New Year's Eve Castle - a very short story.

New Year's Eve Castle

So, did I spend New Year's Eve 2010 in a castle? If you are bursting to know the answer go right to the end of the story this minute and you will find the answer.

In the meantime, let me tell you why I wanted to do that, alone.

Alone on New Year's Eve? A sad case of social isolation really, or was it?

Staying with a close relative for a few months was my lot in the latter half of 2010. Penniless and homeless was the outcome of a brave effort to stave off the effects of a poorly negotiated divorce agreement and the pitiful poor list of badly paid jobs acquired in a failing economy. Battling with the outcome of our failing economy and lack of govenrment support for new social adventures into enterprises and entreprenneurships, my failure to keep 'the wolf from the door' was proved.

When you divorce, especially here in Ireland – and I have no particular gripe really against the Irish state – the financial negotiated outcomes can be quite ludicrously arranged. There's almost the sense of pleasing the state and fulfilling legal conditions rather than looking at the human needs position. Though I am glad to report that, recently, more and more people are using the services of a financial expert to help work out financial packages based on need and sound budgeting principles. Presumably my lot would have had a better outcome with such an expert. Who is to say, really?

Prior to divorce I missed out badly on maintaining a steady career that would deliver a pension at the end of my working life. The reason for this was that my husband needed to keep his career upwardly mobile and so he changed jobs to acquire the status and financial package he craved to feel successful.

I can't say for sure if he really ever 'felt' successful, but he did appear to be satisfied with the positions of responsibility he engaged in. He was well rewarded with the 'perks' that went with these positions. And he was well rewarded by me who supported his needs by not engaging in my need for upwardly mobile success. I played the support role as we moved from place to place, administering to family needs of relocation, new schools, new friends, new neighbourhood integration etc.

I engaged in part-time jobs to help add to the family purse and part-time enterprises, which included a small farm. But family and husband needs dictated my flat line trend and so I found myself in 2010, homeless and penniless after a long struggle to do otherwise. This outcome had been predicted by a family member a few years before, as a' last ditch' effort on that person's part to alert me to the growing dangers of the ever increasing poverty trends in my life.

I was well aware of this ever increasing trend, but felt helpless and worthless as the poverty - indeed a trap - closed in around me, in spite of my best efforts.

So where does the notion of New Year's Eve in a castle come in? Let me tell you now and put you out of your misery.

Christmas 2010 was spent with one family member who was gracious and kind enough to invite me. I don't know what other members were thinking, but other invitations certainly didn't come my way. Now I'm not going to name and shame anyone as I'm a great believer in letting people speak for themselves and not form opinions about their intentions without allowing them have a voice.

The gracious family member, who included me in the festivities, arranged a travel voucher as a gift. It seemed ludicrous at the time of receiving it, but after a few days of reflection, I decided it was a very good gift and I should definitely use it.

So onto the web I went to look for ideas of how to use it. After many hours of varying ideas and suggestions from travel sites I latched onto the idea of having New Year's celebrations in a castle in Scotland. The extent of the voucher just about covered the cost of a two night stay and the travel to and fro. I was both thrilled and full of doubt. The family member who gave the gift thought I was a bit mad, but smiled benignly at my efforts to 'cheer myself up.'

It was a mad idea, but who could blame me at this stage of poverty? I had nothing to lose and who knows maybe something wonderful would unfold as a result of my 'mad' effort.

On the 23^rd December, 2010, I took off, alone, waved goodbye at the airport to the lone family member, still smiling benignly. I landed in Edinburgh and following an itinerary I took a local bus to a large castle, several miles from the metopolis of Edinburgh. (If you notice, I don't mention too many names or places, that's because I want to keep a sense of anonymity about identity). Anyway onto the castle, to which I had to walk for a mile or two after the bus journey. I felt like a tourist in a movie who lands in the wrong place and where the inevitable horror unfolds for the rest of the movie.

The Scottish landscape was intriguing and every bit as wild and wonderful as I had anticipated from the travel sites. The air was fresh and blew from a northerly direction, an indicator of snow later on that evening. Around the umpteenth bend, the large stony castle finally loomed like a blue-grey jewel, in all its glory on the green and heather-strewn horizon. At the castle entrance, stone urns and a stone crest announced the royal lineage of the building. A horse and carriage awaited me and my heart leapt in confusion when I saw it. The driver with a thick Scottish burr convinced me that it had awaited my presence for the past half hour! All part of the service of a 'grand entrance' and I was duly impressed and cheered in a way never before experienced. A gracious gesture and well timed! I had indeed arrived. Woohoo!

And so the last two days of the dying year were well spent in this beautiful castle - feasting, partying and dancing well into the two nights. Guests came from all over the world to bring in the New Year in this fine Scottish castle. Being alone stood me in good stead, because, for once, I did not experience social aloneness, as only the divorced do, but rather a very well planned case of social integration due to the structure of the parties – seating arrangements for example, where both couples and singles sat with different people for each course, during dinner, each night. As for the dancing, that was a world of delight in its self - mainly Scottish country dancing which took the form of ceilidhs – a type of folk dancing and for the uninitiated, the many intricate patterns of dance to learn and with different partners, had me, literally, whirling all night and engaging in amusing long conversations the next morning!

The New Year was rung in with great aplomb and partying, the likes of which I never experienced before. A torch-lit procession before dinner from the courtyard into the great dining hall, was led by a team of bagpipers, whose single notes resounded loud crescendos throughout the castle itself - enough to waken the ghosts within! Not to speak of the vast display of fireworks set to Scottish tunes at midnight and that seemed to fire forever. The Scottish, of whom there were many in attendance, celebrated with great enthusiasm and heart and energy. A heart-warming experience.

But the story is not over yet and in a way has just begun. As a result of the many contacts encountered in the festivities, it was difficult to be evasive about my poor monetary state – never poor in mind – I got offered three positions with international firms located in Scotland. Two positions concerned joining a sales team and the other was with a social entreprenneurship, close to Edinburgh. I took the third position because I felt it best suited what I can offer and what I have studied and trained in over a considerable time. Another reason for taking that position was that I would get to visit the castle in my leisure time and reflect on the 'good luck' it had brought me as well as the generosity of the family member, now thrilled I was 'off his hands' (my words).

So there you are, if you find yourself penniless and broke, just hope that someone, kind enough, will provide a 'short break' holiday voucher to a Scottish castle. It has changed my life however ridiculous or illogical may seem my reasoning. It worked well as only the magic of life does.