Last spring, I was watching a beautiful rainbow with a colleague of mine in Sunderland. I was transported - he was not.

“I always used to enjoy rainbows,” he said, gloomily, “until that bastard physics teacher in sixth form taught us about refraction. Since then, its just been sunshine refracted at approximately 40 degrees by a bunch of raindrops.”

“Correct,” I said, “and the arc is a segment of a perfect circle.” “So?” he said “So, where does the centre of the circle lie?” I asked. He stared at me blankly. “The centre of the circle of the rainbow,” I explained, “Is on a dead straight line that runs from the centre of the sun, through the back of your head and out between your eyes and keeps on going until it meets the plane of the rainbow.” “Sounds complicated” he said.

“Stick with it.” I implored, “What it means is this - the rainbow you see can only form on the line that runs from the sun through YOUR head. No one else can see your rainbow but you. I can see a rainbow, too, but mine is coming from raindrops four feet to the left of yours because I am standing four feet to the left of YOU. If I stand in front of you on your line, then I am seeing a rainbow from raindrops that far behind yours. I still can’t see YOUR rainbow - nobody can except you. Every rainbow is absolutely personal to the person who sees it. The rainbow is not an object, like the ancients thought it was - it is much more special. We can both look at a tree or a cloud and see the same object, but while we are both looking at a rainbow, I am looking at mine and you are looking at yours, and we can not share the experience.”

I caught him by the arm and pulled him into a patch of sunlight. “Look at your shadow on the ground” I told him, “See how the shadow of your head is EXACTLY in the centre of your rainbow. Every rainbow you see is an aura around your head, and if you can see your shadow, you can prove it every time. What’s more, the aura is there all the time, you just have to get it in the way of some water droplets in order to see it.”

His face broke into a slow smile. “Thank you SO much” he said, “For giving me back my rainbows!” But he wasn’t looking at me.

Bright Blessings,

Coifi