There are times in this beautiful spot in Norfolk, on top of our hill when the cloud formations are quite breathtaking. They vary enormously of course. Some days the vast heavens are grey and leaden with over-layering, grumbling masses of grey on grey. Angry pewter-coloured formations that crawl sluggishly along or mix and mingle swiftly, threatening torrential rain or simply hiding the sun with a sullen overcast that attempts to dampen our spirits
At other times, the sky is a clear brilliant blue with atmospherics that magically pick out aircraft con-trails, emblazoning their routes with cold white strands. A weave of carbon-footprints writ large in innocent-looking vapour that usually invisibly ensnares our shrinking world.
Some of my most favourite cloud formations though seem to occur frequently in early evening and particularly as we draw towards Autumn. I call them ice-cream clouds. Huge white sharply defined puffs, often tinged with soft rose pink from the setting sun and some of these cumuli grow and develop into passing mountains!
East Anglia is of course largely flat and with it comes its own form of grandeur but there is nothing like a mountain for impact, and for a short while we can imagine that in the far distance lies a range of alps, glistening with ice, or something altogether more stupendous and exotic like Mount Fuji tipped with snow!
It's nice in a way that the vision is so fleeting. It's all the more magical for the fact that we will never see quite the same scene ever again...
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