From The Ashes...

On Easter Day Morning

I am not religious, but even I cannot pretend to not be moved by this irony....

When my Blipmeet Jingly Jan and her husband and I walked around the Cathedral on Good Friday evening, we saw this fireplace under Salisbury Cathedral's west front, all stacked up but with red and white chequered tape around it, we wondered when it was going to be lit. We pondered for quite a few minutes.

Now, I have mentioned many times that the Close is a gated community that gets locked at 10.30p.m - and opens again at 7.30 a.m. I am writing this at 7 a.m. - and took this shot at 6 a.m.!!

I've noticed that on Sundays, often the main gate is opened and left open earlier than stated - and when residents drive out I'm sure the tendency is not to get out again to lock up behind them.

Anyway, Jan, her husband and myself are going to the Easter Service at the Cathedral at 10.30 later this morning. Naturally, I was going to get my Blip, from inside, then.

I did feel a little naughty absolutely feeling the need for a little Sarum Stroll very early and I have snapped the Cathedral before with the interior lights on whilst the sky is dark - it looks bloomin' lovely! The weather was dull and with a bitterly cold wind but still before official sunrise.

Grabbed tripod, the new fisheye and my "standard" 10-24mm Nikkor. Was the Close going to be open? I could see that it was but the sky was paling quickly. I walked faster and faster - and then saw this fire blazing ferociously. The very wide lens means the camera is less than 2ft away from the flames and the wind was blowing it towards me...

Within the 15 minutes that I was there it almost burned out. When was it lit? Was it the first time? WHO was supposed to witness it? I was the only person there!!

The mystery is explained here. Thanks to Scribbler for the link. BUT it sure felt moving at the time....

Just noticed that the original PSD (Photoshop file) for this image is 108mb. That's BIG!