Posted: 04/04/22

Sunrise 18 February - Isaac Acheampong

WOW!  What an experience!  A last-minute call up yesterday, as I was on the waiting list.  I tried to go to bed early last night to be up well in time to get here but I hardly slept!  Excited! 

I made it just in time, 6.42 at Hull College, although I got the wrong entrance; too excited to read the instructions in the email properly.   

I met my Companion, Janet, who welcomed me and made me the hot chocolate I requested:  my favourite! 

Janet told me about an approaching gale or hurricane or something and then it dawned on me that the last-minute cancellation might have been someone too scared to go through it. 

The experience in the box was mostly brilliant!  It was great to see the roofscapes of Hull and beyond the familiar landmarks taking on a different form and vibe.  The seagulls, one was so inquisitive it flew within feet of my face and eyeballed me. 

I did 12 rounds of sun salutation yoga facing east.  I contemplated.  My mind wandered from time to time.  As the gusts of wind increased my excitement started to creep towards fear a little bit.  So many ‘what ifs’: What if the box fell off the rooftop?  What if the builders had miscalculated some structural calculations?  What if I became a disaster news story about an art installation that fell off the roof of Hull College?  I contemplated my mortality as the rain and wind lashed against the glass of the box I was in.  Nothing I could do, so I let go to the idea of ‘It is what it is’ and I tried to reframe the ‘fear’ as ‘super excitement’.  Although the clouds stopped me from seeing the actual sun, I got a really good feeling of seeing the light cast by the sun on the clouds above the lower clouds.  Hard to describe but it was a feeling that dark, low clouds are only temporary but the sun itself, beyond clouds is eternally shining! 

A wonderful experience. 

Thank you!