Rainbow in Suburbia

As I left for work this morning it was blustery and chilly but on the plus side the sun was shining. On my journey to work a particularly vibrant rainbow in a strange patch of light caught my eye although sadly I had no time to stop and enjoy it. As I parked my car on arrival at work I noticed another rainbow in front of a rather ominous looking sky. Looking the other way towards my office building the sky was blue with a few light fluffy clouds.

A few minutes into the five minute walk to my office it started to spit with rain. I was wondering if I would make it to the office without getting soaked. The blustery wind meant the use of an umbrella was impossible. Just after the half way point on my walk the winds picked up and so did the rain… The rain then turned to heavy hail and the wind speed picked up even more. A few moments later the wind had picked up such a speed that the hailstones were blowing horizontally.

On the final approach to my office building I had to face into the wind that was increasing in speed. I found it incredibly difficult to walk and had to stop several times partly to avoid being blown off my feet. A few feet away from me a metal fence and signs were blown flat. For a while I turned my back to the wind and took a few paces backwards until I was near enough to the building to be shielded a little from the wind.

As I entered the reception area I was completely out of breath and rather than key in I just plonked my bags on the nearest table to recover. One side of me was soaked and water was streaming down that side of my face, the other side of me was completely dry. My glasses were steamed up and I could just make out two of my colleagues by the reception desk. One of them was most concerned and asked me several times if I was all right. I said I was fine, which I was apart from being a bit winded and half soaked. She organised the other colleague to fetch some tissues so I could dry myself off a bit.

I was conscious of the fact that I was probably looking quite disheveled but when I had caught my breath I entered the office. As I entered one of my colleagues looked up to say hello (as is usual) and gasped loudly ‘Oh Cherie’!! Causing everyone to look round… By the time I got to my desk (which is in the middle of the building) I had caused quite a stir and my immediate team members were chuckling away merrily and I have to admit although I couldn’t see myself I was rather amused too.

As I took my coat off and put my bags under my desk, due to the cold and wet my wedding ring slipped off my finger onto the floor. I picked it up but where was my engagement ring… It wasn’t immediately visible!!! I retraced my steps inside the building (leaving my colleagues searching around my desk area) before returning to empty the contents of my bag. There it was at the bottom which was a relief to me and it saved another of my colleagues who was about to be sent on a mission (not by me) to retrace my steps outside the office.

Entry to work dramas now concluded I quickly made myself more presentable and a colleague provided me with a hot water bottle to dry off the portion of my skirt that was saturated. I would like to say the day got better but unfortunately it was a day of complicated (non routine) work problems to sort out…

The first thing I did when I got home after work was wash my hair and immediately everything felt so much better ;-)

14 Comments CherryPie on Jan 28th 2015

14 Responses to “A Grand Entrance”

  1. Amfortas says:

    Despite the workload, it was a way to start the day. Get the worst over and done with. We often forget that for every rainbow that cheers us, someone, somewhere is getting wet. I hope someone was cheered by the rainbow that had ‘Chrie’s Turn’ written on it.

    You wrote that well, though. I even had to check my own clothes. :)

    • CherryPie says:

      Rainbows and rain are equal and opposite. We need one to appreciate the other :-)

      Lots of people were cheered by the ‘Cherie’s turn’ rainbow ;-) I was still getting comments about it today LOL.

      Thank you for your kind comments about my writing, I am glad you enjoyed it :-)

  2. Chrysalis says:

    Oh Cherie! Beautiful! You may remember, rainbows are particularly significant for me, always reminding me of my grandmother:)

    I’m sorry about your day, though. Once as a child, for mother’s day, I bought my mother a small, stained-glass window that could be hung in a clear window to let the light through it, the plaque of which said: “As we endure storms, we shall see rainbows.”

    I always liked that saying, but only realized later in life that the author of that plaque neglected to mention that sometimes the rainbows come BEFORE the storm? ;)

    As if to say (in Bette Davis fashion): “Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.” :)

    Regardless, rainbows are “theoretically” supposed to remind us that storms WILL pass, which is good news – because 40 more days and nights like the day you had could cause anyone to lose their religion.

    :)

    • CherryPie says:

      The first rainbow in particular was beautiful. That one is still imprinted in my minds eye.

      As for the storm, what followed in the office reminded me of how beautiful human beings can be :-) A different sort of rainbow ;-)

  3. JD says:

    Isn’t life grand!
    Walking backwards into work :)

    p.s.
    agree with Amfy – a well written vignette of daily life,

    • CherryPie says:

      I wouldn’t choose to walk to work backwards every day LOL.

      After your recent comment about knowing how to tell an interesting story I had a feeling you would like this one ;-)

  4. Shame I don’t have enough hair to wash to make me feel better…

    Still, washing my head in a hot bath helps

  5. Ha ha.. This is England.
    There’s always a brolly in my bag. ;)

  6. A nice long soak in bubbles is what I used to do on days like those….your rain was my snow and oh how we would get pummeled. I hope you had a long rest and relaxed.

    • CherryPie says:

      Oh yes, I love a long soak in the bath too :-)

      I don’t think I would have liked your snow turning up over here. I did have a relaxing evening, thank you :-)

  7. Well! that was a fun packed day Cherie! Sounds like you have a good team of workmates around you which, of course is conducive to a happy workforce.
    I’ve worked in some offices where there have been some terrible women, so bitchy. it put me of office life to appoint I had a complete change of career into the Leisure Business, thankfully a good move !
    I hope you’ve dried out !
    best wishes,
    Di xx

    • CherryPie says:

      I do have some kind hearted souls around me which is nice :-) There are also some less kind men and women although they are in the minority in my work place, which is nice.

      I have dried out thankfully. I sorted out another coat that has a hood, just in case ;-)