I know that it’s a very British thing to do, but I can’t possibly let another week slip by without mentioning the weather! When lockdown started what feels like a lifetime ago, the world experienced an influx of rainbows as communities looked to spread a little hope and happiness to all who saw them. G and M created their own rainbow masterpiece 
to display in the window nearest the road snaking past our house and we enjoyed spotting them in so many different locations as we ventured out for our daily exercise around the neighbourhood.
Friends and family in Canada and in Scotland were hit by an astonishingly late snowfall in early May, whilst in our part of the world we were experiencing weeks of unparalleled sunshine. The children loved being able to spend so much time outside on the trampoline or on bike rides, whilst Mike took advantage of the good weather and his time on furlough to tackle many of the gardening projects that have been lingering on his to-do list for an awfully long time.
And then, this time last week, everything changed. Our village and the surrounding areas were hit by huge storms, flash floods and all the problems that comes with such heavy rain. We had our own personal drama when the electricity transformer in the field next to our house exploded due to the combination of the wet weather and a faulty cable with a hole, knocking out the power not only in our house, but in half the village too. Fortunately, it turns out we have a secondary connection to the mains electricity, so we only in fact lost power for around 10 minutes, although the internet connection took a lot longer to re-establish.
7 days on and we’re back to the glorious sunshine of a few weeks ago and even hotter temperatures. My sister-in-law in Canada told me they’re experiencing a similarly high 30°+, but the humidex (humidity index) has made it feel like 37° or more. Yesterday was filled with ice creams, ice-cold drinks and staying in the shade and today has seen more of the same. The only question now is whether the thunder storm forecast for early tomorrow morning actually hits or not and brings a little relief with it.
Noah’s time, or simply a natural phenomenon that occurs when you have the perfect conditions of both sunshine and rain*; most people would agree that they are a wonderful representation of hope and promise to us all.
In our village, the local FB group has been encouraging families to put their rainbows up and we have enjoyed spotting them when we doing our daily exercise routine. I will rapidly clarify that we are fortunate to live in a relatively small community and have rarely come across anyone else whilst we are out and about. And it’s not just our community that is inviting young people to get involved with sharing these uplifting images. Communities nation- and worldwide are seeing these images spring up and our favourite charity, Over The Wall, launched its first #MondayMayhem today with the challenge to create a rainbow and put it on show.
Never being ones to reject a challenge, and finding it a good alternative to the monotonies of an isolated life, G and M worked together to create their “alternative” rainbow – their teen years apparently wouldn’t allow them to be in anyway typical or predictable – which is now proudly in the spare bedroom window for all who travel the A-road past us to see. There were also some threats to paint one another’s faces rainbow-style when emotions ran a little high, but thankfully we’ve managed to avoid that, at least for a few days.
7 years to diagnosis 