I'm certain all of us have had a dream, especially upon awaking, in which something seemed real or, to be better put, external. In my case this morning I slept a bit past my "target" and I thought I heard an electronic buzz I recognised as belonging to an appliance I knew well but couldn't place immediately. The sound itself is a somewhat hollow two note figure lasting a chunk of a second.

My cell phone? Come to think, no. My land line uses voice prompts beside the ring. It was the sound the phones at work make when you enter a speed dial cue which has not been programmed, and for that matter press the "feature" button and don't ask for the specific mode in fifteen seconds.

On my first morning of a vacation. Hmmm!