I worked my way through the lot towards the other exit, only to see that the gate at that exit had been locked. I had to reverse my way out of the parking lot and find some space to turn the car around as it was really tight. I tried turning the car around, but I was struggling to make any progress as it was really tight - I would keep leaving the car to check around and see how much room I had.
But then, I decided to try an alternate approach: I popped the boot of the car open, and there was a parkign brake, pedals and wheel in the boot! It wasn't facing backward though, but instead from right to left (ie I was facing the right side of the car when behind the boot-mounted steering wheel)
I found it a lot easier to manoeuvre the car in reverse from that spot, and once done reversing, I decided to drive forward from that point as well. However I misjudged my manoeuvre a bit and scraped the front fender on an adjacent car. It was a really light scrape though, with no mark or dent any sort of damage on either vehicle.
I quickly moved back to the boot driving spot to get out of there before anyone noticed what had happened. I reversed a bit and was out of that spot, having successfully turned the car around, when a uniformed security guard approached me.
Thankfully he didn't bring up the scratch (he was probably out of sight when it happened) but I asked him why the other exit was closed. He said it was to prevent vehicles driving through as that was a significant problem in this lot. I asked him what's the easiest way to the road on the other side and he told me there's an adjacent parking lot with the entrance on this side and exit on the other. I thanked him and he walked off.
I got out of the boot and hurried to the front end of the car to get into the driver's seat, but something was wrong: the bonnet was open, and I sat on the engine cover!
It felt weird sitting on top of the running engine, but thankfully it wasn't hot (or maybe the heat hadn't gotten through the engine cover which had plenty of insulation) but in my hurry to get off the engine and into the driver seat I bumped the bonnet. I bumped it pretty hard (although I didn't injure myself) because it popped out of one of the hinges!
I got the bonnet back down and got into the driver seat, in a hurry because I was hoping I wasn't fined for not paying to park there. I looked around and saw a camera pointed right at the car, so my entry and exit was definitely registered. I hoped I wouldn't get into trouble but reminded myself I had told the security guard I was unable to find a spot here.
Out of this lot and into the next, I decided I couldn't drive with the bonnet only half-attached as there was a risk it'd entirely come off while driving, which would be dangerous. I found a parking spot which was covered and popped the bonnet open, to try and get the detached hinge reattached. As I was trying to figure that out, a teenage girl sneaked up to the car (the driver door was open), turned the key off, took it out and ran off with it!
I was stunned and cried out "help, someone stop her, she's stolen my car keys" but a man who was standing there didn't react.
I chased her and thankfully she didn't run too far - instead she ducked behind a car and I cornered her. I took out my phone and took a photo of her, and acted like I was making a call. I told her I'm calling the police and I would send them the photo of her if she didn't hand me the keys back. She walked up to me and was about to give me the keys, when I turned the phone camera on, started recording a video and told her I'm going to ask her some questions which I am going to record so that there are no conflicting evidence later. I snatched the keys from her while recording, and trapped her shoe under mine to prevent her from running away. I asked her to speak to the camera and tell me what she had just done and why, and reminding her that there was an eyewitness there.
Before she could start to answer, I felt my heart racing and I asked if she realized doing what she just did could impact someone with a heart condition.
And that's when I woke up.
Interestingly, this dream seems related to an incident from Saturday - I was cycling home, and a young girl blocked my path and started dancing in front of me. It was obviously not ill intentioned, but it was really weird. I initially thought she was dancing to some song that she was singing, but she was just saying random things while dancing! She had a couple of friends (or maybe sisters?) older than her sitting on a nearby bench and laughing all the while. I asked her what's the name of the song she was singing, and told her I don't recognize it - I then asked her if she was making up a song. All this while she kept dancing and saying random unintelligible stuff. After a few seconds I acted annoyed and told her I need to head home. I pointed at a dog running by and asked her to dance for the dog instead.
She then asked me something really weird: she asked me why my beard was grey!
I told her it's because I'm old. She said "you're big old!" and laughed and stepped aside.
I pedalled as quickly as I could away from her, and she actually playfully chased me but thankfully couldn't run as fast as I rode off.
Also, last Thursday, I was cycling home from grocery shopping, and was talking to mom on my bluetooth. As I was getting close to a group of 3 teenage girls, I was hoping they didn't do anything weird as they were staring at me cycling towards them. As I got closer they stepped out as if to block my path and say something to me. I made a sign with my hand as if to say I'm on a call... I think that confused them! In hindsight I wonder if they thought I was trying to say they should call me or something 😒