Posted: 07/04/22

Sunrise 7 March - Camilla Stephens

Wow!  What a way to spend the start of my 74th birthday. 

I’ve been looking forward to this for a year.  And suddenly, in the last week or two, it accelerated and then it was here! 

This has been like a star, high up in the sky, outside of everyday life, health issues, lockdown, and now war.  Something to aspire to, be inspired by. 

I am most definitely NOT a morning person.  That’s why I chose sunrise and not sunset!  Bizarre logic but I wanted the occasion to be as memorable as possible so I welcomed the challenge. 

It was fun being on nodding terms with William Wilberforce and much, much later, the sun glittered on the windows of two buildings far away to my left. 

But I found myself more attracted to the East, not because I live there, but because of the gorgeous light breaking through and gilding the edges of the huge black cloud banks and the constantly changing colours, shapes and light of the sky.  Also, the glittering lights of the P & O ferries and the horizon of the shoreline of the Estuary with its wind turbines and chimneys silhouetted against the sky. 

In the cloud bank I saw a miniature poodle gambolling and playing around and though of my poodle, Vino, that I had as a child. 

Later, this cloud looked like a cross between a Highland cow and a fluffy sheep, moving in the opposite direction to the poodle. 

Looking East, the colours changed from gold and pink to pale, pearly greys, wisps of white clouds, the beginnings of a blue sky.  The smoke from the chimneys turned from black to white.   

For a short while, all the roofs in the East seemed white. 

Thank you Freedom Festival for this memorable and truly unique opportunity.