Welcome to Ballycastle

It's been almost a week since I started work and already I feel like a part of a community. I find it hard to describe the atmosphere here but it's an incredibly calm and peaceful place, overlooking Ballycastle with views across the sea to Rathlin Island, and Scotland on particularly clear days.

Upon arrival there was a Welcome Party to greet me and due to various birthdays and parties this week there has been a lot of cake available. There was also Halloween which, being of Celtic origin, is far more celebrated here than it is in Yorkshire. It's also a good excuse for a non-sectarian party.

Having had no warning that all the volunteers would be participating in the Halloween parade I had no costume ready, especially as my Halloween costumes consist of variations of either pirate or witch, and everyone was going as a character from Mario. As it turned out, one of the volunteers had made me a toadstool hat and we raided the costume box for the rest of the outfit. As we all posed for a group photo I realised what an amazing effort they'd all made making costumes for everyone to ensure that everyone was included.

Once there, we were ‘volunteered’ to carry parade figures. I ended up carrying an evil witch demon as we scared the spirits of the dead from the streets of Ballycastle to the rhythm of samba drums.

Afterwards, I discovered how exceptionally bad I am at bobbing for apples, getting absolutely soaked in the process and then getting my face covered in flour whilst nosing for coins. Thankfully I wasn’t the only who made a fool of themselves doing that!

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