#30 – Have my fortune told

I’ve always liked the idea of having my future told, but have been equally nervous about the reality of the whole thing. What will they say? What if it’s bad news? If ignorance really is bliss in these matters, then I just shouldn’t get involved. But curiosity finally got the better of me when making this list, and it seemed like the perfect challenge for the 30th and final spot.

In my life, the closest I’d come to a fortune teller was Mystic Meg on the UK National Lottery. I just didn’t know where to find one. A quick online search only yielded dodgy-sounding people. A friend said she knew someone, but my hesitance to receive any bad tidings led me into a path of procrastination. A big believer in gut feelings, it just didn’t feel right yet. And I didn’t want to tempt fate; we had our Big Trip coming up.

So we jetted across the world to start our trip by ticking an item off our bucket list – welcoming in the New Year in Sydney, Australia. And as we walked into The Point event in Sydney Harbour on the evening of 31st December 2014, I spotted a table set up with a fortune teller: it was a sign! What better time to have my fortune told than NYE? I could start 2015 knowing what was in store!

It was a sign! (geddit?)

 

Our table for the evening was near the fortune teller and I kept looking over at her. At the beginning of the night, she was all alone. Not wanting to appear too eager (or have my whole night ruined by the terrible reading that I was dreading), I waited until later in the evening, when she had a huge queue. In the lull between dessert and 2015, I finally plucked up the courage and joined the back of the line. Within 10 minutes, I’d out-waited the two girls ahead of me, who promptly gave up and left. This put me behind a fun-looking lady who I quickly clocked was also British. Enter Suzy, who was from Stafford and had been driving around Australia on her own in a van for the past year. She was curious if the fortune teller could tell her what she should do next, as her family kept asking her and she didn’t have a clue. As others gave up and went to the bar, we chatted non-stop as we slowly moved to the front. If it’s one thing us Brits can do, it’s queue.

As the clock ticked into the final hour of 2014, it was getting down to the wire and we were stuck behind an American woman obsessed with fortune tellers who spent a good 20 minutes in the mystical chair.  Still, it gave us lots of time to talk to Suzy about her travels and life in the van, marvel at the brilliant view we had of the harbour, and take pictures like this:

My new friend, Suzy, and me

 

Suzy kept her turn short, and before I knew it, I was up. I felt a pang of trepidation as I sat in the scarved chair. I kept my answers short, and my ring finger out of sight, trying to avoid giving anything away.

Getting my fortune read

 

The lady started by asking my birthdate, and looking up the position of the planets in a hefty book, before announcing that I’d recently been given more responsibility, asking if I was buying a house, and explaining that the summer would bring me new social circles, particularly a new exercise that would introduce me to new people and be lots of fun.

I wanted her to be right. But I’d left my job to come travelling. I’d recently sold my house. And all I could think of was whether she meant my Canadian summer, or her Australian summer? (and I never did ask, so I guess I’ll never know…)

So it was on to the tarot cards. She gave me a big pack and asked me to shuffle them. Then split them wherever I wanted. Then split them again. Then she laid them all across her tiny table. I scanned the cards, looking for any bad ones. I knew the ‘Death’ card didn’t necessarily mean death, but I was still glad when it didn’t show up on the table (phew).

As she looked everything over, I was surprised how eager I was to hear what she saw. It was fascinating. She talked about my new job, how I felt “nicely settled” in life, and how many kids she saw in my future. She talked about Mike and his job, and how we should rest at the beginning of the year. (I laughed in my head at that last one; we were three days into a 6-week trip around the South Pacific, and rest wasn’t really on the agenda). She ended by saying that everything looked good in my cards, and I shouldn’t be worried at all. Which is what I really wanted to hear all along.

Happy 2015! (Whatever it may bring…)

Welcoming in 2015 in Sydney!