That is the double rainbow that Julia photographed. It had faded a bit by the time she got to it, but as you know, it had disappeared completely by the time I got to it.

I have kept the photo small as it loses the effect if you make it too big. According to the Met Office link I’ve used in the first line the second rainbow is generally more spread out and paler, which seems to be the case here. The difference in sky colour is also explained, as the light, being reflected, cannot illuminate all the sky. It’s quite interesting and, according to the website, not rare. I can only remember seeing a handful, which makes it rare to me.

I had an interesting day today, when I finished work. We have had a car parking outside on the frontage for a few weeks now. I haven’t seen who parks it there, but it appeared to be a woman, from the style of air-freshener. It’s a slightly down at heel Ford and the combination of both these factors inclines me towards thinking that it’s one of the admin staff from the opticians at the end of the row. We have asked their staff not to park in front of the shop before. I haven’t actually seen who drives it o haven’t been able to have a word with them. There has to be a bit of give and take about the parking, but when somebody parks in your spot constantly it gets a bit wearing.

Anyway…

I am thinking calm thoughts

We emerged from the shop this afternoon to find that the Ford was not only on our frontage again (having arrived and parked after I did) but it had parked so close to me that I couldn’t get into my car. On account of my size and joint stiffness and the high transmission tunnel I can’t get in the passenger side.

So, acting on my suspicions, I went to the opticians and asked if they had someone working there with a dark grey Ford, even having the registration number written on the back of my hand. They said that they didn’t, but they suspected the people over the road, as they often use our parking and  are very inconsiderate. This is true, but they tend to have luxury brands (they seem to trade in cars so have a constantly changing selection of Audis, Mercs and BMWs). I then tried the Indian takeaway and the beauticians. No joy. This all took about 25 minutes. I was just going to go across the road and check if it did belong to them when a young woman approached and unlocked the car with her remote.

I won’t repeat the conversation word for word but it seems that she does work at the opticians, so I asked her not to park there in future but to park in front of her own shop, as her constant use of the space outside our shop causes us parking problems. I also pointed out to her that I had wasted 25 minutes as a result of not being able to get into my car, that I was not happy about this and that if it happened again I would not be as pleasant about it.

Very calm…

No doubt by the time this all gets repeated I will be some sort of unreasonable rampaging monster, but such is life. It’s amazing how selfish people can be. And in all that time, do you know how many times she apologised for the inconvenience she caused to both me and the shop – not once. We’ve had this all before – everybody is always in the right and they always have  a reason why it is OK for them to steal a space or barricade you in. And there are large numbers of people out there who consider you rude if you tell them you aren’t happy with them.

Grrr…

(And, by the way, the parking I refer to is private property in the front of the shops. All the shops know this, and they all know that they are supposed to keep to their own space. I’m not one of those people who considers the public road in front of their property to be their private property.)