplies to toys), the central cofetărie, the book store by the hotel, the central post office (maybe) and the movie theatres (Flacăra, Victoria, Orizont, Sala Tineretului). Honorable mentions go the lobby of the hotel(?) that had an arcade game (similar to Galaga) and the store Select that had a pachinko like game.