I love days that start off normally and then the extraordinary happens. A feast for the eyes jumps out and smiles are all around you. This happened last Friday with two separate highlights but I must start with the afternoon and finish with the morning. As you probably know, Richard III was interred at Leicester Cathedral last week and at the front of the coffin as it travelled through the streets amongst crowds, there were two men in armour on their horses. Well, on Friday, one of the horses and its rider came to Peterborough Cathedral to advertise the Heritage Weekend which will be on the 20 - 21 June. I urge you if you are in the area, to go and visit because it is free and also full of real entertainment, you will not be disappointed I promise. So, I joined some work colleagues and photographers and took advantage of some free time to capture some moments. It was wonderful to catch the cathedral in the brass with full sunlight.
The Cathedral's reflections were also emblazoned on the chest plate of the suit of armour...
... and for those who follow me on other social media will have already seen the reflections on his protective shield of steel on his arm.
As well as the white horse, a spectacular black horse was visiting too. It's long eyelashes sung out to me.
Once mounted it was time to ride to the front of the Cathedral.
The black horse was also mounted and with flag raised, it was time to join its equestrian friend.
With photographers poised it was time to pose for the cameras.
Such a beautiful backdrop with the sun shining, it was just perfect for shadows and reflections. The entrance is being revamped at the moment, but it won't be long before the barriers and the new ramp are completed.
And then, it was time for a charge towards the cameras. This was all in aid to advertise the jousting that will take place in front of the Cathedral during the Heritage Weekend.
And now we will go from one helmet and transport from centuries gone by...
... to some from this century...
As I said at the beginning of this post, I was starting in the afternoon and finishing with the morning. This was just a training exercise and the Cathedral was in no danger, but coming from a family of fire fighters and being married to a retired one, I had to record this crew as they rose up in the air.
Having been on the scaffolding last year, I knew how wonderful the view was going to be once they got up to the top, but I wasn't sure just how far they were going to go.
The architecture they were going to see as they got higher was going to be spectacular.
Higher and higher it rose.
Once they got as high as they possibly could, I zoomed in (I love my camera!), and yes, that moment had arrived - out came the phone to capture the moment for the fire fighter!
A wonderful Friday full of capturing moments.
Now, on the subject of the Cathedral, I hope you don't mind but I would like to give a shout out for one of the Vicars of Peterborough, Revd Canon Ian Black, who has a great Twitter account (here) and posts amazing pictures of day to day life at the Cathedral and St John the Baptist Church in Cathedral Square. He also has a blog which I am sure some of you lovely bloggers would enjoy (his blog is here).
Can I also thank you for all your comments over the last couple of days. I have been in London so I am a bit behind, but I will be visiting you soon. I'll be sharing my trip with you next week (if I ever get to the end of the amount of photos I took!).
Have a wonderful Sunday and week.
Take care
