In Which There is Rain, and Seaside, and Rainbows (but no kittens)

My parents have just (last weekend) returned home having spent the past 7 weeks travelling around New Zealand, a trip which I should like to take some day, and I had arranged to go down to spend the weekend with them, and to welcome them back home.

It was a rainy afternoon as I drove down to Devon, and by the time I arrived, at around 5, it was dark, too. Living alone, I forget how nice it is to come 'home' to a warm, well lit house and have someone offer hugs and coffee!

The evening was spent catching up on conversation, hearing a little about their trip.

Saturday turned out to be intermittently very wet indeed, but having gone to see the sea we decided to go for a short walk despite the fact that it was raining by the time we got there (all of 10 miles from the house!)

We decided not to paddle, however.

After our short but bracing walk and some time spent in our families favourite method of socialisation (which involves everyone sitting in the same room, each absorbed in his or her own book) we cooperated to preduce a delicious meal of roast lamb with all it's tradional accompaniments, followed by a lemon layer pudding. Mmmmm.

This was followed by lots and lots of photos of New Zealand. Did I mention how much I would like to go there? As a nation, it appears to have more than it's fair share of scenery. (And sheep)

Glaciers and beautiful beaches, all within spitting distance of one another.

Sunday turned out to be an even wetter day, so we abandoned any thought of going for another walk.

Sadly, after lunch it was time for me to head back home. I very quickly found myself driving not through pouring rain as at their home, but through a surreal landscape with bright sunshine on one side, and black clouds and rain on the other. It was rainbows all the way! Even when I got stuck behind a large and slow-moving truck, the combination of surface water on the road and the sunlight meant there were rainbows in the tyre tracks.

The rainbows were some of the brightest I have ever seen. I stopped to take a few pictures - there was a glorious double rainbow as I came into Somerset - the inner bow exraordinarily vivid, and even the outer one as clear as most rainbows.

A little later, as I crossed the Levels, coming towards Glastonbury, there was a futher rainbow, and I spent a little time watching the flocks of starling wheeling across the sky.

The rivers and rhynes (drainage ditches) are all incredibly full - I imagine that the moors will flood in the next few weeks, unless it stops raining. Fortunately, the cattle are not generally grazed on the moors at this time of year.

It was, despite the weather, a lovely weekend.