For all the scientific explanations and cultural interpretations I like to think of a rainbow is a smile from the sky. An optimistic sign of better things to come.   We are past the shortest day this year and there is a noticeable difference in the days lengthening. I can measure this precisely as in winter it goes dark bang on basset feeding time, it’s the time when  Fortnum starts to get agitated and demanding, pointing hopefully at his food bowl pleading for sustenance.

I was lamenting the gloom of a cloudy day to the bassets as we hiked up Kaitoke hill yesterday only to stand corrected as this rainbow popped up from behind the hills.  Suddenly the incoming shower didn’t seem such a bad thing after all.