According to our weather people yesterday morning, the UK will be experiencing a taste of what the Americans have to put up with. We tend to take these alarmist weather reports with a pinch of salt, but seeing as how the wind had already knocked my neighbour’s bin over, there might be something to it this time.

Just before lunch, the wind increased. The trees at the back of the house complained as the gusts became more violent.

I watched, mesmerised, as the huge branches bent almost double, completely at the mercy of the elements.

I expected at least one of them to break, but somehow they didn’t. I was reminded of that old maxim about the necessity of learning how to bend in order to stop from breaking.

That was when the rain joined in, adding a torrential downpour to the churning scene outside my window.

It was a scene from a horror movie, all that was missing were the ominous rumbles of thunder and theatrical flashes of lightning.

I stood and watched it all from the safety of my office. Work was abandoned as I watched Nature at her best. (Or worst) I almost wanted to run outside and be a part of it all, but common sense prevailed.

I must be getting old.

The rain lashed at the glass, just inches from my face. The sudden force of it taking me by surprise. The millions of water droplets magnified and distorted my vision and for a moment, I was transported to the middle of a waterfall, or a storm tossed boat on a stormy night. In my imagination I seemed to be soaking wet and cold, my teeth wanted to rattle as the shivers began. I could smell the water on my skin and clothes. I knew I should step away from the window and come back to my world, but my feet would not obey me. They too were transfixed by the weather and felt cold and wet.

I tried to see through the rain spattered window, hoping to see the reality of my back garden, but it wasn’t there. I was somewhere else.

Nothing looked familiar.

I saw a ship, struggling to stay afloat in the turbulent water. Huge foam tipped waves slowly lifted above the ship, threatening to crush it. Then, with a roar, the water fell and I lost sight of the ship. Had it been lost, sacrificed to the God of the sea?

Sorrow gripped my heart and my eyes desperately sought to find the craft, but all I could see were the waves, incredibly beautiful waves, soaring, then crashing down, roaring with the power of it all…

Then the phone rang and I was back in my office. Was it my imagination, but was the rain easing off? Had the wind run out of steam?

Or had I simply stopped seeing the destructive force right outside my window?

A quick check revealed that the rain had stopped. The trees had quieted down too, meaning the wind had blown away to pastures new.

As I watched, the sky began to clear. The dark clouds slunk away like a bad dream, revealing the fading tail end of a rainbow. I was disappointed to have missed it and turned away from the window.

But something made me take another look.

High above me was another rainbow. This one stronger and brighter than the one I missed just minutes before.

They say the rainbow is God’s promise to never to send us the biblical floods that Noah had to cope with.

I smiled at that thought, for it would seem in certain areas of the world, He comes perilously close to breaking this promise…