I was indulging myself in a scholarly breakfast; that is to say I had taken a trip to the newsagents & purchased for myself a copy of The Times.
Leafing through its contents, I found some popular science blurb about some string theory book, “strings”, I saw,”supersymmetry” I saw; I almost choked on my tea when I read of “new dimensions” – The contents of a dream I had experienced some days before returned to me. But, then I re-read to discover the comforting adjective prefixed to it: “non-compact”. I sighed with relief at this – dimensions that do not go all the way to infinity, that are essentially finite in extent, I could cope with; circular or otherwise, something acceptable to my delicate condition. How reassuring the modern physicist can be, indeed. Of course, they are fallible, but the alternative scenario was really far too terrible to seriously consider.